You're Welcome Here—Week 3

Erin Davis: When Jill Miller was in her early twenties, she got her first full-time job in the corporate world.

Jill Miller: Working with data, slicing, dicing, analyzing, looking for patterns and trends, and then putting it into meaningful format so that people who were not data geeks could understand it and make some decisions from it.

Erin: Before getting this job, Jill had volunteered a lot of time at church, so entering corporate America was a big adjustment for Jill.

Jill: I really wasn’t prepared for how much energy and time it would take to do that, even though I worked in an office. There’s travel time, there’s back-and-forth, and you really don’t have the ability to take a week off to help in Bible school, for instance.

I was disappointed that I couldn’t continue at the level that I had been doing service for God or ministry for God. I really even questioned, to some degree, “Did I make a wrong turn somewhere? Was I not supposed to be in corporate America?”

Erin: But God impressed a plan on Jill’s heart: “Stay where you are and save all you can, then retire early and volunteer in ministry full time!”

Jill: So after I really felt God leading me in this direction, I pretty much started my day-to-day life just going to work and being obedient in saving money and being generous. I did that throughout my life, nothing really special, just following in steps of obedience.

Erin: Jill continued giving and saving and working with all her heart.

Jill: I had prayed that I would be able to retire early, and in my mind that meant sixty-two.

Erin: But when Jill was just fifty-six years old, she met a financial planner who took a look at Jill’s savings and investments.

Jill: And she said, “Hey! This is one of those meetings I can tell you, ‘You can retire right now!’” 

I said, “Are you sure!?” 

They repeated, “Yep, you could retire right now!”

And I was like, “God, I mean that’s ridiculous!” I couldn’t believe that He was not only blessing me, but blessing me so much!

Erin: Jill wondered if it was time to do what she wanted to do for so lo-o-ong—to serve the Lord full time!

Jill: I spent some time just praying and asking, “God, are you really leading me to do this?” And the answer was, “Yes!” I spent the next, pretty much, nine months documenting what I did at my job because I wanted to leave well, and I had so much in my head. 

I had finished out the calendar year and then retired. It was just like turning a page in a book to get to: “Here’s my next chapter. I’m ready! What are we going to do?”

Song:

When your hurts are too much to bear,
I can’t make it disappear,
But I know how to weep with those who weep.

Erin: One of the things God called Jill to do was to open her home in generous hospitality. That’s why I’m headed to Jill’s house myself.

Jill: Erin Davis is coming to stay for the week.

Erin: I’m on a mission to see how women live out the biblical mandate to “pursue hospitality.”

Jill: I asked her if she had any requests for food, because I don’t know her that well in that arena to know whether or not she had a particular dietary need or avoidance or that kind of thing. What could I have on hand that might be good for her when she arrives after flying and traveling all day? What would that look like for her?

It’s such a chance to get to know people and minister to them. I love this!

Song:

Laugh a laugh and cry a tear.
Say ‘yes’ to trust and ‘no’ to fear.
Do you know you’re welcome here with me?
Do you know you’re welcome here with me?

Jill: I’ll take you in through the front door. You come in through the great room with a kitchen and living room with a massive island, which is a gift from God. The opposite side from the great room is what I call the “guest wing,” if you will. It’s separate from my room, so it like a little retreat.

My focus is on the person. I’m trying to think ahead what will make the person feel comfortable. Partially because I’ve stayed at places and you feel, “Can I do this? Can I do that? Can I grab the blanket and lay on the sofa if I want?” I’m saying here, “Yes, you can do that!”

I think about what can I do in the set up of the room. I’ve asked people who stay here, “What’s missing?” My mom said, “Oh, you need a mirror.” I hadn’t thought of that because I had never slept there.” I’m looking for ways to make the person feel like they’ve come home to their vacation home. They are comfortable coming to it and would want to come back.

Erin: Jill spends a lot of time hosting her fellow Revive Our Hearts team members. I want to see how she does it. We’re going to prepare a meal together.

First we have some cookies to deliver.

Jill: when I had a vision of what retirement and service would look like, it was helping at my local church, maybe VBS, or getting involved in the local pregnancy center . . . any number of things. Never in my wildest dreams would I have said, “Oh, you’re going to move and go to Revive Our Hearts.” That was not in my sights at all! I couldn’t have orchestrated that at all! It was all God. It was easy to see.

Erin: Jill got to know the ministry of Revive Our Hearts in 2013 when she attended a recording session with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy (teaching): I sign birthday cards . . . no matter what the age the person is, the verse I use is Proverbs 4:18, which says, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn which shines brighter and brighter until full day.”

Jill: Getting to see the inner workings of recordings has been eye-opening to me! There is so much focus on excellence.

Nancy (teaching): My goal, whatever age I am, and I hope your goal is that as a righteous daughter of God that the path of your life will be getting brighter and brighter.

Erin: Jill Miller joined the Revive Our Hearts Ambassador program, serving women near her home in Pennsylvania.When she visited the Revive Our Hearts offices, she discovered that the ministry used the same kind of database that she’d been using for years in the insurance industry!

So, Jill made the big commitment to become a full-time volunteer.

Jill: If you look at Moses’ life, it has three—we don’t call them trimesters. But he had his growing up years, his sort of shepherding years, and then his final years leading the Israelites.

Most of our lives are broken up into those three chunks: schooling years, productive years, if you will, and then retirement. It’s the same kind of thing.

Most people (and not just what I’ll call “the world” but even Christians) that middle section, their productive years, having kids or a job or whatever they’re doing (that’s like the key), and then you rest.

That was not true for Moses. His pinnacle was leading the Israellites, the third section of his life. And not to put myself anywhere on par with Moses, but my life is like that as well. 

This third of my life is the end-game. What might have seemed like the productive years, saving money and all of that, that was just prep so that I could be financially stable enough to do this for free, and also intellectually learning to do it so I could just step into it and be useful. 

Erin: I’m actually staying with you while we are recording this. You want to know what I’ve noticed?

Jill: Absolutely. I’d love that.

Erin: Your home is really warm. I know that you are very intentional. You are intentional even in picking out your wall colors, picking out the decor on the walls, and all that. What’s missing is chaos. I walked in and I wanted to be here.

Then there are these little touches. You had a “Welcome, Erin” sign in the guest bedroom. Which took you . . . You’re the math brain. How many seconds do think it took to do that?

Jill: It took me longer to walk into the room.

Erin: Yeah, right, exactly. It said to me, “She knew I was coming. She wants me here.”

Jill: And it wasn’t just “welcome.” It was, “Welcome, Erin.” I had intentionally invited you and I was ahead of time looking forward to you coming.

Erin: That showed with just those couple of words.

And then in your bathroom, you have this little basket. I didn’t dig through the whole thing, but it’s got things like a toothbrush, a little toothpaste, and a sign that said, “Forget anything?”

Again, your time and money investment was probably really small, seemingly little things, but it was a big thing. I’m here. I’m away from my family. I’m glad to be here, but it’s not my home. But very quickly those sights made me at ease. It all adds up.

Jill: That’s great. So it made you feel welcome.

Erin: The Lord is using Jill Miller in so many unsung ways. When she sits in front of a computer analyzing data, or when she is hosting ministry staff from out of town, she’s playing an important role in calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

It all started when she consciously said, “My time belongs to the Lord. My money belongs to the Lord. My future belongs to the Lord. That attitude has led Jill to devoting the rest of her life not to live for herself but to say to others, “You’re welcome here.”

Jill: When Erin leaves because I have other guests coming in, I’ll do sheets, get cleaned up, do towels, and get reset for the next group of people. I’ll change the name to welcome someone else on the sign. It won’t be too much. I’ve got the dietary needs of that family coming, so I’ve got the stock for what’s happening then.

Nancy (teaching): I just keep envisioning, what if millions of these boomer women, who are followers of Jesus—or claim to be—would say, “God has given me a gift of a season here.” I think of Elisabeth Elliot starting Gateway to Joy radio program when she was sixty-three years old! 

Can you imagine if in this country there was a host of Christian women—and single women—who would say, “I have the freedom . . . I can move to another country to share Jesus. I can learn another language," or "I can move into this urban neighborhood and get involved in helping this community and sharing Jesus Christ,” or “I can get involved in a crisis pregnancy center," or "I can get involved in this prison ministry, "I can get involved in discipling twelve-year-olds in a class in my church.”

The opportunities are endless. Why should we leave it to the moms who have four kids or more, in a season of life where they’re so stretched, when God gives us a season where there’s some margin. Let’s be sure we’re asking Him how it can be used. “Where do you want me to plug in?” God will put a passion in your heart. He will put opportunities there. FInd out what it is and let God use you for His glory, for the advancement of His kingdom.

Then it will be said of you, as is said in Proverbs 4, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the full day.”