What mother could ever fathom she’d one day visit her own child in federal prison? And yet here Beth was making the weekly four-hour drive with her husband to see their nineteen-year-old son, Greg.
For nine years straight, Beth listened to Revive Our Hearts programs on these long drives. The truth she heard kept her grounded in her faith in God in the midst of those difficult days. On one particularly hard trip, God used one of Nancy’s messages from Esther to speak to Beth and comfort her heart.
“I [was] reminded that God is bigger than all this,” Beth recalls. She realized she didn’t have to let her current trials and difficult circumstances consume her. God was in this, and He had a plan for her, for Greg, and for her whole family.
In God’s perfect timing, the prison bars around Greg’s heart were severed. He not only surrendered himself to the Lord, he then began leading praise and worship within the prison. Even in this new state of joy, Greg confided to his mom that he grieved the thought of never getting married. “Who would want me?” he asked. But just as God used Nancy’s message to encourage Beth, Greg was encouraged by Beth’s reminder to him that God had a plan.
During this time, Beth began mentoring a younger woman named Lauren. Through True Woman 101 and the Revive Our Hearts podcast, Lauren learned about biblical womanhood, marriage, and mothering in a way she had never before seen modeled.
In a story that only God could bring about, the young friend Beth had been mentoring later became Greg’s wife. Today, they have a beautiful marriage and just welcomed into the world their firstborn son, Zakari, whose name means, “God has been gracious.” Truly God has lavished on them His amazing, redeeming grace.
God used Revive Our Hearts to sustain Beth as her family faced a time of great trial and to prepare Lauren to become a passionate, truth-seeking woman, wife, and mother. Now Lauren is leading other women like herself through True Woman 101. “I’m just so blessed,” she says, “to be able to lead other women through this same study, sharing God’s truth with them.”
When women walk through fiery trials, Revive Our Hearts is there to remind them of truth they can hold on to. Your support helps make that possible. When you give to the ministry, you not only help to keep this blog operating, you are pointing women to the God who creates beauty from the ashes and broken pieces of our lives. Give today, and your investment will be doubled, thanks to the generosity of a group of ministry partners.
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