An Audio Scrapbook

Women chattering in the background about scrapbooking.

Leslie Basham: Some moms make fancy scrapbooks . . . while others record their memories other ways.

Woman: Dear diary, what an amazing day. It all started . . .

Leslie: No matter how we do it, all of us have ways of trying to remember meaningful moments in our lives.

This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss for Tuesday, August 29th.

Mark Twain called memories “the little threads that hold life’s patches of meaning together.” I like that. Well, today we’re going to listen to a sort of audio scrapbook as we celebrate the 5th anniversary of Revive Our Hearts.

In the studio Nancy Leigh DeMoss was joined by Bob Lepine from FamilyLife Today, and we may have a few surprise phone greetings for Nancy, too. Let’s flip through some of the pages of this audio scrapbook together.

Okay, let’s start here. This is a picture of Nancy sitting in a chair with her Bible nearby. The date on it goes back over five years when Nancy was still considering starting a radio program for women. Let’s hear what’s significant about this memory.

Bob Lepine: What was it that confirmed for you that this was what God was calling you to in that 18 month period? How did you know?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: You know, it was a combination of things, and it was gradual. I spent a lot of time during that year and a half seeking the Lord, praying, fasting, getting counsel from godly people who speak into my life. But ultimately it came down to the Word.

I can still remember the day and where I was sitting and having wrestled through this a long time and God had begun to put in my heart faith that if God was in this He would give the ability to do it. But I just still needed to know, “Is this God’s direction?”

I was in my quiet time chair at my home in Michigan and came to a passage in the book of Acts where it talks about one of the servants of the Lord who helped them much, who had believed through grace. He was nurturing and discipling those who’d come to faith in Christ.

And that, at that moment, was one of many verses, but that was just a point in time where in my heart I knew that’s what God had called me to do.

Now, it doesn’t say anything about radio in the book of Acts, but I knew that’s what God had put me here on earth to do, and this was a means of doing that. It became a settled conviction in my heart, “This is God’s call.”

You know what? I’m so thankful that I waited through that period on the front end to know that God was in this. And I’ll tell you Bob, many, many times once we launched, if I had not known that it was God leading this way, I couldn’t have handled the pressure. But it’s a lot of work, and it’s been very, very hard at times. But not once, not one time, have I had any doubt in my heart that God called me to do this.

I said at points in that first year, “I may die doing this, but that’s okay because God has led me here. And if it means laying down my life . . .” I don’t mean to make it sound . . . I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but emotionally I felt that way many times in that first year. And there are still points as we have changes in the ministry, in developments and schedule challenges and more books to write and more programs to produce.

There are still moments when I say, “How in the world can we do this?” But knowing that God has put you there whether it’s in a radio program or a marriage or parenting or a job—whatever it is—knowing that God has put you there, then you know there is grace to enable you to do what He’s called you to do.

Leslie: This page is labeled simply, “Elyse.”

Elyse Fitzpatrick: This is Elyse Fitzpatrick.

Leslie: Nancy interviewed her about the struggles many women face when it comes to food.

Elyse: I’m calling to wish Nancy and Revive Our Hearts a very blessed 5th anniversary. Lord bless you, Nancy.

(clip from Love to Eat, Hate to Eat radio series)

I want to begin to think God’s thoughts after Him about food, so I learned that food is good. It is given to me as a blessing from the Lord, and it must be managed under His sovereign rule. So instead of saying, “You can’t ever eat this,” I want to ask other questions that have more to do with my motive for wanting to eat it. Am I truly hungry? Am I eating this rejoicing before the Lord with friends?

See, there’s nothing wrong with food, but it has to do with the heart attitude. Am I seeking to please God in my eating? Sometimes that means I don’t feast. Sometimes that means I need to fast.

Leslie: That’s Elyse Fitzpatrick. But, of course, one of the funnier moments from that interview never made it on the air—until now.

Nancy: I so appreciate what you said about receiving your food with thanksgiving. And Elyse, that reminds me of a verse in 1 Timothy chapter 4 that I’ve heard you quote repeatedly. What does it say?

Laughter  

Elyse: Something about being thankful?

Nancy: Here you go.

Elyse: Well, thank you. I just happen to have it here.

Bob: Reset that.

Leslie: And that’s why we have editors.

Let’s see. Hmm. More kind and encouraging comments from the answering machine. By the way, this is the first time Nancy’s heard all these phone calls.

John Fuller: Hello, Nancy. This is John Fuller from Focus on the Family. And on behalf of all of us here in Colorado Springs, we’d like to wish you and the Revive Our Hearts staff a happy 5th anniversary. May the Lord bless you in the coming days. Thanks for all you do for the kingdom, for your heart, for the good work you do for His glory and for His kingdom.

Barbara Hughes: Hi, Nancy. This is Barbara Hughes, author of Disciplines of a Godly Woman and Disciplines of a Godly Family. Kent and I want to express our congratulations for a half a decade of ministry to women. Your brilliant thoughts and teaching will grace generations to come. Blessings on you.

Chuck Colson: Hi. This is Chuck Colson. I’m glad to have this opportunity to congratulate Revive Our Hearts for five years on the air. Nancy Leigh DeMoss stands tall as one of the great voices in our culture today for truth and for the Word. God bless you, Nancy. Keep it up for many years to come.

Erwin Lutzer: Hi, Nancy. This is Erwin Lutzer of Moody Church here in Chicago. I’m calling to congratulate you and Revive Our Hearts for a very, very happy 5th anniversary. I listen to your program whenever I can, and I pray that you will continue to share your heart with your many listeners.

Leslie: Dr. Lutzer is the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago. And apparently, he’s not the only pastor who listens to Revive Our Hearts when he can. This pastor from Pennsylvania called our listener comment line.

Pastor: Nancy, thank you so much for having dedicated your life to serving our Lord and being the kind of example you are in a godless society. You have just sparked my interest in missionaries of old: Jim Elliott, the whole story there. What a wonderful, inspiring, hopeful ministry providing an access of learning all about God. You just keep that up girl. You’re just number one. Praise God and don’t let anything discourage you, my dear. You are being used of the Lord. Thank you.

(clip from Enduring Life's Most Difficult Moments radio series)

Elisabeth Elliot: Anyway, Jim and I went to a park and we sat on the grass and talked for seven hours. What were we to make of this tornado of passion we suddenly felt for each other? Did it mean that God wanted us to forget all the agonies we’d gone through over our singleness struggles and just fall into each other’s arms?

I said that it really didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me to tell God that we wanted Him to handle this whole thing if we intended to keep our hands on. It was going to have to be hands off, turning it entirely over to the Lord.

We sat there in silence, and finally he said, “You’re right. It doesn’t make sense. And I know you’re right because this morning the passage I was reading in my Bible was about Abraham and Isaac. Abraham made the sacrifice. He tied the son down on the altar, and he raised the knife, and I knew right then that God was asking me to give up the most precious thing in my life—you.”

Would I give it to Him, or would I refuse? I said I’d give it. Until the will and the affections are brought under the authority of Christ, we have not begun to understand, let alone to accept, His Lordship.

Leslie: That of course is Jim Elliot’s widow, Elisabeth, speaking to a group of college students in 1983. You may remember that on many stations Revive Our Hearts had the honor of taking the place of Elisabeth Elliot’s radio program, Gateway to Joy, when she went off the air in 2001.

If you’d like to listen to Elisabeth’s complete message about endurance, we have a link to it at our website, www.ReviveOurHearts.com. And speaking of endurance, let’s head back to the earliest days of Revive Our Hearts reflecting back on that period.

Bob Lepine asked Nancy a question.

Bob: You came to that verse in Acts and there was this settled sense of the Lord is in this. Was there joy with that or was there fear or resignation? What did you feel? Do you remember?

Nancy: Probably all of the above, and certainly all of those at one time or another. I tend to be . . . I think in public I come across as more confident than I am. But I am a weak vessel. In fact, earlier in that first year, and I think I’ve shared this on Revive Our Hearts, probably right about that time I began waking each morning with that little phrase from the song Jesus Loves Me running through my mind—“We are weak, but He is strong.”

I think that was a gift from the Lord. I didn’t put it there, but I’m telling you almost every morning over these last five years I have awakened with that being virtually my first conscious thought with the little tune. “We are weak, but He is strong.”

I have never lost a sense of trembling at this calling and this responsibility. It is an awesome thing, not to speak of just the workload. But it is an awesome thing to hold the Word of God in your hands and to open it up for people’s lives, to treat the Word of God in a way that is worthy of God. It’s awesome. It’s a huge responsibility.

But I know I’m weak, and that constant reminder keeps me pressing into His strength.

Child singing: They are weak, but He is strong.

Leslie: That’s a great reminder from Nancy Leigh DeMoss about depending on God for strength during any difficult time.

Did you enjoy taking a few glances at the Revive Our Hearts scrapbook? We’ll have more throughout the rest of this week, so stay tuned.

You’ve probably heard me talking about it by now, but don’t forget that next week there’s a big change happening. The new and improved Revive Our Hearts will be a half hour long. Find out how that might affect your station by visiting our website.

That’s also where you can learn more about our special Revive Our Hearts Anniversary Set. These are five of Nancy’s core books packaged together and sent to you for a donation of $50 or more. Again, there’s more information at www.ReviveOurHearts.com, or you can call us at 1-800-569-5959.

Thanks for listening in today. Tomorrow we’ll continue celebrating our 5th anniversary by hearing, from among others, Nancy’s mentors. I hope you’ll join us on Revive Our Hearts.

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is an outreach of Life Action Ministries.

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