Trusting in Christ Alone

Dannah Gresh: How long will the coronavirus be around? I don’t know. Will there be a second wave of infection? I don’t know. How big of an effect will this have on our economy? I . . . don’t . . . know. There are a lot of things we just don’t know! But Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth reminds us: some things are absolutely certain.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: We know that the Lord knows exactly what we need for our faith to grow and become strong. [Patricia de Saladín translates into Spanish from English after each of Nancy’s phrases throughout the message.] And we know that, no matter what, God is good. God is faithful. God loves us.

Dannah: This is Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, co-author of You Can Trust God to Write Your Story, for May 1, 2020. I’m Dannah Gresh. 

Yesterday we heard part 1 of a message from Nancy called “Rooted and Steadfast in Trials.” And do we ever need this message now!

Nancy, when God put this message on your heart months ago, you didn’t see the trials that were on the horizon for all of us.

Nancy: No, Dannah, I really didn’t. I certainly had no way of anticipating that by the time this conference came about, the whole world would be on the precipice of a severe trial, that we would be facing a global pandemic, an economic turndown. I didn’t know those things, but I did know that we can all expect trials.

We’re never going to be free of adversity and challenges this side of eternity, and whether those trials include a global crisis or something that’s way more personal, we all need to be rooted and steadfast!

Dannah: It’s so important that we’re rooted in someone or something that we can trust. You’re about to tell us how to make sure you’re rooted in the right place, in the right way. And if listeners missed part 1 of this message, they can hear it at ReviveOurHearts.com.

As we listen to part 2, Nancy will show you how to grow and even thrive in the midst of difficult circumstances! But before we begin, let’s set the stage.

Nancy: Yes, we were at the third international True Woman conference . . .

Dannah: . . . in Monterrey, Mexico. 

Nancy: This was right before all those lockdown orders.

Dannah: God did some of the most incredible things at that conference!

Nancy: Absolutely, Dannah, and what an incredible joy it was to be a part of that moment! I’m so thankful that Laura Gonzaléz is here with us today to tell us a little bit more about that event. Laura is the Director of the Spanish outreach of Revive Our Hearts called Aviva Nuestros Corazones. Laura, thanks so much for being here with us on Revive Our Hearts today!

Laura Gonzaléz: Thanks for having me! Hi, Nancy. Hi, Dannah.

Nancy: And here we are, all recording in our homes, with our recording situation not exactly what it normally is. But our hearts are connected. And Laura, what a joy it’s been to see how God has put on you this burden, this vision, to reach Spanish-speaking women with this message.

I can remember the first time we really connected back in 2008, when you and a hundred-some other Dominican Republicans descended en masse on the first True Woman conference in Schaumburg, Illinois. Since then, you’ve become a part of our team.

You’re leading what is the fastest-growing part of Revive Our Hearts . . . that’s our Spanish language outreach, Aviva Nuestros Corazones. As we planned for this conference in Monterrey, you came to our team and said, “We’ve been praying. We’ve been thinking about a theme.” You had something very specific on your heart. This was months ago, maybe up to a year ago. 

Tell us about that theme and how the Lord put it on your heart.

Laura: Yes, Nancy, the Lord has done so many great things in our midst. One of those is how we came to this theme. We usually have used the same themes the True Woman conferences in the U.S. have used in the past. We’ve done “Now Is the Time.” We did “Seeking Him.” 

But this time we were thinking toward this conference, and we have been getting to know better what the Lord is doing in Latin America and what is happening there. We thought it would be good for our followers—and even for us—to be rooted. We needed to learn how to be rooted in Christ and His Word. 

I’m amazed at the way that the Lord was weaving everything. Two years ago the Lord led us to produce a devotional Bible in two versions for our listeners, and that was totally separate from this conference. Now seeing how He then led us to do the “rooted” theme, and how we need to be rooted in the Word and be rooted in Christ and the love of God . . .

We had been seeing that there were many philosophies gaining ground in Latin America, even in the church: feminism, gender issues, prosperity gospel. And there are just other more subtle currents and doctrines that were undermining biblical truth. So we felt led to go with this theme of being rooted in Jesus and the gospel and the Word and truth and love.

But we had no idea what was going to be happening during the time of the conference! We just felt the Lord leading all the way, two years ago, to this point.

Dannah: Laura, you know, when I first heard the theme, my heart was stirred. I felt this sense of, “I need to be rooted!” It was almost as if I knew I was preparing for something. Yet if you asked me, I wouldn’t have said that. I just felt a stirring in my heart. 

In many ways, that hunger I had to get into the Word and to understand what it means to be rooted in His Word and in Him is a reflection of the hunger I see every time we participate in a conference in Latin America. Tell our listeners about that.

Laura: Yes. It is always so amazing to see these women and their thirst! At the beginning, we were thinking, Wow, we have many messages in this conference! But then again, they are so thirsty and hungry that they took it all in. They could be sitting there for three days if you let them!

These women were flooding the place. They were coming there early. 

Dannah: Early?! They were there late the night before! I work up early at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning, and there was already a line out the conference center door that I could see from my hotel window! That’s not early . . . that’s crazy early! 

Nancy: That’s crazy hungry! 

Laura: And we saw pictures that they were posting on our Mujer Verdadera app. There were whole planes of these women happy to be coming, regardless of what was going on. There was a sweet testimony of a lady from Ecuador. She sent it to us the other day. 

She said that when they were in the airport in Ecuador, they were thinking, Should we go? Will the Lord show us something different in Monterrey than what He could teach us here in Ecuador?” Because they could see all this that was going on. But then He led them to go, and she said, “We were so confronted and challenged and exhorted and comforted!”

Nancy: Wow!

Laura: So, it’s just the thirst. They did not care; they were fearless! They just wanted to be there, seeing what the Lord had for them, and just connecting with other women and just joining this movement that is gaining a lot of traction in Latin America.

Dannah: It truly is a movement!

Laura: I kept saying that this is not a conference; this is a movement, and we could see it. It’s different from any other conference that goes on in Latin America. It’s a movement; it’s a sisterhood. We can see it in everything that we do and all our outreaches—how they connect, how they become part of it, how they connect with each other.

Even with this Mujer Verdadera Challenge that we have, reading the Bible together in a year, there are more than ten thousand women connected to this and writing every day, connected with each other, connected in their home churches, connected through our web page, just sharing what the Lord is teaching them through the Word. So it is very encouraging to see this thirst in Latin America!

Nancy: Well, Laura, I am so grateful for the way that the Lord is using you to serve the women of Latin America, and you are tireless! You are so faithful. God is giving much, much fruit to what you’re doing there! Just as you’re talking, I’m also so thankful for our Ministry Partners and those who support this ministry here in the United States. 

They are making it possible for us to help underwrite the ministry in Latin America. It’s gaining support there in Latin America. We had many new Latin partners join us during that conference, but as we’re helping birth this ministry there in Latin America, it is so, so fruitful. As you’re listening to Laura, I hope you can see that this is a really worthwhile investment.

What God is doing in multiplying exponentially this message through Latin America is thanks to those who are praying and giving here in the States to help make that possible.

Dannah: I couldn’t agree more, Nancy! Thank you so much for that update, Laura. And now, let’s listen to part 2 of that message on being rooted and steadfast in trials. Speaking with her translator, Patricia, here’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

Nancy: Listen, ladies, fiery trials will come into our lives. We will go through seasons of drought and dryness. But we don’t need to be afraid! We don’t need to be anxious. We have a source of life inside of us that is not dependent on external circumstances. We can continue to put forth green leaves; we can continue to bear fruit, even in the midst of a dry season! 

When I was a girl, I read a book called Green Leaf in Drought by Isobel Kuhn. It’s the story of Arthur and Wilda Matthew. They were the last missionaries of the China Inland Mission to escape from Communist China in 1953. They went through horrible circumstances as the Communists came to power. 

But this book said there was an unseen source of secret nourishment which the Communists could not find, and from which they could not cut them off. The Communists took their food, the Communists took their homes, the Communists took their safety, but they had a source of life within them . . . and the Communists could not take that away!

This author said there is a secret force by which a tree can put forth green leaves when all others around are dried up and dying from the drought! Okay, I just want to remind you of those two points, because I want you to remember them. 

Number 1: If you’re not rooted in Christ and His Word, you won’t be able to withstand trials.
Number 2: If you don’t have trials, you won’t develop strong, deep roots! 

You won’t be able to endure greater trials and hardship when they come. If you are planted and rooted in Christ and His Word, this is the stream that will sustain you when you go through times of drought. It is your relationship with Jesus and His Word that will give you confidence in His character, His promises, His purposes, His plan. And you will stay strong and firm even in the midst of storms! 

When we first planned this conference, I had no way of knowing that the Lord was planning to make this message more personal for me.

My precious husband, Robert and I, have both been through trials of various kinds in the past. You may have heard that Robert lost his wife of forty-five years to cancer, and then the Lord brought our lives together, and He has given us a very sweet friendship! 

We’ve been in an easier season recently where we were enjoying not having major adversity or trial. God gives you some times like that. That’s okay! But a few weeks ago, Robert’s doctor ordered a biopsy for a lesion on his ear. This past Monday as we were packing and preparing to come to Mexico, Robert received a call from his doctor. The doctor had news that no one ever wants to hear.

The doctor said, “You have melanoma.” When I first heard that report, I wasn’t sure what melanoma was, so I Googled it. The explanation began with these words: “A serious form of skin cancer.” I didn’t really want to read anymore. For the past few days we’ve been making calls to determine what the next step should be.

We’ve made plans to shorten our trip to Mexico. We’ll be returning home on Sunday, and we’ll begin the process of Robert meeting with the specialist to find out the extent of the cancer and what treatment may be necessary. We don’t know what the future will look like for us. We may find out that this cancer is treatable and curable. That would be a sweet gift from the Lord!

Or we may find out that it’s much more serious than that. And you know what? That too will be a sweet gift from the Lord, because without trials we don’t develop roots. There are many things we don’t know right now, but I want to tell you a few things we do know. 

• We know that the Lord knows exactly what we need for our faith to grow and become stronger. 
• We know that we need trials to develop strong, deep roots. 
• We know that God provides grace for every trial we could ever face. 
• We know that His grace is enough! 
• And we know that, no matter what, God is good; God is faithful; God loves us, and He can be trusted to write our story! (applause)]

Our friends, the Gettys, have said it this way with their modern hymn . . . and these words have become more precious to me this week:”

In Christ alone, my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song. 
This Cornerstone, this solid ground, 
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm. 

That’s rooted!

What heights of love, what depths of peace 
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease. 
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand! 

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me!
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny! 

Ladies, cancer doesn’t command your future!. Your husband doesn’t command your destiny. Your children don’t command your destiny. Your finances don’t command your destiny. Your health doesn’t command your destiny. Jesus commands our destiny! Amen? (applause)

Here’s how that hymn finishes:

No power of hell, no scheme of man 
Can ever pluck me from His hand! 

Ladies, if you are in Christ, you are rooted: 

Til He returns or calls me home, 
Here in the pow’r of Christ I will stand! 

How many of you are going through a trial right now? Maybe it’s a little one; maybe it’s a big one. Would you be willing to thank God for the trials that you’re facing? Remember, they are a blessing if they make you need God! 

And now, would you just ask God to use those trials to strengthen you, to cause you to become more rooted in Christ, to give you perseverance and endurance? Ask God to use those trials to make your life a testimony to the keeping power of Christ!

If you don’t learn to thank God for your trials, if you don’t learn to trust Him in the midst of them, you will become bitter and those trials will destroy you. But if you lift your eyes up to heaven and hold tightly to Jesus, those trials will make you stronger!

I want to leave you with this promise from 1 Peter 5:10. Listen very carefully: “After you have suffered a little while . . .” And it says it’s “a little while.” Maybe you’re thinking, “My trial is a lo-o-on-g time!” When we get to Heaven and look back on this life, we’ll realize that every trial was “a little while!” 

His Word says, “After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” You will have deeper roots! And then, verse 11 says, “To him be the dominion forever and ever.” And that’s the goal of every trial, that our lives would say, “He is worthy to be praised!”

Do you want Him to be praised through your life, in your trials? He is the God of all grace. That means, whatever you need in this trial, He is going to give you! Thank Him for it. To Him be all “the dominion forever and ever! Amen!” 

Dannah: There’s such comfort in knowing that “no power of hell, no scheme of man [no cancer and no coronavirus pandemic] can ever pluck us from His hand,” if we’re rooted in Christ alone! Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth shared that message earlier this year at the True Woman conference in Monterrey, Mexico hosted by Revive Our Hearts.

And, Nancy, as you mentioned in the message, you and Robert had just found out about his melanoma. What’s been happening since then?

Nancy: Thanks for asking, Dannah. When I gave that message, we had no idea what the outcome would be. Robert did undergo surgery to have the melanoma removed. It all went well. The doctor is very encouraged! We are still in the process of some follow-up and reconstructive surgery, but the doctors are really optimistic about his progress! And we are so, so grateful!

I’m really thankful for the way the Lord prepared my heart for that news and for this process through having to work on this message! As I was sharing this message with others about being rooted and steadfast in trials, I was really preaching to myself and rehearsing and being reminded of the promises of God and the presence of God was a really important thing for us.

But I also am grateful for those around the world who have prayed for us during this time. We know that God hears and answers prayer, and as I shared with the women there in Monterrey, we were trusting God to write this chapter of our story.

And, Dannah, day after day it’s a new chapter, a new day, a new page in our story. We keep trusting Him to write that story, because we don’t know what tomorrow will bring forth, but He knows and He is faithful and He really can be trusted, regardless of whether the outcome is the one we would hope for or something entirely different.

Dannah: Nancy, I’m so encouraged and strengthened by the way you are working through this. It’s such a testimony to my heart! But it breaks my heart that you’re dealing with this personal crisis on top of the worldwide one that we’re all facing right now.

Nancy: Thanks, Dannah, and we really have sensed that you and others are walking through this with us. I will say, God knows exactly what we need, and that God’s grace is sufficient—not for the crisis we may face tomorrow or next week or next year or the “what-ifs” or the “what will the outcome be?” . . . But God’s grace is sufficient for this day, for what we need today. 

That’s the peace that Robert and I have been walking in, and the assurance. I also realize we’re not the only ones who have been walking through personal challenges along with the worldwide crisis. This chapter in our story has been much easier than many others that I’ve been reading about.

I think of a dear friend who, right now, is on a ventilator in a hospital, and we don’t know what the outcome is going to be of the covid diagnosis. A lot of people are facing struggles on top of struggles. And not just the physical, the health issues, but the whole economic effect of this crisis. We’ve all needed to cling to Jesus like never before!

Dannah: And, Nancy, this is all happening at a really important time for the Revive Our Hearts team.

Nancy: Yes, the Lord knows how to really keep us on our knees trusting, praying, clinging to Him personally, in terms of what’s happening in the world. And then, you’re right. For Revive Our Hearts, the month of May is our fiscal year-end. That’s when we end one budget cycle, and we begin another.

Typically each year during the month of May, we let listeners know about our needs. We share how much it’s going to take to end the year in the black. But as we’ve approached this May, so much has been turned upside-down and inside-out! We know so many listeners are hurting, and we want you to know that we are hurting with you!

We’ve been reading your prayer requests; we’ve been taking them an have been lifting you up to the Throne of Grace as you’ve shared your needs with us. And we know that as Revive Our Hearts faces what many others—individually and as ministries and businesses are facing—around the world, this financial burden . . . We know that at our time of need, there are listeners who just can’t give because you’ve lost income for your family.

I saw an email from a listener this past week who said, “I’ve been a ministry partner, but my husband and I feel—based on where we are financially right now—that we can’t continue being ministry partners.” My heart went out to that woman! I wanted to say, “Thank you for all you’ve done leading up to this point, and now God is going to meet your need by His grace, and God is going to raise up others who can give at this time as He provides for them.” 

So you may be facing difficult financial straits, or you may feel that the Lord is impressing you to give more to your church or in your community to meet needs there. But here’s what we know: we know that God will provide for your needs and God will provide for the needs of Revive Our Hearts this month and every month.

So in this time of great need—yours and ours as a ministry—I’m really excited to see what God is going to do! And just so you know, here at Revive Our Hearts we’re praying toward a May goal of $750,000, trusting that the Lord knows what we need and exactly how He’s going to supply it at this time.

Dannah: That amount is going to allow Revive Our Hearts to continue current outreaches, like bringing you this radio program and podcast each weekday in both English and Spanish. And it will help us continue new initiatives like the Revive Our Hearts French podcast that began just a few weeks ago! Those are just a few examples of how you can help us continue ministering.

Nancy: Yes, Dannah, I was so excited when I saw the note about that Revive Our Hearts French podcast! Our French-speaking friends have been praying for this for years, and what a joy it was to see—I can’t pronounce what Revive Our Hearts is in French—but it was a beautiful thing for me to see and to think of what the Lord is doing for those precious women!

So whether or not you’re in a position to give at this time, would you pray and ask the Lord to provide these needs? We value those prayers so much! And if you are in a position to give at this time, just know that your gift this month really will make a difference! 

We’ve heard from some listeners who have asked God to provide for them so that they’d be able to give, and they’ve shared how He’s answered those prayers in some amazing ways. Maybe you’ll be one of those over these next weeks.

Dannah: And this month, when you donate any amount to the ministry of Revive Our Hearts, we’d like to say thanks by sending you a new book by our friend Erin Davis. It’s called Uncommon Compassion: Revealing the Heart of God.

Nancy: Yes, Dannah, that book is a quick read, but it’s packed with rich biblical truth! Our friend, Erin, takes a look at five aspects of the compassion of God that we see unfolded in Scripture. And as you read this book, I think you’ll be struck with the wonder of how much compassion God has shown you!

We’ll send you a copy of Uncommon Compassion when you support Revive Our Hearts this month with a gift of any amount.

Dannah: To donate online, just go to ReviveOurHearts.com or call us at 1–800–569–5959. And thank you so much for your support!

Now, this isn’t the most comfortable topic, but we’re going to address it on Monday. It’s this simple fact: we’re all dying. It may not be from COVID-19, but each of us is in the process of dying. And that’s the sobering—yet hopeful—message you’ll hear on Monday. You won’t want to miss this timely presentation next week on Revive Our Hearts.

Pointing you to our only Hope in life and death—Christ alone! Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth is an outreach of Life Action Ministries. 

All Scripture is taken from the ESV.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.