Episode 1: Joyful to the Finish Line

Erin Davis: My friend Dannah Gresh is an author and speaker and the founder of True Girl, and those roles often give her a measure of visibility. 

Dannah Gresh: “Welcome to True Woman 2022!”

And my friend Erin Davis is also an author and speaker, and she’s a host on The Deep Well and Grounded podcasts. 

Erin: “I am Erin Davis, and this is Grounded.”

What audiences don’t know is that one woman had a huge effect on both Dannah and me. God used her to shape our lives and ministry.

Dannah: She’s had no big platform, no national visibility. She just helps the women in her church and community understand the truth of God’s Word and how to apply it in their real-life situations.

Erin: Dannah and I wanted to introduce our audiences to this woman who’s had such a big influence on us, so we convened in my hometown.

Dannah: This is The Deep Well with Erin Davis, I’m Dannah Gresh. If you’ve listened to The Deep Well before, you know Erin is passionate about teaching God’s Word. And normally that is what she does here on this podcast, but Erin also likes having conversations. That’s one reason why The Deep Well usually contains a section we call “Erin Unscripted.” That’s where Erin chats with her co-host or answers questions from the audience.

Well, this season of The Deep Well is going to be different. Erin isn’t going to be exegeting a passage of Scripture or exploring a theme that runs through the Bible. She and I are going to talk with a woman who has had a huge effect on both of us, Tippy Duncan.

Erin and I were so excited to talk with Tippy about all of the things she taught us about God, His Word, and life in general. Our purpose was to capture her wisdom and to share it here on The Deep Well so that you could be blessed by it too.

Tippy Duncan: Good morning. 

Dannah: It felt so important to capture Tippy’s wisdom, now that she was in her eighties. 

Erin: I thought it was going to be a chance to share things Tippy has taught me over the course of life, so we expected to cover a variety of topics women encounter today. But . . . those conversations ended up being a little different than we expected. 

In this series we’re going to focus on the realities of aging. [to Tippy:] Your brain is sharp! 

Tippy: It doesn’t feel sharp to me anymore!

Erin: We’re going to examine the tragedy of dementia. 

[Erin talking to her mom] Here Mama, Tippy is waiting for you in your room. I heard you had a big day yesterday. Did you go to the hospital?

And we’re going to see a beautiful picture of walking with joy, even when the future is uncertain.

Tippy: I’ve openly told my daughter, and my grandchildren that I am going into a dark place.

We’ll see what it’s like to trust God in every season of life! 

Erin [to Tippy]: I wanted to have this conversation with you because I admire you so much and know you have so much wisdom! I admire that you’re a prayer warrior—of course. I admire how you love the Word—of course! And I admire your love for people. But I really deeply admire your commitment. You walk every day. You get outside whenever you can. You work alongside your husband. You and David are out there chopping wood and dragging limbs and doing all kinds of stuff!

Tippy: Oh, I love manual labor. It’s good for my brain!

Erin: Right. And I think that that is something that we can so often overlook as not that important. But it’s been a discipline in your life over all these years, and I’ve seen the fruit of it. 

Tippy: It’s very important!

Erin: And I’ve seen who you are as a wife and a mom and a grandma, and you’re fun in those roles! I think that we can showcase Jesus so beautifully through fun!

[random noises]

Tippy: I make a lot of noises! I’ll walk around the house and I’ll go, “Doo-doo-do-doot-doot, bup-bup-bup-ba . . .” David will say, “Honey, are you entertaining yourself?” 

And I’ll say, “Yeah.” 

Erin: It worked. It made me laugh!

Tippy: It’s so important to have fun!

Erin: I agree. My youngest, Ezra, who’s now four . . . You regularly chase Ezra around! He runs and squeals, and you run and squeal. I just love it! And I’m sure Ezra’s not the only one that you’re silly with. I love to see joy—even silliness, fun—in the body of Christ! I think we can have more of that.

Tippy: I do, too!

Erin: I’m actually a dinosaur.

Tippy: You’re a what?

Ezra: Rawr!

Erin: You and your husband, David, you ride a motorcycle. 

Tippy: It’s a trike. 

Erin: A trike, okay.

Dannah: What is a trike? 

Tippy: It has three wheels instead of two.

Erin: You’re eighty, and you ride on the trike. I love that!

Tippy: I’m eighty. I ride on the back.

Dannah: It’s like a bicycle built for two.

Erin: Like a motorcycle built for two.

Tippy: Every weekend we take at least two rides in the country.

Erin: I just don’t know that you know how unique that is. I just see in you a commitment to fun, to having fun together, to having fun on your own. You enjoy your life; you enjoy your husband; you enjoy your friends.

Tippy: We have fun a lot!

Erin: Does that take discipline, does that come naturally to you?

Tippy: It didn’t come naturally to me, I was very, very structured. I’m much looser than I used to be.

Dannah: Why do you think you love being outside so much?

Tippy: I just love being in nature. I love seeing mountains and water and new places, it’s exciting! We’ve been to almost all the National Parks. We [in this country] have beautiful national parks! They’re absolutely gorgeous! We’ve been to Zion and Bryce. 

We need to be in God’s creation. We really love that. We have a lot of fun; we mix work and fun very well. 

Dannah: What kind of impact do you think walking has on our mental wellness and our spiritual wellness?

Tippy: Oh, I think it’s actually essential! We’re out in nature and the air is fresh. It’s good for us to be in nature.

Dannah: There is a ton of research that says that walking and hiking can be as powerful as a lot of the antidepressants that are handed out today. It can have as much efficacy. 

Tippy: It changes the brain. 

Dannah: There is data on how that works, and there are theories on how that works. I always go back to Romans 1:20, that when we see creation, we are in touch with God’s character and His power. And you cannot touch the character and power of God without it having a positive impact on you.

Tippy: No, you can’t. The minute I step outside I always feel better, so I walk a lot! 

We were in Prague on a mission trip a couple of years ago, and we walked thirteen miles one day. It was fabulous! It’s just good for us. [showing her walking route] This is where the dogs are that chase me; they’re yappers.

Dannah: Well at the age of eighty, with all the hiking and activity that you do, have you ever been injured?

Tippy: I was about five months ago. I was walking in front of our house. It’s a mile around, but I add on to it. I was walking down the hill and these dogs came running after me barking. I didn’t know what dogs they were, so I turned around to confront them, and I lost my balance and fell. My back is still not healed.

Dannah: So, is that risk still worth it? How do you calculate it?

Tippy: Oh, absolutely! I’m not going to stop going places and doing things; that’s just not smart! I’m not a hermit.

Dannah: Tippy, what do you think as women in our [whispers] forties . . 

Erin: You’re not in your forties!! 

Dannah: Well, you are . . .

Erin: I’m in my forties . . .

Dannah: I’m in my thirties! 

Erin: You are???!! Wow! [louder laughter]

Dannah: In our forties and our fifties—our “elegant fifties”—what could we be doing now so that we’re shining as brightly when we hit our eightieth year?

Tippy: Take really good care of yourself, physically, emotionally, mentally. Do that.

Erin: I know you. I have access to your life, and so I know the scope of the kinds of ministries you have. We were talking about doing this season and I said, “She’s just a woman hidden in the church. She doesn’t have her name on a book; she’s not got a ministry under her name. But I know that you rock babies in the nursery a lot of Sunday mornings.

I know that you take communion to shut-ins in nursing homes. I know that you also sometimes go to far-flung places to encourage missionaries. I know that your husband is on military bases equipping the police. 

You’re doing it all in Jesus’ Name, and there’s probably a lot that I don’t know. 

Tippy: That’s enough. 

Erin: That is enough. 

But in your eighties, what is motivating you to continue serving—I want to say “in big and small ways,” but we don’t even know what is “big” and “small” in the kingdom—the Lord knows.

I think there are a lot of folks in their eighties who think, I’ve done my time. I’ve taught AWANA for twenty-five years, and now I’m just going to go to church. But you and David seem to be pressing into the ministries you choose. 

Tippy: I decided I wasn’t going to do that! David and I don’t talk about retirement. 

Erin: It’s maybe a bad analogy, but Dannah, I’ve heard you say about your marriage, “We just didn’t talk about divorce; divorce wasn’t an option.” That’s good advice! I love the thought of that being true of retirement, too: “We’re going to serve the Lord ’til He comes back for us. Retirement is not even something that we’re shooting for.” 

Tippy: That’s right. You can serve in all different kinds of ways. I only work three days a week, and that’s good. I have two or three women that I visit during the week—like your mom. I just listen to their stories and pray for them and take them communion. It’s a blessing to me. I have a real passion for it. I’m not going to stop doing it.

Erin: That’s beautiful. 

Tippy: One of the women that I visit each week on Thursday is a widow. They were in our small group. Her husband died (he was such a sweet man!). She is a very sweet woman, and she keeps saying to me, “Now you’re going to have to quit working so you can stay all day!”

She’s ninety-two; she’s sharp as a tack! She listens to Scripture right before she goes to sleep. She reads the Bible all the time, and she knows it well.

Dannah: I think if you keep in touch with God’s Spirit . . . Our bodies change, right? You become physically less able to do as much, but if you’re still in obedience to God, He’s going to tell you the next right thing. 

Tippy: That’s right.

Dannah: I’m thinking of this woman, her name was Elizabeth Sheets. She discipled me for a short window when I was in high school. When I was a missionary for Child Evangelism Fellowship doing 5-Day Clubs, she was my driver.

Erin: As in, she drove the vehicle.

Dannah: I couldn’t drive. I didn’t have a driver’s license yet, so she drove me around. She was maybe in her eighties, but still driving. Sometimes I would spend the night at her house because the route for our 5-Day Clubs would be closer to her house than to my house.

I didn’t know the treasure I had until she died and my mom sent me her obituary. I realized I was with a “Great One”! She was a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, spent her whole life on the mission field.

The stories of faith and making the name of Jesus famous in the countries where she served were amazing! When she retired she wasn’t strong enough to teach a 5-Day Club, but she was strong enough to drive.

And then I found she was eventually in a home because she couldn’t care for herself, and she started a Bible study!

Erin: In the nursing home?

Dannah: In the nursing home. The flame of God’s Spirit in her life never went out!

Erin: I love that! Tippy, this is going to be uncomfortable for you to hear, but you’re a “Great One.” You and David sit in about the same place in church week after week. You’re near us. I just look over at you, and he’s usually got his arm around you. I love that you two are still affectionate! Please always be affectionate.

Tippy: We even kiss in public.

Erin: Oooh, I like it! And if I could, if there would be a moment where I could see how many of us you’ve prayed for, how many of us you’ve counseled, how many of us you’ve loved on . . . I mean, I don't know if you want to think about your funeral—I don’t want to think about your funeral! But I don’t know where in our community we’ll have it because the people you’ve touched, the lives you’ve touched, is so significant! 

I know it doesn’t seem that way to you, but you’ve made a tremendous impact (I’m tearing up) just by being faithful year after year after year! So, I hope that women who watch this and listen to this will get a vision for their own lives. They don’t have to do something huge; they don’t have to have their name on anything. They just have to be faithful to Jesus . . . and it will add up!

Tippy: Absolutely!

Dannah: That’s Erin Davis and Tippy Duncan, reminding you of something important, you can have a huge effect on the next generation of women, and you don’t have to have a big platform to do it. 

Erin and Tippy will be right back. Before they come, I want to tell you about a book that will help you invest in other women. It’s called Spiritual Mothering: A Titus 2 Model for Women Mentoring Women. 

Maybe you thought, I’d like to be like Tippy and invest in the women around me, but it sounds intimidating. “How do I start?” Well, this book will show you. You can get a copy by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com. And that’s also where you can send us a note and let us know that you appreciate The Deep Well podcast. 

And when you’re at ReviveOurHearts.com, do me a favor. Watch the video version of this podcast. You’ll see Tippy and David riding their trike. You’ll see Erin, Tippy, and me hanging out on the Davis farm, and you’ll go along on Tippy’s early morning walks. 

You’ll find that at ReviveOurHearts.com, or subscribe to the Revive Our Hearts YouTube channel. 

On the next episode I’m going to tell you four crucial things Tippy taught me about my marriage when it felt a little difficult. The entire season of The Deep Well is out now on audio and video. 

Now, let’s get back to Tippy and Erin. 

Erin: Psalm 100 tells us, “Serve the Lord with gladness, come into His presence with singing!” I want the joy of the Lord to be seen in me every day! I want to serve the Lord with gladness until He takes me home, even when life is hard. And now, in her eighties, that’s one thing Tippy is teaching me.

Dannah: What do you want people to say about your life at your funeral?

Tippy: First of all, “She loved Jesus!” and “She loved people!” I love a lot of people. God is so good to me. He sends me the most wonderful people.

Erin: Your funeral is going to be such a happy occasion because you’ve given your life to others and to Jesus. That’s what it’s about!

Tippy: I’m amazed at what He’s done for me, absolutely amazed!

Dannah: The Deep Well with Erin Davis is part of the Revive Our Hearts podcast family, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. 

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