Hello, this is Brother Denny.
Welcome to Charity Ministries.
Our desire is that your life would be
blessed and changed by this message.
This message is not copyrighted and is not
to be bought or sold.
You are welcome to make copies for your
friends and neighbors.
If you would like additional messages, please go
to our website for a complete listing at
www.charityministries.org.
If you would like a catalog of other
sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or
write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street,
Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522.
These messages are offered to all without charge
by the free will offerings of God's people.
A special thank you to all who support
this ministry.
Always with trembling that I come and yet
excitement, an air of excitement to look at
the faces of my sisters and get to
share with them the good things that God
has for us.
I have a theory in my Christian life.
You know what, I think I'm older than
almost all of you here.
I stopped to say that.
It's actually, I was telling Suzy that it's
unusual for me to be one of the
older ones because in most of our other
churches there is a little bit more of
a balance of age than there is here.
This is a little bit lower age congregation.
But I actually am tied as two women
in more than one ways here because I
do think I might be one of the
older ones.
A few sisters that might be up there
with me, but I am 49.
And anyway, through these years of walking with
Christ, one thing that I have learned is
I've learned to learn from my sisters.
And I've learned that every believer has the
indwelling God inside of them.
If they're 15 and they're born again, if
they're 13 and they're born again, if they're
48 and they're born again, if they're struggling
in sin but they're born again, if they're
very mature but they're born again, they have
the living God inside of them.
And so I look at them and watch
them.
I watch a, what are you, 15?
13, I watch a 13-year-old.
I watch her for a while while she's
with her friends.
And I think, she's got something I want.
You know, and when we're counseling someone who's
in trouble, someone who is deeply in sin,
someone who looks almost, I don't know, the
situation looks almost hopeless.
Maybe they've come with the same sin and
the same sin and the same sin.
I still sit there and think, but God
is living inside of them.
God is living inside of them.
And I'm going to sit here and I'm
going to learn something from that sister.
True, she's failing in this.
True, she just did this again.
But she has God inside of her and
I want more of God.
And I determine that when I come away
from being with my brothers and sisters in
Christ that I have more of Jesus Christ
than I did before.
And that's the way we want to look
at our sisters.
So when I come up here, I look
at all your faces and I think right
away, why all of these sisters have the
living God, all that would be born again
here, have the living God inside of them.
And I want to study them a little
bit.
And even during last night, during the couples
night, I study and watch and think, ah,
there's something of Christ that I've missed and
I want.
And that way, as years go by, I
become more like Christ because I'm leaning from
Him.
So I have nothing more than you have,
but I have the living God inside of
me.
So it's an amazing thought and nothing that
any other religion has.
And so I really don't have maybe any
more wisdom than some of you in here
or maybe any more insight, but I just
trust God that you can just look up
here and maybe something of Jesus Christ will
speak to you.
One of the sisters had asked, actually I
came prepared to do a variety of different
things.
I did sit before the Lord and get
something, but then I do speak often enough
that I brought several things and thought that
I would watch for a while and see
what the situation was and see if anyone
mentioned something to me.
And I brought a variety of things for
different age groups and things like that.
But then one of the sisters last night
said that some people would like to hear
my testimony before I taught.
So I'm not going to give a long
version, but I am going to tell a
little of my testimony.
Is it true that most of you don't
know either Rick's or my testimony?
Raise your hand if you pretty much don't
know it.
Raise your hand if you do know it,
Rita.
Okay.
I thought maybe you'd be the only one.
All right.
I will tell a little bit just in
case it would be something that would bless
you.
I was raised as a Catholic girl, very
strong in the Catholic Church, in a fairly
stable home, not a traumatic home like many
people are, but still not a Christian home.
We were well-to-do.
My family is well-known.
My family has a lot of political ties.
We traveled a lot all over the United
States.
I did all over the world.
I was a girl that ran with some
high socialites.
It wasn't uncommon for me to run with
high political crowds and things like that.
Then I went to a university setting, and
I met Rick, who came from a whole
different type of background, maybe lower class if
you were looking through the world's eyes.
Yet something had happened in his life that
enabled him to go to college, and we
met at college.
I don't promote college at all, but I'm
just telling you part of my testimony.
I wasn't afraid of dying, and I didn't
know that I was lost.
That's contrary to what many preachers preach, that
everyone knows that I did not.
I was living in a world of deceit.
I believed that religion is saved.
I was a good Catholic girl, so I
had no reason to tremble.
I thought the bad guys went to hell
and the good guys went to heaven, and
the bad guys were, most of them, pretty
much in jail anyway.
That was pretty much taken care of, and
the rest of us good guys went to
heaven, especially us good Catholic guys.
If somebody would talk about the gospel, I
just listened.
I don't even remember many people talking about
it.
I listened distantly, thinking thoughts like, I'm Catholic,
I wonder why they're talking to me about
this.
Don't they know that I'm fine?
I did not know that I was lost.
Rick and I, we started out with not
much money, because that's the way my family
felt about that.
They believed you had to move up the
ranks for yourself.
We actually had some sense of religion in
us, and so I began to pray, and
I asked him, could we pray from the
first day we were married, and he said
we could, and we did, and we prayed.
But Rick mainly wanted, I didn't know this
at this time, to be a powerful international
executive, making a tremendous amount of money.
Those were his goals.
That might be one of the reasons that
he married me.
And he was getting those goals within a
few years of us marrying.
He was moving up the ladder.
We traveled abroad, lived in London, worked for
Lloyd's of London, and we're moving fast up
the ladder of the world success.
But we prayed, God, if you ever have
anything more for us, we're willing.
We were very ignorant.
What I was saying to God is, if
there's more to Catholicism than I see, I'll
gladly do it.
We were praying, I'll be glad to be
a better Hutterite, Lord, if you show me
how.
You know what I'm saying?
For you from the Kleine Gemeine, I was
saying, Lord, if there's more to this, I'm
willing.
I was not saying, let me be born
again, because I didn't know anything about it.
But God, who is merciful, saw me and
said, yes, we'll give you more.
I'll give you more than you're asking for,
but you're going to be surprised at what
it is.
And we became deeply involved in the Catholic
Church, and I was part of a movement
called the Cursillo Movement, the Renew Movement.
We were lay leaders.
We had 30 people that we were over
that met in homes, and each of them
had 10 to 20 people moving in their
homes.
So we had about 300 people under us
in a lay movement in the Catholic Church.
And the Lord began to speak to us,
and we began to open His Word, and
we began to ask Him for more, and
He began to give it, and the Lord
saved both of our souls within a six
-month period.
However, we didn't know the terminology.
He made us new creatures, but we didn't
know exactly, because we didn't know enough about
being born again to even know that we'd
been born again.
I remember going and telling people something wonderful
has happened, and they said, what?
And I said, I don't know.
All I know is we were one way
before, and now we're another way, and we'll
never be the same again.
And it wasn't until I was reading my
Bible sometime later that it said, behold, all
things are made new, and I said, that's
what happened to me, but I didn't know
to say that I was born again.
But God isn't limited by that box, so
I often say that it was more miraculous
that He saved me in that setting than
a heathen in some dark jungle, because I
was saved.
I thought I was saved.
So see how much harder it would have
been to bring me the Gospel.
It's miraculous that He saved me, and that
He saved me without even explaining to me
what saving is.
But He did.
And our lives were never the same again.
We began the struggle of religion where we
wanted to be good Catholics and wanted to
stay in the church, and surely they were
born again too, and we tried like so
many people try.
And that went on for a while, and
the priests would come and say, what's wrong
with you all?
You're getting off course.
Maybe you can chuckle at this.
We, of course, don't watch television, so I'm
hoping you'll take this for what it's worth.
This was us way back.
And we went in to visit them, and
one of the priests said, you are getting
very confused.
You must be watching too much Christian television.
And I said, there's Christian television?
At that point, that was a good thought
to me.
Oh, well, I'll go turn it on and
see.
But of course, after a few months of
turning that on, we realized that there isn't
any Christian television.
But I'm saying that's how ignorant we were.
You know, we were happy to find anything
that had to do with Christ.
From there, our walk changed in that about
a year later, we did not try to
leave the Catholic Church.
We began secretly visiting Bible-believing churches.
We went to a little church where no
one would know me, because if you remember
from my testimony, then I would have been
known, and I wouldn't want anyone there to
know.
So we went to a poor little country
church where we didn't think anyone would know
us.
And the reason we went is because they
had a sign out front that said, Bible
-believing church.
And we said, that's what we want.
We want people that believe in the Bible.
And little did we know that at that
time that many people call themselves Bible-believers
and aren't.
But for us, we were thrilled.
We secretly went, and we would secretly go
to our church.
Back, forth, back, forth.
Oh my, it was traumatic.
And then, one day, God let us get
caught.
And we got caught in front of a
huge room full of our people when I
was at a very exclusive party, and I
knew no one would be there from this
other church.
I never even gave it a thought.
And in walked somebody who said, Hello, I
know you.
It's so good to see you here.
And all the other ladies said, How do
you know her?
And she said, Oh, she goes to my
church.
And there was stunned silence, and everyone said,
No, you must be misunderstanding.
Of course she doesn't go to your church.
And they said, Yes, she goes to our
church.
And her children, Paige, Wes, and Tanner at
that time, we had a four-year-old,
a two-year-old, and a baby.
Or maybe three, one, and a baby.
But anyway, three little ones.
And they said, No, she doesn't go to
your church.
And oh, I just wanted the floor to
open up and swallow me.
Rick wasn't there.
I was petrified.
It wasn't like what Rick talked about today,
let faith replace fear.
It was fear, gripping fear.
Gripping fear.
What am I going to do?
How can I get out of this?
But she wouldn't let me out of it.
She said, Of course I know her.
She goes, she sits in the third row.
They sing the hymns.
By then, everyone was just in such a
turmoil.
So I quickly left and went home and
called my husband in tears and said, We're
in big trouble.
And sure enough, we were in big trouble
within a few hours.
The family members and different ones and church
people were there.
Please know that I don't say this in
any way against my people or the Catholic
people, but this is the truth of my
testimony.
And we had to say, What are we
going to do with Jesus?
What are we going to do with our
faith?
Does the system save?
Can we live like this?
Or are we going to pull out all
the stops and live totally sold out for
Jesus?
And God put us in a corner, didn't
he?
Isn't he good?
He put us in a corner.
How many years it would have taken us?
I don't know, but he saw down the
pathway of time at the things that Rick
would be called to do later.
And he must have said, Okay, this is
wasting too much time.
Let's get on with it.
Let's get these people into the battle.
And he put us into the battle.
He forced us into the battle.
We had to make a decision then, either
just leave behind all the truth we were
learning or what, and we decided then.
And so we left the church system and
moved down on our own in faith.
And that's our testimony from there.
It continues on.
And now the Lord has brought us to
this point.
And we praise his name.
And that's our testimony.
And of course, we had a lot to
change and we had a lot of pressure
from our dear family, in some ways.
And then some gave us no pressure whatsoever.
They were just done with us.
And even now, occasionally, I'll go back into
that setting every now and then and just
kind of poke our heads in and out.
We actually moved a few years later because
Rick saw that we couldn't bring up our
children with the situation there.
And so we did move, and I thank
God for that.
Now I have a...
Some of you know, but I'll go ahead
and tell you that we have 11 children.
Six natural, five adopted.
Makes no difference to us, though.
They all just merge in together.
We didn't go six natural and five adopted,
but they were all mixed up in there.
And so we just about forget who's who.
In fact, Paige, to her embarrassment, once was
giving a testimony in front of the church.
And she said how she'd been into Lancaster
and, oh, she's adopted.
How, oh, she's been to Lancaster and, oh,
she just pities those people.
And she said, I just...
I just can't thank God enough for being
born into a Christian home.
And she saw that a couple of people
were looking at her funny, and then she
realized and went, oh, like that.
And then later she told me, Mom, I
felt so silly, but I forget.
I forget that I wasn't born into a
Christian home.
So that's those.
And of those 11, nine are at home.
The oldest serves among the Cancunba tribal people,
breaking down the language of Lekwuan with his
wife, Charity.
They live in a bush, in a mud
hut.
Some of you may keep up with them.
Some of you, I hope, pray for them.
Next is Tanner, and he just got married.
He, too, is called to the unreached.
His wife, Rebecca, they are both called to
the unreached tribal people.
So it won't be long, I think, that
they won't be with us any longer.
And then from there down, living at home
with us, also, are five, soon to be
again six, soon as Michael Ulrich joins us
once more.
Young people living with us, all of whom
are living with us because when they stepped
out into the baptismal waters, they couldn't return
home for various cultural or religious reasons.
So they live with us as our young
people.
We love them dearly.
They love us.
We pour a lot into them, and we
also correct them a lot, which they receive,
and they have grown in a lot of
glory.
That's our family life.
I thought that, and praise God for it,
I look back on who we would have
been and what we could have been, and
I just can't thank God enough.
You can't talk to a group of women
without talking about motherhood, and yet, there are
always women in the room that aren't mothers.
So what do you do with that?
Well, you can say, we're having a sisters'
meeting for marrieds only, or you can say,
we're having a sisters' meeting for unmarrieds only,
and that works sometimes.
But I think the best thing to do
is to have a sisters' meeting that has
a little bit of both in it, and
that we learn to approach teachings just as
we approach the Bible.
You know, the Bible is not afraid to
talk a great deal about married women, even
though some of you aren't married.
You know, God is not afraid to say,
to point the finger at wives submitted to
your husband.
And he doesn't think, oh, but some of
them aren't wives.
But a great deal of what he has
to say in the Bible is directed towards
wives.
So I think we shouldn't shy away from
that, but what we should do is learn
what every woman should learn anyway.
One of the key things every woman should
learn is teachability under all circumstances.
That should be one of the number one
things that every woman in the world wants
to learn, is teachability under every circumstance.
You should get your life so yielded that
you can learn as much from a children's
lesson as you can from the most powerful
sermon ever written.
You should get yourself so teachable that you
can sit near where the men are talking
and walk away having grown in the Lord.
You should get yourself so teachable that when
the young girls are speaking, the 15, 16,
17, 18-year-olds, that you can sit
over there and glean for a while and
go back home and really have something.
That way you won't click your switch off
and think, oh, this doesn't apply to me.
This doesn't apply to me.
That's a way for a woman to just
go downhill in her walk.
I've found that a lot of women are
either on roller coasters where they go way
up high and then way down low.
Like at a revival meeting, they'll hear a
lot of solid teaching.
Now I've got it, I've got it, I've
got it.
But then as the weeks go by, down
they go, back down the bottom of the
roller coaster.
But you don't need to be that way.
You should set yourself in a mode.
I'm just going to be continually learning, continually
growing in the Lord.
If they're speaking to the youth up there,
from the pulpit, I'm going to listen.
God has a word for me.
If they're speaking to the men and I
happen to be in on it, I'm going
to pray, Lord, teach me something.
And that way you don't have to worry
about, oh, I'm single or I'm married or
I'm not a youth or I'm not a
man.
You don't have to worry about that.
You just trust in the ever-living God.
But you must tell Him that you want
this.
Just ask Him, God, could you let me
learn something here?
So I ask you to do the same
thing.
One thing I thought we would talk about
a little, we're going to talk about several
little subjects in a row, is trusting the
Lord.
The word, the best word in the Bible
that covers trust, there's several of them, is
batakh, B-A-T-A-H.
It's pronounced batakh.
I'm not at all a Hebrew or Greek
person, but I do know how to use
my concordances and my strength and things like
that to try to find out what I
need to find out.
And listen to what it means.
The primary root means to hide for refuge.
Isn't that a wonderful word?
To hide for refuge.
To be confident or sure.
To be bold in the sense of secure
and sure.
To be careless.
And it says, in the fact of a
woman.
What do you think they mean?
To be careless.
As far as a woman pertains.
What do you think that means?
Anyone with an idea?
Why would they say trust means to be
careless?
Careless seems to me like, careless is if
I leave something in the middle of the
aisle and then you all trip over it
and break it.
And it's my fault because I was careless.
But they don't mean that, I don't think.
What do they mean?
Yes?
That's right.
Without a care.
As far as women are going.
So that means that in the scriptures where
it says to trust, that you're not to
take up a lot of cares that aren't
yours to take up.
To put confidence in.
To hope.
Those are some of the ideas about trust.
I had asked a few of you to
read a scripture on trust.
Or to look up a scripture on trust.
Who did?
Okay.
Go ahead.
Hold on.
I told you it's a little inconvenient.
It's okay.
Keep it turned on.
Proverbs.
Proverbs 3.
Verse 5 and 6.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him and he
shall direct thy paths.
Okay.
Remember, sisters, when you're passing a microphone like
this around, it's not a voice magnifying microphone.
It doesn't change your voice at all.
You still have to speak up.
It just allows it to be taped for
other sisters.
Somebody else put one up?
Psalm 4.
Verse 5.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your
trust in the Lord.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness and put your
trust in the Lord.
Somebody else?
Psalm 118.
Verses 8 and 9.
It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in man.
It is better to trust in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.
Yes.
Psalm 37.
Verse 40.
And the Lord shall help them and deliver
them.
He shall deliver them from the wicked and
save them because they trust in him.
How we need to be taught on trust.
How we need to study trust.
It's a cornerstone for every woman no matter
what she's doing.
I don't care how old she is.
I don't care what her circumstances are.
Whether they're difficult.
Whether they're easy.
Whether you're married to Brother Rick.
Or whether you're married to a drunkard.
It does not matter.
All of us have the same need of
definitely needing to trust in the Lord.
If we can more fully learn to trust
the Lord Jesus we'll bring so much delight
to our homes, to our churches, whether we're
wives, mothers, widows, youth singles.
Show me a woman that trusts in the
Lord and I'll tell you that she's a
delight among the people of God and a
light among the people who are not of
God.
She is a delight among the people of
God and a light among the people who
are not of God.
One reason is she's not ruffled by every
little disturbance.
The things that throw either an unsaved woman
or an unconsecrated woman into a tiz do
not affect her in the same way.
Her ultimate refuge is in the very one
that created the universe and holds the stars
in place.
Think of it that way.
Surely the God that holds all the stars
in place can handle our little crises down
here that seem so big to us.
And they are big to us.
But He can.
Which woman are you?
Are you the woman that trusts in the
Lord for those things or are you the
woman that is constantly in doubt or constantly
struggling with trust?
I don't want to weigh you down here
at all.
If you're failing in this area, I just
actually want to lift it up as a
high standard.
It would be such a blessing to all
of your loved ones, whatever situation you're in,
if you began to trust in the Lord
so much that you could face trials with
a very steady outlook.
And how the church grows when there are
several women in the church who are steady
and they have a confidence in God and
they have a peaceful attitude.
Interestingly enough, if you begin to trust God
more and to press through in this, you'll
actually trust your fathers, your husbands, and your
ministers more.
The more you can get to where you
trust God, the more you can trust those
that He placed in authority over you.
Because after all, He's the one who placed
them there.
So you can trust Him.
I can honestly say that years ago when
my husband said he was going to quit
his job of 20 years, leave our church,
leave the hometown where I had been raised
up for 40 years, leave my family, leave
everything behind, and move to Pennsylvania and possibly
build bunk beds or lawn furniture, I had
complete and total trust in Him.
I did not waver.
I can honestly tell you that.
Now, I have many failures in other areas,
but in that, I just said, Aha!
Okay, I'm with you.
But the reason was not that I trusted
Rick, but that I trusted God.
And I looked past and beyond Rick as
he was saying he was going to do
those things, and I trusted God.
Now, I don't always feel that confident, but
in that case, I did.
Did God pour extra grace out on me?
Maybe He did, knowing what was ahead of
us.
Nevertheless, I was able to look to God,
and it was such a blessing.
Can we not trust Him like Sarah did?
Do you remember how Sarah trusts?
Oh, I love how Sarah trusts.
My...
You know, God could have given us any...
It's in 1 Timothy 3, 6.
He could have given us any example of
trust.
I mean, Mary.
Now, there is an example of trust.
Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord.
Be it done unto me according to thy
word, she said.
Now, that's trust.
But God didn't decide to use her as
our example of trust.
He decided to use Sarah.
That makes me feel pretty good because, remember,
Sarah laughed.
Remember, she laughed.
She wasn't perfect.
Isn't it wonderful how God points us to
David and says how wonderful David is?
And David failed.
And He points us to Sarah, and Sarah
laughed.
I'm glad He does that to show us
that it's not perfection I'm after.
It's the heart I'm after.
And here in 1 Timothy 3, verse 6.
Let's see.
I've lost my place.
Can someone find it for me real quickly?
Trusting us to...
Mm-hmm.
Thanks.
Thank you.
My mind was going blank like it does
when you're standing up here.
Isn't it a wonder the men's minds don't
go blank?
Okay.
3, 6.
First Peter.
For after this manner...
What manner, God?
What manner?
That's 5, verse 5.
What manner after this manner?
So then you always back up.
Why did God say this manner?
Okay, it was the manner of a hidden
heart, quiet spirit, meek and quiet spirit.
Do you know what a quiet spirit is?
It's a spirit that's not raging.
It doesn't mean a...
It's a spirit that's not raging on the
seas of life.
A quiet spirit is not ruffled, not anxious.
A quiet spirit which is in the sight
of God of great price.
Okay, so for after this manner, the one
that's not ruffled by the seas of life,
in the old time the holy women also
who trusted, there's our trust, in God, adorned
themselves being in subjection unto their own husbands,
even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord,
whose daughters you are, as long as you
do well and are not afraid with any
amazement.
Sometimes I write that down, not afraid with
any amazement.
And I stick it somewhere, not afraid with
any amazement.
For a couple of years I've lived on
that, not afraid with any amazement.
Not afraid with any amazement.
Maybe some of you have heard me give
testimonies on how I've grown in that area
because I often would laugh in that area
myself.
But amazement is where when your father or
your husband or one of the brothers in
the church or all the brothers in the
church says something and you go, what?
That's amazement.
All of you women have experienced that before.
When a man said, we're going to do
this, we're going to go do this or
we're going to do this or we believe
this and your heart kind of goes, that's
amazement.
And it says that we're supposed to obey
the men without amazement and that means our
fathers, the brothers in the church that we're
to just be at rest and quietly praying
for them.
Do they make mistakes?
Of course they do.
But we're trusting above their heads to God
and so we don't have amazement.
A good example I have of that is
when I was praying with Rick.
He had asked me into a council room
and there was a sister there.
Beautiful sister, beautiful face on this sister.
Lovely, looked like she really had her act
together.
Really seemed to love her children, love her
husband.
I didn't know her.
But very peaceful look on her face.
She was crying.
She was a hurting lady and she was
crying over something.
And we were in there and Rick had
asked me, sometimes Rick will ask me to
just do for a while but he wasn't
giving it much to me.
So I asked a few questions and then
I stepped back and he seemed to be
doing it.
And she was in the middle of talking
and Rick said, you're a very bitter, angry
lady.
And I went, I'm serious.
That is, I think, the biggest example I've
ever had in my life of fear and
amazement.
I'm telling you, I thought, what is he
doing?
And I could actually feel my heart kind
of go like that.
And I was kind of, I was finding
that yours should say, oh well actually, you
know, and try to soften things.
But anyway, she said, no, in a very
sweet tone, I don't think that's the problem.
So I thought, okay, okay, we've got past
that.
I wonder what came over Rick that he
did that.
And then Rick's a very gentle man and
we continued on.
All of a sudden, Rick said, do you
children, if I were to go and ask
your children, are you a very angry, bitter
woman, what would they tell me?
And again, that horrible fear came in my
life.
What is he doing?
And then I thought of that scripture.
Oh, this must be what they're talking about.
This must be how Sarah was tempted to
feel when she got sent into the harem.
Do you remember that Sarah got sent into
a harem?
She must have gone, at first, but evidently,
believing in God she was able to go,
okay, all right, I trust God without fearing
anything.
Can you imagine doing that?
She did that.
And so, I chose that day.
Okay, I'm going to calm my heartbeat down
and I'm going to sit back and as
it says in Ruth, sit still, sister, and
see what the matter will, how the matter
will fall.
Sit still and see how the matter will
fall.
And I decided, I think I'll sit still
and see how the matter will fall here.
But I was, you know, and the sister
looked with that soft, sweet face and she
said, I'm so angry!
I'm so angry!
And she just began to go on and
on and on and, but I have every
right to be, I have every right to
be.
And then we watched her go on and
I went, and then I realized, oh, the
beauty, the beauty of trusting with no fear
or amazement because what were my fears anyway?
That she might think bad of Rick, that
she might get her feelings hurt and leave
the room, that he might be off course
and hurt her deeply.
I mean, I did, you know, those were
the kind of fears that I was thinking.
But here, Rick was listening to God and
I was listening to Helen's emotions, but he
was listening to God.
And I had to get to the point
where I looked over my emotions and looked
to God too and said, okay, God, you
placed Rick here.
What can I do?
I'll just sit back.
And do you know, she got born again.
And later, she wrote us a wonderful note
of thank you so much for the first
time in my life I'm free.
I'm not hiding all this.
And when you asked if my children knew,
of course they know.
You know, but they've learned to hide it
too.
And thank you, thank you, thank you.
And I wanted to write her back a
letter and say, don't thank me.
I almost wrecked the whole thing by trying
to cover it up and, you know, and
fix it, but I didn't.
We must trust without any fear or any
amazement.
Right now, I want everyone in the room
to stop and think for just a minute
and we don't have time or I'll give
you a little more time to think, but
try to think of a time in your
life when you had a struggle trusting in
your father, your minister, your husband or some
other elder in the church.
And I do realize that men make mistakes.
Please don't think that I miscount that.
But just for a moment, can you picture,
nod to me, can you picture a time
in your life when you just, or even
a small time when you had a little
bit of a struggle trusting.
I'm surprised that I'm not seeing many nods
so you're always trusting.
Or you're just still pondering for a minute.
Okay, got it in your mind?
Now, meditate on Job for just a minute.
Recently, I read Job again.
God, isn't it amazing all the things he
had to face?
Could any of us face all the things
Job had to face and all at once
just, bam, bam, back and forth.
And Job said, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust
him.
So surely, we can trust God in these
small instances that are now in all of
your minds and my mind.
None of those instances are like what happened
to Job.
And yet, we struggle with trust.
But Job said, though he slay me, yet
will I trust him.
How could he say that?
Because if God slayed you, then you would
think, oh, well, he wasn't the God I
thought he was.
But no, Job was saying, there, basically what
he was saying is there is nothing that
can happen that can keep me from trusting
God.
Young girls, Job could trust him even if
he slayed him and Sarah could trust him
even if they went in a harem.
So couldn't you not trust your fathers if
you didn't agree with their decision?
I counseled a girl within hours before we
left home who said they were struggling with
a decision their parents were making.
And I said, you can trust them for
this.
This decision will seem so small to you
in the years to come that you'll almost
be amazed that you spent these weeks in
turmoil over it.
Surely we can.
And sister, can't you trust the ministry?
And can't you wives trust your head if
Job could trust them to death like that?
God gives us such a good example there.
Let's look at Psalms 4-5.
I don't think anyone read that.
Did they?
Did any of you read Psalm 4-5?
Do you have it?
We'll have a young sister read it.
Speak it out.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness.
It's similar to another one one of the
sisters read.
And look up Psalm 11.
I'm sorry, Psalm 5-11 I think it
is.
But, talking for a minute about 4-5,
it says that we must try to live
uprightly offering up sacrifices of righteousness and then
even if we've walked uprightly it's easier to
trust God.
It's very hard to trust God if you're
living a wicked life.
If you know that you're doing things that
are wrong of course it's hard.
Sometimes I'll have a girl that's walking in
rebellion quite a bit of rebellion and she'll
come to me and say it's so hard
to trust God.
And I say well why don't you try
walking in some righteousness also at the same
time because if we go ahead and walk
in righteousness so that so often if we're
not trusting our authorities we start to act
wrong.
And then it's even harder for us to
trust.
Psalm 5 and 11.
But let all those that put their trust
in me rejoice let them ever shout for
joy because thou defendest them let them also
that love thy name be joyful in me.
That's right.
What a reason to be joyful that we
absolutely can trust in God.
That's right.
And we have every reason to be joyful
because what do we have to worry about?
What do we have to worry about when
the Lord God is on our side?
Psalm 1830 is the psalm that we used
when we wrote our little sent out our
little birth announcement when our daughter was born
with Down syndrome extensive I didn't mention that
in our testimony but I think most of
you know we have a daughter that was
born with Down syndrome she also had massive
holes in her heart she also had a
collapsing lung she also has a hemangioma on
her lip she's a dear precious little thing
to us but um lots and lots of
challenges in our life still are but we're
especially then and we sent out a birth
announcement and I had Psalm 1830 there as
for God his way is perfect the word
of the Lord is tried he is a
buckler to all those that trust in him
he's a buckler so when we've talked about
this with trust before in a more open
setting the women will often say well what
are some practical secrets to having a peaceful
home setting as far as using trust in
our lives so I wanted to give you
a few practical secrets to having a peaceful
home eight of them if they're directed towards
wives then just remember what I said you
ask God he'll apply it to your life
if they're directed towards someone who's not married
you ask God the first one is more
for wives but I want you to listen
to it because it applies to any sister
though you be sober and spiritual minded yet
you must never be too heavy on your
husband I've met a few very very very
spiritual women in my life that were too
heavy too heavy on their men of the
church too heavy on the brothers too heavy
on the husbands too heavy on their fathers
even a very very spiritual girl can be
too much heaviness in their home for their
own father learn to balance it with light
heartedness now I don't mean a light hearted
attitude that's silly I don't mean that at
all but I mean a trusting a trusting
attitude though you want him to know that
you're serious about your responsibilities yet you must
portray that you trust what's going on that
you enjoy your tasks if you're married you
need to portray to him that you and
he are partners and you trust him and
life is not too hard for you if
you're a sister in the church you need
to portray to the men of the church
yes what you're asking us to do is
good I trust you I'm going to do
it it's not too hard it's not too
difficult the ministry you've asked me to do
it's not too much on me your husband
has lots of responsibilities on his shoulders and
so do the sisters in the let them
find a welcome haven in the sisters of
the church a blessed relief in the storm
as far as the husband let him be
happy to come home to you relieved to
come home to you same with you young
girls your father should just delight to see
your face though you be sober and spiritual
minded do not be heavy and that has
to do with trust I found that the
people that are very very heavy in their
spiritual walk they don't have a lot of
room to trust they don't trust number two
tell your husband your children your father your
friends how much you love them very often
life is short it could end tomorrow if
you're trusting the Lord it doesn't matter how
difficult things are it doesn't matter if your
friends are failing you it doesn't matter if
people aren't doing right in the church you
all ought to be telling each other that
you love each other you should be telling
the men that are over you in your
authority if you're married or you're still a
young girl living at home if you're a
single sister you should be telling your sisters
but that's part of trust you know when
I tell you I love you it's a
lot part of trust because it means I
know you mess up but I trust God
and I love you tell your children how
wonderful your husband is and sisters that aren't
married bless your ministry to one another sometimes
say praise God wasn't that a good message
I just thank God for godly preachers don't
you I just I just want to bless
them what a blessing you know you can
do that if you trust God if you
can't do that it's probably because you don't
really trust him number four portray to your
husband that where he leads you will gladly
follow girls if you're at home portray to
your dad dad I'm with you let's go
try to portray that as much as possible
to your ministry too hey we're behind you
brother we are behind you in this thing
we're Rick one time came home and he
was going to a very difficult meeting very
very difficult men had come from long distances
it was involving a lot of different ministers
from different areas very serious situation and before
he went he came into the bedroom and
said Helen what
I'm going to the church circle at first
I thought what is he fixing to do
and I said yes of course I'm your
wife and then he said what if we
end up in some who knows where starting
all over again some little room at church
and I thought what is fixing to happen
but grace came upon me and I said
then we'll have each other in the Lord
Jesus I'm fine that's all I needed to
hear and he walked out the door and
I must say that I stayed and waited
out for him to come home that night
and when he came home he talked to
me and he said things went fairly well
but he said men all men not just
married men but all men need to know
that things are going to be okay men
seem stronger than they are but he said
I desperately need to know that even if
a lot of things fall apart but you
are with me that doesn't mean I'm standing
behind him if he does something wrong but
it means I'm with him I'm his wife
and I'm with him same with the children
that are with the father number five keep
things neat but never let your house run
you this is ways to have a peaceful
home and it has a lot to do
with trusting too a fretful anxious person wants
everything to be exactly right and if things
aren't exactly right then they're upset with the
people in their lives that they love because
they want everything exactly right and that's not
how life is keep things neat keep things
orderly as best as you can but hey
if it's not perfect it's not perfect and
number six if you do not feel as
a wife romantic or as a sister of
any kind cheerful supportive or trusting pray pray
pray pray and you will receive it I
guarantee you I guarantee it because God says
ask and it shall be given unto you
seek and ye shall find and it says
if it's according with God's will and it
is according to God's will that we be
righteous and godly so when we're running into
a situation where we don't really feel like
trusting we don't really feel like doing it
if we sincerely pray and beg God he
will give it to us if we don't
feel like we really love people if you
have a sister in the church a brother
in the church that you don't trust you
ask God God give me love for that
person someday soon you'll have so much love
for that person you'll almost laugh thinking what
God has done might even become one of
your favorite people be quick number seven be
quick to repent and acknowledge failures a trusting
woman a woman who's walking in peace is
quick to repent and acknowledge failures because you
know what one of the basic reasons is
I trust God to cleanse me from my
sins and to help me to walk more
uprightly and so I quickly repent and I
try to acknowledge failures quickly do not do
this sisters and brothers in a whiny I'll
never amount to anything voice or you're going
to teach that to your children avoid doing
that do not go to your fathers girls
and women don't go to your husbands and
sisters don't go to your minister and whine
and say I'm sorry I did that it
just seems like I can't do anything right
I don't know I'm a failure I don't
know that is not repenting and it's whiny
and people don't know what to do with
it and no one knows how to forgive
you and you don't get to move on
but trust God and that also means you
don't trust God God said he's faithful and
if we confess our sins he'll forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness
so when we go to someone and ask
for forgiveness we go in faith and trust
that God is going to pour mercy out
on us and we go in and say
I'm sorry you know what I never should
have spoken like that and by God's grace
I'm not going to keep doing this I'm
going to God and he's going to help
me and I'm not going to keep going
like this if you want the children in
your home to believe 1 John 1 9
confess your sins and be faithful then you
have to live it if they see that
you don't really believe it they'll never believe
it anyway they won't believe it either number
8 if you want to be a trusting
person who has a strong heart and has
a peaceful atmosphere around you then be very
teachable I would have to say that if
your father or your husband comes to correct
you he is probably 100% right because
he knows you very very well and because
God has placed him above you but even
if he is only 1% right you
can learn something from that 1% Rick
and I have had to learn when you're
in a place of ministry where you're talking
to a lot of people that people will
come against you with criticism quite more so
than if you're not seen very often and
when we receive criticism we try to say
let's take this to the Lord and you
know sometimes it's totally right and you know
sometimes it's a total lie and you know
most of the times it's something in between
there but all of the time we can
learn from it every time if we tumble
ourselves and say well I don't what is
it that makes me say that is there
something in my life what is it maybe
I'm not approachable maybe I come across differently
than I thought and you don't have to
batter yourself with it but be teachable just
be teachable if you trust God you don't
have to be afraid of these things you
don't have to be afraid of your husband
coming and saying you know the feeling you
get when your husband or your father or
somebody in the church says can I have
a minute of your time I have something
I'd like to discuss with you what what
what is the feeling that sometimes comes in
your heart right it's called fear and amazement
I mean do most of your sisters get
that I have to pray to God Rick
says Helen honey you know I'd like to
just talk to you a little minute about
something I go and then I think why
am I doing that this is wonderful finally
I'm going to get to grow again this
is great God help me to be a
big girl about this thing you know and
then God does because then you realize hey
this is for my good I want to
be teachable I said only 8 but I
guess the last thing I would add on
to it is be thankful for your role
whatever your role is whatever your role is
I don't care what your role is maybe
all your children are gone maybe you're I
don't know what your role is but be
thankful for whatever it is because you trust
God and if you trust God then hallelujah
living in the home and we pour a
lot into them they seem to want to
meet with us as much as little guys
I say that this is the same time
as before when you have children waking up
in the night you get very little sleep
at this stage because you get up very
early run your household and in the late
evening the older ones want to speak to
you and you don't want to turn them
away and so it's kind of right back
to where you were earlier and I do
get overwhelmed sometimes and I think all sisters
do of course the key to that is
just eyes on Christ and that's enough but
the reality of it is we do so
I decided that I might just bring to
you a few practical suggestions for us about
how to keep from being overwhelmed if you
are a daughter in the home listen up
daughters because how you help your mothers has
a lot to do with whether they're going
to be overwhelmed or how you go help
in another home single sisters how you support
the women in the church has a lot
to do with that too and women whose
children are now gone you listen too because
you're a Titus 2 woman and women should
be able to come to you and say
I'm overwhelmed and you should be able to
give them a little bit of counsel on
that so listen for tips for moms who
feel overwhelmed number one and I'm not talking
to women 20 years ago or 80 years
ago I'm talking to us right now understand
the lifestyle changes from the last generation understand
the lifestyle changes from the last generation in
other words your mom canned everything she made
all of the clothes but she did not
homeschool her children and I think that's true
for most of you here now there might
be a few who would say no my
mom actually did is there anybody here I'm
not talking about you girls but any of
you mothers whose mother homeschooled off her children
no so understand the lifestyle changes in fact
the children were away most of the day
is that right her house was neater because
there was no one there to make a
mess remember there was nobody home until three
o'clock and if you came from a
plain setting I did not but if you
came from a plain setting maybe the older
girl came home when she was 13 years
old and helped clean the house and there
was still no one home no children home
and if you didn't come from a plain
setting then you were all going to school
all day and there was very little so
your lifestyle is different that right there should
help you not to feel so overwhelmed because
part of the reason you feel overwhelmed is
you're thinking I'm not getting everything done what
everything are you talking about you're comparing yourself
to the last generation this is a new
generation number two be careful not to overemphasize
the responsibilities of homeschooling when I see an
overwhelmed homeschool mother I look at her and
think I wonder what she's doing in her
homeschool what am I doing wrong oh that
you're saying that's me yeah yeah I'm sure
there's a lot of you saying that now
you would think well I have to overemphasize
it I'm homeschooling my children that's what I'm
doing I know but you're not really you're
discipling your children you can put them in
a school and they can learn a lot
but you're discipling your children don't overemphasize your
academics and I don't want us to raise
up a bunch of children who can't read
and write but we have to put the
right perspective on it and emphasize training and
discipling over academic excellence also in this same
framework don't over report and don't over curriculize
curriculumize that's not even a word curriculumize don't
get so involved that all you think about
is this curriculum and that curriculum is this
curriculum better than that curriculum and I've got
to make my portfolio do you do portfolios
or reporting do you have to report okay
but if you get in a situation where
you have to report some people spend so
much time making everything perfect that they have
to do and I always say please don't
do that you're making it harder for the
rest of us just obey the law but
don't go overboard into trying to present to
the state that you're the most academically excellent
children in town we don't care anyway we're
home schooled because we love Jesus not because
we want rocket scientists number three examine the
important things from your heritage your own heritage
and alleviate that means throw out or modify
some of them examine the important things from
your own heritage and alleviate means throw out
some and modify some and for each one
of you that's different there are some things
you can't throw out because you would hurt
your parents and your grandparents so badly but
that same thing I don't have to come
under any bondage to that because my parents
wouldn't expect that of me perhaps it's important
to garden but not so extensively as you
think or perhaps it's important to sew your
own clothes but you don't have to sew
your husband's shirt see each person has to
find their way through there maybe it's important
to can but maybe not everything we have
a garden and we have family in our
church who actually have a charity church who
are from a plain setting and she had
to adjust to homeschooling and she was doing
a very good job and I came in
and said why are you doing such a
good job and you're not getting overwhelmed and
I see that a lot of the sisters
in your same setting or from your same
background are so overwhelmed and she said we
simply sat down and said you know what
we believe gardening is important and our children
are going to garden but we can't garden
in the same extent when we're back so
let's do something different let's talk it over
and she said and for my husband he
said I can tolerate frozen beans but I
can't tolerate frozen corn so we said okay
we'll do corn but we'll buy beans and
she said for me I decided I can't
sew these first few years and I only
have one girl so we're going to work
it out but it's important to us that
we make not buy our clothes and so
my sister-in-law is sewing my clothes
for me this year.
In other words they looked at their heritage
and said I don't want to throw all
my heritage out but neither do I want
to be underprivileged and so I'm
not going to be underprivileged and so I'm
not going to be underprivileged and so
I'm not going to be underprivileged and so
it's very important to have a perfect garden
but you know what I'm just not going
to do it.
I cannot do it.
We have weeds in our garden.
Sometimes there's one time in the middle of
the summer when we're working on our lawn
furniture business and we're helping out with that
and we're having to deliver things and the
boys are calling and saying can you bring
three new drills to Redding to this one
thing we're building and the other boys are
calling and saying look we thought we had
a piece of the swing set but we
don't can you bring it and during that
season sometimes I'm not sure whether we're growing
beans or weeds and I think oh what
would our neighbors think but that's foolishness.
So we put the garden in the back
rather than in the front and I try
to bring people through the front door and
in the middle of the summer if they
say let's wander outside I think let's not
let's wander outside but I don't have to
do that because maybe they're not doing what
I'm doing.
Maybe they're not having to run drill bits
to boys on lots or something like that.
So be at peace with yourself.
Maybe this isn't your time of life for
flowerbeds.
Is that a bizarre thought to some of
you all?
But you know I didn't have flowerbeds until
just recently and people have been commenting on
my flowerbeds and I say thank you very
much this is the first time we've ever
had flowerbeds because I was raising children up
to this point and they just didn't seem
to be able to fit flowerbeds in and
now we fit some flowerbeds and they're during
June don't come and look at them because
they're they have the same weight as the
beans but we have flowerbeds again.
But this might not be your time for
flowerbeds you know.
Sister you just have two little guys.
Why don't you pour yourself into those little
guys for a while and don't worry about
it.
Number five, stay home.
Stay home.
Minimize your errands and stay home.
Your husband probably doesn't want you to run
around near as much as you run around
anyway.
I would find that most husbands would like
however much we already run around to us
to the point where about five and then
they're happy.
They don't want us running around much anyway.
Now if this isn't you that's okay.
You're you and I'm me.
Maybe you're going to raise your hand and
say my husband likes me to be on
the go all the time.
God bless you sister.
May God give you grace.
But most husbands would just assume you stay
home and the more you run around the
less peaceful your home is and the more
bring me a sister who comes to me
and says sister I'm so overwhelmed.
I'll say how many times were you away
from the home last week.
If they tell me six or seven I'd
be overwhelmed too.
You drag all the diaper bag stuff and
all the jackets and everything in the car
and you get home and you want to
take the groceries and put them away but
this baby needs changing and this other one
is crying and you go in and you
leave all the junk in the car and
then you realize it's hot and you left
the milk out there.
That's enough to frazzle anybody.
And so the more you stay home the
nicer it is.
Six, do not allow yourself to murmur and
complain with sisters in the church.
Satan will use this tool to make you
think that your lifestyle is a much bigger
burden than it truly is and to make
you become very self-pitying.
Now if you need to go to a
sister and say pray for me I'm not
doing too well that's a whole different thing.
But murmuring and complaining and then the next
sister saying yeah it's so hard I tell
you it's hard.
Oh it's hard.
And the next one hears and says I
know I tell you my husband puts so
many demands on me I know.
I tell you.
Oh my.
And it's a mess.
So just don't do it.
And sisters don't bless your sisters when they
do that.
Don't be, don't encourage them to do that.
If they come to you and complain don't
use statements like I know how you feel.
But pray for them or maybe meet with
them privately at another time.
Do try to help, try to find out
a way you can help them.
But don't get involved in a lot of
murmuring and complaining.
If this is you then repent and don't
let a sister say hey it's okay I
know how you feel.
But just don't do it.
Number seven ease up on your meals.
Ease up on your meals.
Concentrate more on peaceful conversation and a joyful
haven and laugh on the meals.
Maybe there will be another time when you
can.
Now see you might have some bondage in
your life from your background to gardening to
some of you or perfect canning or something.
But I have a lot of bondage from
my background of creating extravagant gourmet meals.
And I had to work that thing out.
I mean never repeating a meal for up
to two or three months.
And I had to get that thing out
of my life because it just wasn't important.
But all of us have to ease up
on our meals sometimes.
It doesn't hurt if you have simple, simple
meals.
Now you still want it to be nice
and you still want it to be special.
And one thing that I do that helps
with that is I have a husband list
and a children list at our home.
I just hand a piece of paper to
the children and say write down all your
favorite meals.
And I'll try to accommodate you sometimes.
Husband, write down all your favorite meals.
And then I see to it that I
work those meals into the schedule so that
it won't become a dull thing.
But meanwhile I have a lot of simple
meals too.
And they can abide with it because they
know their meal will come up every now
and then anyway.
But don't let your we live too short
a life to let our meal time be
what's dragging us down.
Number eight, consider having some of your sewing
taken out.
If you get your sewing taken out, it's
gone.
You don't even have to look at it.
You don't have to look at the mess.
And you don't have to deal with the
girl that's in there.
If you have somebody come in and do
your sewing, for me, that adds more chaos
because some prideful thing in me thinks, oh
no, all we were going to have was
rice for lunch and somebody's here, we probably
should have more than rice.
And then I want to go and check
on her and she wants to come and
ask me questions and then it's and that
was the table we were going to draw
a map on that day.
So if you're overwhelmed and your husband will
let somebody do some sewing for you every
now and then, then give them the pattern
and say, thank you so much, here's the
pattern, do you mind doing it at your
house?
And it's gone.
Number nine, spend a few days looking through
your house, seeing how you can reorganize it
to make cleaning, studying or chores easy.
Then see if you can talk a girl
into the church and to coming in for
two days in a row to help you
out with it.
That helps me so, so much.
I do that every now and then now
and right now I have enough living there.
But I would just go through the house
with a list and say that's broken, all
the things that you wish you'd get to
but you're not getting to and write them
all down.
And say, okay, I'm going to see if
I can't talk a girl to coming in
and helping me for two days straight in
a row and get some of this thing
done.
Those things that just keep bothering me and
you think I'm never going to get to
this and they start to just weigh you
down until you think you're drowning.
Write them down and then at least you'll
know, hey, we might get through a few
of these things.
Maybe some of these things we can get
past.
If you're married, ask your husband to meet
with you one evening to go over some
ideas about how to make your life run
a little smoother.
Now listen, when you do this, go to
him with a cheerful heart and not a
complaining heart because if you go to him
and say, I'm so swamped, can you please
help me out?
His heart is going to be, oh, she's
in trouble, what do I do to help
her?
She's in trouble.
But he's not going to think practically then.
He's just going to think, poor wife.
But if you go to him cheerfully and
say, I'm pretty much swamped here and I
was thinking maybe you had some good suggestions
I've never thought of before and can you
try to think up some and come back
to me?
I'm open.
I'll give you a few days to think
about it because I've found that husbands, if
you put them on the spot, they might
say, oh no, you're doing a wonderful job.
But if you give them a week or
so and then come back to him and
meet with him one more time, in the
meantime, between the time you ask him and
the time you go to him, refrain from
murmuring about how hard your load is.
Just try it for that week or so
and then ask him.
Take notes when he talks.
Husbands love that.
Let me write that down.
Because they know that your heart is, that
you think what he's saying is very important
and you might try it.
And follow through.
Girls, you might have a meeting with your
mom.
Ask your mom about this.
Say, mom, is there anything I can do
to help it be not so chaotic here?
Or you might not want to use those
words because then she'll probably cry.
But just not so overwhelming here.
Is there something I can do?
Think about it for a week or so.
And if you come up with something, I
want to do it.
And then be ready, girls, with your pen.
And when mom says, you know, I just
thought if just this week you would get
up an hour early for one week, just
one week, maybe you and I could get
up early and we could get some of
this stuff done that's just hanging over us
and we're not getting done.
And then of course she'd be glad to
do that and then you'd get out of
the woods so to speak.
Number 11, bring in a day girl sometimes.
She will lighten your load without taking away
from your family time like a living girl.
You don't have any parenting responsibilities.
With a living girl, you have parenting responsibilities.
With a day girl, she's just coming in
to bless you.
Also, she doesn't take away from your time
with your husband.
Living girl is there and what do you
do in the evening when you put your
children down and she's there and your husband
is there.
Also, you get to keep your children's hearts.
Living girl comes in, you have to watch
out for your children's hearts because your hearts
drift towards living girl.
Day girl comes in, gives you a hand,
and you keep going with the children.
So day girls are often a blessing and
it's often about if you have a girl
and you can spare her every now and
then, you know, do it to make it
less.
Number twelve, be glad, sing, be thankful.
There are commands, all three of them, there
are commands.
You don't have a choice, there are commands.
Be glad.
Are you glad?
Sing.
Do they hear you singing?
Do they sing?
Be thankful.
I'll just give you some scriptures to write
down.
You won't look them up.
Colossians 2.7 talks about abounding.
Colossians 3.15. Philippians 4.6 and 7.
And Colossians 3.8 and Philippians will show
you that peace comes when you're thankful.
And if that's true then chaos comes when
you're not thankful.
So the more thankful you are the more
peace there is going to be there.
Number thirteen, notes, notes and more notes.
In our house we write each other frequent
notes to bless each other, to thank you,
thank you so much for doing this.
I realize, or a note saying hey I
realize you're having a rough time now we'll
get through this don't worry.
Brighter days are ahead.
Any kind of notes.
I feel like if you make your notes
kind of brief then they can swallow it.
Even if you have to talk to one
of your children or somebody about something that
they're not doing right sometimes you can write
them a note and they can swallow it
easier.
They can read it over a couple of
times, digest it, write notes.
And writing notes in the home anyway encourages
your children to express their hearts better.
It really does because they'll get used to
hearing from you and they'll get used to
that.
Very, very good for them.
Write notes to them on the bulletin board.
We have a white board upstairs where we
write practical and sweet things we might write.
In the morning please wash off all the
tops of the peaches we canned last night
and put them away before breakfast time, et
cetera, et cetera.
But it might just say you are such
wonderful children.
I don't know how I ever got you
but I did and so I'm glad you're
mine.
Fourteen, let your children see that you are
not greatly moved.
Someone look up Psalm 62-6 and 62
-2.
Same, same, same, but either one.
Psalm 62-6 and 62-2 you should
write it and put it above some place
where you can read it.
Do you have it?
62-6 and 62-2.
How old are you?
62-2 and 62-6.
Isn't it nice to have 12-year-old
girls in here that are going to pass
way over us someday?
Be godlier at our age than we are.
Is it the same thing?
I wonder why God wrote it twice.
What do you think?
Did Mother ever tell you something twice?
Why?
Because you didn't obey the first time, yeah?
Or maybe she just wants to make sure
you heard it, right?
Do this.
Let me tell you one more time.
Do this.
I want to make sure you get it.
He only is my rock and my defense.
I shall not be moved.
How can you be moved if he is
your rock and your defense?
And your children need to see that you
are not moved.
That you trust in God.
That your home can be calm without fear
and anxiety.
Is there chaos and anxiety in your home?
Then your children are not going to be
able to trust in you.
And if they are not going to be
able to trust in you, it is going
to be very hard for them to trust
in God.
So let them know that you are not
greatly moved.
Matthew 6.25 or Philippians 14.6. You
can read those later.
No thought for tomorrow.
Or be careful for nothing.
These are commands.
Bible commands.
Be careful for nothing.
K-15.
Set aside special times frequently.
Sisters, if you are not married, you know
you ought to set aside special times for
your friends too.
For someone who needs a blessing.
For a sister in the church that needs
your blessing on her life.
But in the home you should set aside
frequent times that are special.
Making root beer floats or making a campfire
or reading through a book together or hiking
or cooking together or forgetting everything and laying
everything down and going outside and playing four
squares.
I don't know if you play four squares
up here.
Or having an outing or something.
We need those things in our lives to
keep us from being overwhelmed.
And don't think, hey, I can't stop to
do this.
The laundry is piled up and this is
piled up.
But it will actually help you to get
your laundry and everything back done again if
you can sometimes stop and have a blessed
time with your family.
And finally, last of all, be glad that
you're a child of the king.
Ponder that thought often and throughout the day.
Ponder, I am a child of the king.
And if I die tonight, I'm going to
heaven.
And it's the only thing of lasting value.
And though the world seems crumbling around me
and things seem overwhelming to me, the bottom
line is this.
It is well with my soul.
And I was asked a couple of times
when I went somewhere, could you just stop
and tell us ten things, just ten things
you've learned in your walk with God?
And I always start off that list with
the number one thing that I've learned is,
when peace like a river attendeth my soul,
or when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever
my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
it is well with my soul.
And so even when everything is turning all
around you, the basic thing is, the bottom
line is this.
Is it well with your soul?
If it's well with your soul, then praise
God, you're a child of God.
And you could go to prison and sit
and rot and it would still be okay.
That's the reason our sisters, who are being
persecuted right now as I talk to you,
our dear sisters somewhere in some yucky, horrible
place doing things we can't even imagine, why
they're able to make it through is because
they stand on one thing and one thing
only.
Every day when they get up in that
prison cell, it is well with my soul.
God bless you with it.
And if it's well with your soul, then
the rest of this stuff, okay, we'll get
to it sooner or later.
So I just think that if you can
begin to trust God, and if I can
begin to trust God, and if we can
do some of these practical things to get
rid of the overwhelmed feeling in our home,
then oh, the church will be so much
happier, the children will be so much happier,
they'll be so much more likely to look
to Christ.
And the men will have such an easier
job.
Do you know it is hard to raise
up a bunch of fussy children or a
bunch of children that are struggling?
Well, it's probably just as hard, it's hard
for me to picture it because I am
a woman, but for the men, if we're
struggling, it's hard for them.
In the same sense, it's hard for us.
So we do want to try to look
to Christ.
Now, if you're a sister that's very, very,
very overwhelmed right now, and you're just about
at the bottom, don't take this teaching and
think, I cannot do that, it's hopeless.
Don't think that because it is not hopeless.
There is a place for you, and you
may need more help than this.
But for most of us, most days of
our lives, we can come out of that
feeling of overwhelmed by learning to trust in
God and by placing our hope in Him.