Revive Our Hearts

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Do you feel like you're lacking self-confidence? Susan Hunt suggests you actually might have a different problem. What we need is not self-confidence. We need Christ confidence. This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast for August 27th, 2026. I'm Danna Grish, our host is the author of Adorn. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.

You know, there's a whole generation of women that has the potential to make a huge effect on our world to advance God's kingdom. I'm talking about the baby boomers. Women who have recently entered or who will soon be entering the so-called retirement years. These women have valuable experience to share, and they're entering a season of life when they may have some additional time to invest in others.

I include myself in that generation, and I'm praying that we won't say, it's my turn to take it easy, but instead that we'll stay engaged and be involved in building God's kingdom at this season of our lives.

Susan Hunt has been an incredible example to me and to many other women of how to keep pressing on in the Lord's work, even at times when we might be tempted to coast. For decades, Susan has had a burden for churches to develop Titus 2 style discipling relationships. Women teaching women. That's right.

This is a message that Susan gave at a Revive conference when we were focusing on that topic. Here's Susan.

Susan Hunt: Sissy, our granddaughter was three or four years old when she slid down her stairs on her pillow just as her mother came around the corner and said, Sissy, don't ever do that again. Sissy asked, did you do this when you were a little girl? And her mother answered, no, my mother wouldn't let me. And Sissy asked, who is your mother? And Catherine responded, Sissy, me, Mommy is my mother.

And Sissy's response was, uh, she's an old lady. There's more. Sissy is now a beautiful 22-year-old sitting over here with her mother, which makes me a very old lady.

But here's the thing. Every birthday is a gift from the Lord, and I've had 77 of them. Plus, I have been happily married for 53 years. Girls. You have to be an old lady to be able to say that.

I love the quote from Elizabeth Prenish, the 19th-century author of stepping heavenward when she wrote to a friend, I'm ever so glad that I'm growing old every day, and so becoming better fitted to be the dear and loving friend to young people that I want to be.

This is the antithesis of the world's message that aging is our enemy. The Bible says that it's our friend. Job 12, wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. Proverbs 16, gray hair is a crown of glory. It is gained in a righteous life. And yes, my gray hair is covered with blonde highlights, but it's there, so I think it counts.

Elizabeth Prentis's statement is radical because it is not self-centered. The world tells me that it's time for me. The Bible tells me that it's time to double down in investing in the next generation. Psalm 145. One generation shall commend your works to the next generation and declare your mighty acts. This generational principle is repeated throughout the Old Testament and is echoed in Paul's letter when he says that older women are to teach the younger women.

50 years ago, when my husband graduated from seminary, we served for a short time in a small church in a rural community. I was just becoming aware of the Titus mandate. But it made no sense to me because what I observed was a division between the older and younger women. And from my 25-year-old perspective, I concluded that the older women were resentful and critical of the younger women because they were fearful of losing control. But the result was, I was fearful of them.

Now, that little church was a part of a denomination that was increasingly questioning the authority of God's word. And looking back, I wonder if those women understood the power and the joy of the gospel of grace. Did they understand the sweetness of being a part of God's family where there are no generation gaps because of our union with Christ?

Did they have the deep assurance of eternal life that comes with hearing sound doctrine taught Sunday after Sunday? My point, we cannot overstate the importance of Paul's instruction to the young pastor to teach sound doctrine. We're products of our theology, whether it's sound or unsound. What we believe or don't believe about God shows up every day in every way.

Our passage for this session shows us what sound doctrine produces in those who are saved from our sin through grace, by faith, in the finished work of Christ. Titus 2, 2-3. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise. The qualities that are to characterize older men likewise should characterize older women.

Now, this is epic. As we begin to consider the virtues that we are to adorn, there's a sense of wonder and of gratitude that because of the gospel, we can become sober-minded. My natural tendency is to be so intoxicated with myself and with the world that I become self-indulgent. Peter also warns us, be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him.

As we become intoxicated with the majesty of Christ, we become watchful, and we have the desire and the strength to resist our adversary. We can become dignified. My natural inclination is to become so overwhelmed with life that I freak out and act in inappropriate ways. But we can be still. We can be still in our hearts because we know that he is God.

And so there's an inner peace and a poise, a dignity that even if our circumstances are chaotic, we're not. Instead of being out of control, the gospel produces self-control. This comes from a Greek word, meaning to have a saved or a sound mind. And it's also related to a Greek word that's used for car brakes. So the self-controlled woman's mind is so informed by God's word that she knows the biblical boundaries. She knows when to put on the brakes and to say no.

We can become sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Sound doctrine produces sound living. These qualities are not produced by self-effort. They are an outward expression of an inner transformation. Here's the headline. Second Corinthians 3, and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. We become what we behold.

When we behold the fake promises and priorities of the world, we become out of control. We become chaotic, self-centered, and overwhelmed. When we behold the glory of God, we become like Christ.

In our second church, there were older women who loved me. They loved my husband and they loved our children. I began to feel safe with older women. One of them taught me her simplified explanation of transformation. Over and over I heard her say, I did what I wanted to do before I was saved. I do what I want to now, but God has changed my want to's. And I'm reminded to pray, Lord, change my want to's so that I want your will and not my will for my life.

And so, just like that, I'm the older woman. So let me share four observations of things that I wish I had known as a younger woman half a century ago. Number one, I'm here on planet Earth to glorify God, to put his glory on display. This is stated with profound simplicity in the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. I'll ask the question and if you'll read the answer with me. What is the chief end of man?

Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. There are many things I cannot do because of my age. I don't move as fast, I don't think as fast, but those things do not have to keep me from fulfilling my purpose to glorify and enjoy God. So, right here, right now, whether I'm on a stage in Indianapolis or one day confined to a bed, show up, be present, shine his glory as we adorn the character of Christ.

Secondly, I don't have to be able to solve all of a young woman's problems to encourage and equip her to live for God's glory. In our late 40s, we went on staff of a church with godly older women who had been taught sound doctrine. They loved the younger women, they were our cheerleaders. Titus 2 came alive for me.

I had begun working outside the home, and so I was trying to juggle a job outside the home and home responsibilities. I was making some big decisions in ministry. I was discouraged, I was fearful, and I was weary. And so I visited Evelyn, a woman in her 80s. I cluttered the air with my words and my woes, and finally I wailed, Evelyn, what should I do?

Evelyn looked at me with compelling dignity and tenderness, and she said, as I listened to you, I kept thinking of one thing. Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Girls, that is sound doctrine. The the clutter seemed to go away. I could see beyond it to God's sovereign love for me.

Now there was tremendous weight behind Evelyn's words because I knew her story. Her mother had died when she was a little girl, and Evelyn and her brother Ralph, who had Down syndrome, were raised by their grandmother, who died when Evelyn was a very young woman. But before she died, she repeatedly said, take care of Ralph. Evelyn was widowed at a young age, she never had children of her own. But out of a heart of faith, she took care of Ralph. She also taught Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, women's Bible studies. She had a host of spiritual children.

Until she was bedridden in her mid-90s, she always showed up for church and she always looked so pretty and she was so cheerful. And her gray hair was a crown of glory gained in a righteous life. And this leads to my third observation. Living out the beauty of the gospel together is not just a clever tagline. It's a gospel imperative.

The local church is where we know each other's stories. It's where we hear sound doctrine, so we learn how to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. It's where we are knit together in love. Church is the place where we make disciples. Evelyn lived to be a hundred. And she continued to disciple me from her bed in an assisted living home, not by her words, because the time came when she could no longer speak, but by her sweet submission to God's word and to his plan for her on this earth.

My fourth observation is for young women, and all of us are younger than someone. You have a responsibility to reach out to older women. Circle back to those older women in our first church. How would that experience have been different if I had reached out to them? What if I had taken time to get to know their stories? What if I had asked about the history of that church and of that community?

What if I had invited groups of older and younger women into our home and asked the older women to tell us things that they had learned about the Lord that they wished that they had known at our age? What if I had asked them to share their prayer request with us and if I had asked the young women to share their prayer request with the older women and if we had prayed for one another?

In my arrogant immaturity, I robbed myself and I delayed my growth in grace. I did not have a teachable spirit. But as always, our faithful God makes all things work together for our good and his glory. I don't get a do-over with those women, but my failure in that experience has been used by the Lord to make me passionate to encourage and equip older and younger women to live out the beauty of the gospel together.

My sisters, wherever you are on life's timeline, begin now to pray for grace to finish strong. The older I get, the more I understand that finishing strong means finishing weak. Jesus said in Second Corinthians, my power is made perfect in weakness. May our response be that of Paul. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. When I'm weak, then I'm strong.

This verse is very real, very precious, very personal to me. I I always knew it at some level, but a few years ago, I had a sudden and severe attack of vertigo that was habitually diagnosed as being the result of a virus in my inner ear, which left me with very little balance. So my body has had to learn to compensate for me to stand upright. It also left me deaf in one ear. My eyes sort of dance around and don't always focus well.

But what I have learned through this is the power of God in my weakness. For me to stand here with lights glaring in my eyes, to not topple over and to put two or three sentences together is a testimony to the power of God. And so I boast in my weakness.

But the truth is, that was always the case. Not just when I had that episode of vertigo. And the sooner we acknowledge our utter dependence upon him, the sooner we know the power of his strength upon us. No wonder I used to get tired because I was trying to operate too much out of self-effort. I knew I should depend on the Lord and I said I did, but I did not know it to the depths that I know now.

So let me encourage you. The world tells us to develop self-confidence, but the Bible says to put no confidence in the flesh. What we need is not self-confidence. We need Christ confidence. So don't fight against your weakness and don't deny your weakness. Let it bring a childlike dependence upon our strong savior.

I love the prayer in the hymn of sacred head now wounded. It goes like this. Make me thine forever and should I fainting be. Lord let me never, never outlive my love for thee. That's my prayer. But my comfort and my confidence is, even if I outlive my love for Jesus, I will never outlive his love for me. He tells us in Isaiah 46,

listen to me, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived and have carried since your birth. Even to old age and gray hairs, I am he. I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

So how does it feel to be an old lady? It feels like a tired, theory dependent, very happy little girl being carried in the arms of her father. And she's calling to her friends, look how good and strong my daddy is. And she knows that when she falls asleep in his arms, she'll wake up at home.

Father, we give you all praise and glory, that even if our love for you fails, we will never outlive your love for us. In the name and to the glory of Jesus. Amen.

Some of you have heard me say that from the time I was a little girl, you got some cleanings in your toats there. Hope you found them. It was always my goal to be a godly old lady. And we just heard one.

But the point of this text and the point of this conference is that God has given us the means to become that godly old lady. How amazing is that? Out of fear, out of weakness, out of failure, we teach as Susan just did, out of our life message, and never signing the light on ourselves. But always on his character, his faithfulness, his loving kindness. And that's what this transfer of the baton is all about.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: Thank you, Susan. I love you so much. Well, there were plenty of tears in that conference center as Susan Hunt showed us what it looks like to be faithful to Christ and his service, year after year, as long as he gives us the ability. I know my own heart was deeply stirred that day.

Guest (Female): Oh, mine was too. You know, Susan gave that message a few years ago at a Revive conference in Indianapolis. We sometimes refer to Susan as the grandmother of the True Woman movement. That's because in many ways, her book, The True Woman, served as the inspiration for what became known as the True Woman conference. A conference that just so happens to be coming up again soon.

That's right. True Woman 24 registration is open. Now, if you're a women's ministry leader, it's time to start dreaming about bringing a group from your church. True Woman is a conference for women of all ages and life stages to gather around worship and the word. You'll find all the details at True Woman 24.com. And if you register your group today, you'll enjoy our lowest pricing. It would be so sweet to see you in Indianapolis as we celebrate the glory of God's design for womanhood together.

You know, it's things like the True Woman conference and classic messages from women like Susan that really make me honored to partner with Revive Our Hearts. For nearly 25 years, we've shared teaching like you heard today with women all over the world. And it's been so special to be a part of that work. If you'd like to partner with us as well, you can do that today by making a donation of any size. Every dollar truly counts toward calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

To donate, visit reviveourhearts.com or call us at 1-800-569-5959. When you do, we'll send you the 30 Days of Praying for Your Grandchildren booklet as our thanks. It's a really practical resource designed to help you slow down and pray purposefully for those grandkids you love so much. Again, to give and request your booklet, visit reviveourhearts.com. Now, if you're outside the United States and Canada, we can't mail you the booklet, but we will get you a digital copy of that great content.

So today we heard Susan Hunt cast a vision for us to be older women who are discipling younger women and to be discipled by older women. Tomorrow we're going to hear about two women who really lived out this message. An older woman named Mercy had a radical impact on a younger woman named Sarah, and it changed both of their lives. Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ. How to get the confidence you need in life on the next Revive Our Hearts with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.