Revive Our Hearts

Host (Dana Grast): So, after years of always having weekly help on my farm, I suddenly find myself without it and I just have not quite found the right person yet. Still praying. But this is what it means.

The stall mucking, the weed pulling, the water trough scrubbing and all those other very glamorous farm chores, they are mine. Well, they are ours. My husband, who I playfully call Farmer Bob, will not let me muck alone.

Anyway, I figured I had two choices. I could be bummed about all the extra work, or I could use the change to learn something fun. So, this summer, I learned to drive Farmer Bob's tractor. Oh, yes, I did. And I am not talking about the cute little John Deere we use to mow the lawn. I mean the great big utility tractor.

As it turns out, some change can actually be fun. But of course, not all of it is. Some change feels less like climbing onto a tractor and a whole lot more like having the ground shift underneath your feet. That happens when a child leaves home, or a friendship changes. Your health takes an unexpected turn, or a season you loved comes to an an end.

We do not always get to choose the changes that come into our lives, but we do get to choose how we face them and who we face it with. Because let me tell you something I have learned. When life changes, God does not.

I am your host, Dana Grast. You are listening to Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

When I think about looking to Jesus in the midst of change, I cannot help but remember the words of my sweet friend Erin Davis, things she said on the very last episode of Grounded. Now, if you are not familiar, Grounded was this weekly video cast hosted by me, Erin, and our friend Portia Collins.

Back in 2024, God was leading us into new seasons as hosts and, well, that meant saying goodbye to this weekly video cast that we love so much. As we closed out our final episode, Erin encouraged us with truth from God's Word about change. Here is what she wanted our listeners to know.

Guest (Erin Davis): Change is constant. So is God. Is not that a comforting thought. As soon as we finish recording this episode of Grounded, I will turn off the lights and cameras I used to record Grounded. I will celebrate the gifts and sacrifices of the Grounded team, who I have had the joy of serving beside week after week, month after month, year after year, for over 200 episodes. I will close my laptop. I will flip off the light switch in my little studio/office and I will head into a brand new season of life. One that I am sure the Lord has ordained for me. So sure.

But that does not mean that it is not filled with countless unknowns. But I am not afraid.

I am not spinning wildly out of control. I am not anxious about tomorrow, or the day after that, or the day after that.

Because you see, Grounded is not a podcast. It is a reality for those of us who live our lives on the granite foundation of Jesus.

I will tell you a little bit more in a moment about the changes in my life, but I do not want to talk about me. I want to talk about Jesus. And you have heard that over and over from our team. That is what Grounded has always been about and that what is what Grounded is about as we make this transition.

Jesus told us, of course, that we could build our lives on Him and be safe. Listen to Matthew 7:24 through 27. Jesus's words here, of course.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock.

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against the house and it fell and great was the fall of it.

You know, there are many parts of the world for which rain is a season. I will talk about, this is our rainy season. There are parts of the world where even floods are a season. There are parts of the world where windiness increases for a season.

By God's meticulous and sometimes mysterious design, those seasons of intensity are necessary for the coming seasons of abundance. But if your house is not built on the rock, any change of season will upend you.

Here is why, because it will expose that your life was built on predictability. That your life was built on the false sense that you are in control and whoa, is that shifting sand. Or that your life was built on things going your way according to your plan, sand, every bit of it, and it could never hold you up.

So, if changes in your life have exposed that you are on a foundation of sand, it is actually a tremendous mercy. Because did you notice, whether you build your house on the rock or on the sand, the rain is coming. Your house is going to get pummeled. You are going to be shook at one point or another. And God, if He mercifully prepares you by exposing your sandy foundation, He is preparing you so that the next time the rain comes, you make a different choice and you build your house on Him.

We can be women of hope in every season. And man, what a witness to the world that is. Women who are unshakably calm, not because we are so stoic, not because we are blind to what is happening around us, but we are unshakably calm in every season in the midst of every change because of who our life is built on.

Listen again to Jesus's words from Psalm 24:25. Everyone who hears these words of mine, the word, and does them will be like a wise man. He will not mind, I do not think if I say wise woman, who built her house on the rock.

And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. Did not fall. What a beautiful thought. Did not fall. I can endure this changing season, but I am not going to fall. I can endure this hard thing, but I am not going to fall. I might feel like I am in a free fall, but I am not. I am not going to fall.

Why? Because my life is founded, grounded on the rock. And the rock is not a place. The rock is not a circumstance.

Listen to Psalm 18:2. The Lord is my rock and my fortress. I want to like beat on something because this is so important. And my deliverer. My God, my rock in whom I take refuge. My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I have been holding on to three little words out of Hebrews 1. They are this: but He remains. It is about Jesus. The fact that His throne will remain forever, His rule will remain forever, His love will remain forever. That is why He is our rock. That is why He is our fortress.

Your body is going to change. You already know that. Your job is going to change. Your family is going to change. And I think probably for all of us, our family is changing in ways that we do not like. Our world, our world is changing in ways none of us feel good about.

But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. And because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, His goodness and His mercy will dog us all the way to glory. And His gifts are going to remain constant. You can bank on it. You can count on it. You can set your feet on the rock and be confident that your hope will not be put to shame because hope is not a place either.

Hope is not an idea. Hope is not a platitude. Hope is a person. And we can build our life on Him. And Jesus's character will remain constant. He cannot change. Not only will He, He cannot.

Jesus's love will remain constant. It does not go up or down based on your circumstances. It is everlasting. From before He poured the foundations of the world, He loves you. He always has. He always will. His will will remain constant. His will is for you to know Him and love Him and share Him with others.

Jesus is your source of hope and perspective, not the Grounded Podcast. All other ground is sinking sand.

Host (Dana Grast): Amen. I always love hearing from Erin, and that day it was kind of extra special. Change is hard. It is emotional, but it cannot separate you from the love of Christ, who never changes.

As Erin put it, His goodness and mercy will dog you all the way to glory. Do not you love that thought? Our good shepherd is chasing after you relentlessly. He will never let you go.

Where do we find this good shepherd? Where do we experience His comfort in the midst of change? Well, if you have been around Revive Our Hearts for long, you know the answer. It is in His Word. In seasons of transition, our spiritual rhythms, well, they often undergo some changes, too. That is something I got to unpack at a recent True Woman conference with a lovely panel of speakers.

Let us hear what Amanda Cassian, Emily Jensen, and Gretchen Saffles have to say about making space for Scripture. Whatever your life looks like today. I am going to start with you, Amanda. Talk to your younger self. You are busy, you are stressed out. I do not know, you are in college, you are a single something. Why does it matter that you overcome the busyness to be in the word and how do you do it?

Guest (Amanda Cassian): You know, Dana asked me this like two seconds before we came up here. So, I my mind has been swirling and I have been picturing 20-something Amanda.

And what I would encourage 20-something Amanda is just to remain consistent and congruent to what you believe. And if I know, if I know that God's word is the bread of life, if I know that if I seek Him with all of my heart that I will find Him, then that is the source of life that I need to be clinging to.

Being close to 40 now, I I have seen the riches of my prayer time and my time with God because I have a prayer journal. And it was in my teens that I started, and I have seen the faithfulness of God. And just the fact that I was able by God's grace to continually meet with Him and prioritize that has been so sweet to read back on those pages and to see His faithfulness throughout.

Host (Dana Grast): Beautiful. So journaling might be a really good tip to slow you down from your busyness. Emily, let us talk about career women for a moment because you have just made a pretty bold career move. And said, no or pushed pause on a very successful Risen Motherhood ministry. How does that enable you to maintain your time in the Word and shepherd your family as they do?

Guest (Emily Jensen): Well, I think for all of us, one of the hardest places to have character and reflect the person and work of Christ is at home. It does not sound like it, but it is easy to get up here and put on makeup and get your hair done and look and sound really holy and put together like we have all this great advice.

But do you know where my character really comes out? It is at the dinner table with my kids. It is when we are running late and they cannot find their football cleats and I have a moment where I have to decide how I am going to respond. It is how I am training them and it is my personal time with Jesus. I know Gretchen, over the years, you have reminded me of that private devotion is more important and that is what fuels any other ministry that we do.

And so I think that keeping that time in the Word with the Lord is so important and it is so, so sweet and dear to me. Anything else that I hope to do in my home, in my church, in my community and beyond is going to flow out of that authentic connection with him in the word.

Host (Dana Grast): So is it fair to say that sometimes your no in your career is your yes to your family and the word and the Lord?

Guest (Emily Jensen): Amen. Yeah.

Host (Dana Grast): Let us talk about family, those littles, they they do sort of make it noisy. I do not know if you know this, but I am a grandma, Nana Dana. When they sleep over, there is no morning time in the word. That that has to wait till they leave and I take a nap. But what would you, Gretchen, say is an important way to maintain your time in the Word in the chaos of the littles?

Guest (Gretchen Saffles): I will say that one thing I have to do is to redirect my gaze to Jesus first thing in the morning.

Now, I had to let go of all my unrealistic expectations because I have a lot of them. I have a lot of high ones on my children, myself, my husband, all the people. And Jesus has had to relinquish or help me relinquish all of those things because as my kids grew, it seemed like even if I inched up the time I would wake up, they knew. They knew. It is like they are so far away, but do they hear my alarm or something?

So I would wake up and spend, you know, open my Bible and it is like, patter, patter, patter, patter. And all of a sudden, they are there. Mom, Mom. And I would grumble and get so frustrated and want to just give up and go, I am not even going to do this today. But the Lord has shown me that I can invite them in. I want them to see a mom that delights in the Lord that loves His word. And even though in that moment, I may not actually read anything. Maybe I can read aloud with them, but they are seeing that. And it is also training my own heart. I still need to open God's word.

But the beautiful thing is, like we have mentioned, morning, noon, night, carpool line, pulling it up to listen to it. And one thing that has been transformative to me is meditating on it and memorizing it. Because when you close your Bible, it is not like you are leaving Jesus. He goes with you. We have the Holy Spirit. And His word is alive. So as we memorize it, we can bring it up to mind. The Holy Spirit brings it up to mind.

And I am also just reminded of Jesus. He was interrupted by His disciples in Mark 1:35. He is spending time alone with the Father and then they come and they are, Jesus, where are you? We have been looking for you. Jesus is not like, go back to bed, disciples. I am alone with the Father. No. Jesus instead, He He goes with them. He says, you know, this is where we are going next. And so that is what we want them to see.

Host (Dana Grast): Such good advice from these dear sisters in ministry. Oh, I love them and their love for Scripture. The True Woman conference is all about beholding Jesus in His Word and remembering the gospel together. When we do, our circumstances might not change, but we will change. And that is the best kind of transformation, is not it? The kind that happens in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A young woman named Brooke experienced this kind of transformation at True Woman 14 as Johnny Erickson taught us singing a well-loved hymn. She has not been the same since. We are closing today by hearing her story.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): I grew up with two brothers and two sisters. My parents, it was always really well-loved, and it was a Christian family. When I was about eight, I was sexually abused for about a year or so.

It was not until I was probably about 14 where I started comprehending what actually really happened and understanding how how wrong that all was. That was just kind of, I wondered where God was during that time, and I just became really angry with with God and

Guest (Margaret Yost): We did not realize as her parents that it was so deep inside her. My name is Margaret Yost. I am from Troy, Ohio.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): My heart was just really I was really angry, and I was very bitter. And so I turned to going to parties and drugs and guys, anything I could get my hands on to prove to anybody and everybody just how much I hated God.

Guest (Margaret Yost): Not surprisingly, Brooke's bitterness and rebellion toward God hardened her into a morose 18-year-old. That was in 2012. Something else happened that same year.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): My mom invited me to True Woman 2012.

Guest (Margaret Yost): I was just hoping God would reach down and smack her upside the head and that would be that. At that time in her life, I knew it was actually safer for her to like be with people that I trusted rather than nobody at home to be accountable to. So that was kind of part of it, too.

Guest (Margaret Yost): Brooke had not told her mother the whole truth. There were other motives, too.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): Yes, there was a guy here who I had been talking to. He was a childhood friend who said he would meet up with me when I was here. And so that was probably my main reason for coming was to meet up with him.

Guest (Margaret Yost): The conference started on a Thursday evening.

Guest (Bob Lapine): I want you to know that you have been prayed for by name as a part of this event.

Guest (Margaret Yost): That is a true statement. Brooke had been prayed for even before she and her mom showed up. We did not know what was going on in her life, but we know the One who does know everything. Every True Woman conference is bathed in prayer, before, after, and during.

Guest (Bob Lapine): So, we are going to pray together as we begin and I.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): Everybody was praying, and it was just it was really weird to me, and you know, I grew up with praying in my family, but it was just kind of like seemed kind of ridiculous to me.

Guest (Bob Lapine): I am going to ask you to do this. Turn and find three or four other ladies. Maybe the easiest way is just to turn.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): The person that was speaking wanted us to divide into groups of three or four and pray together about different topics. So there were two ladies to my left, and I had no idea who they were. It was my turn to pray, and I just told them I do not pray, I do not believe in God. It is not my thing. And they said, okay, that is fine. And they said, well, can we pray for you? And I said, if it makes you feel better, sure, go ahead.

Guest (Margaret Yost): She was not sitting with our group at the time, so I did not realize until afterwards about the two women who had prayed for her.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): I do not remember anything that was said. I do remember running into them later, and they remembered who I was. And they said, just so you know, our whole church is praying for you. And that really hit me. Because I was like, wow, that is crazy.

Guest (Margaret Yost): Then, during the day on Friday, Brooke rendezvoused with her friend.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): I did, I ended up sneaking out during one of the sessions and seeing him.

Guest (Margaret Yost): Two of Brooke's roommates at the hotel had some concerns, so they approached Margaret. And that is how we became aware of her meeting with this boy that we were not approving of at all.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): My mom actually ended up finding out about it. And she was not too happy about that.

Guest (Margaret Yost): I took her aside to one of the tables in the hall outside the conference and we talked for a while. And then both of us just ended up sitting there crying for a while.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): I loved my parents. I never wanted to hurt them. Even though I was living my life the way I was, I never wanted to see my mom hurt. And to see her crying and for her to tell me that she was really disappointed in what I did, it really hit me that I am really messing up some stuff. And so that was probably the first part that got to me.

Guest (Margaret Yost): By the time the Friday evening session started, Brooke's emotions were all over the place.

Guest (Brooke Boyer): I was crying because my mom was crying, and I was just saying I do not want to be here.

Guest (Margaret Yost): I told Brooke that she had to sit with me and um