Floating & Quoting!

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Aloha everyone. This is incredible, but there's a whole lot to my mom's testimony that a lot of people don't know. Mom, we are in your home place, your birthplace, and I've never done an episode of Truth Talk from a pool, but I am in your your happy place because this is where you like to quote and float.

Is that right? Yes, I do. I love to do that. So I get in the pool.

I have a little flotation belt which frees my hands up, and I kick away, and I bring my Bible out here, and I memorize scripture. And we're in the quiet pool in Hawaii in this resort because we have how many grandkids that are chasing after trying to find us and one great-grandchild? Well, we have 17 grandkids and one great-grandchild, and with all the adults we have quite a few here. Now, two of the young couples just left, but two of my grandchildren were here the first week we were here with their spouses. So in all, there were 31 of us.

Now they're only 27. So all my people out there, I've told you that mom has taken us to the beach for 80th birthday, but mama, they don't have any idea. I'm coming clean now.

Full confession, uncensored. The beach is Hawaii because this is where you were born. Your dream was to bring everyone back here to celebrate your birthday, right? Right, because none of us would be here at all had I not survived the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Our home was very near, and of course I don't remember it, but I do remember hearing my parents describe the morning we were awakened by the sound of bombs falling all around us, by the sound of people shrieking in terror as they realized we were being bombed. It was a total shock. It was a surprise.

Nobody expected it. It was horrible, and they evacuated the women and children, and so my mother was sent on a ship with three young children, four, two, and five months, and we ended up in Los Angeles. So the story of your life, your testimony, what God's done, His story of your life is tied into a major attack, one of the most horrific attacks on American soil, the bombing at Pearl Harbor, and you could have been cratered. You could have been like, you know, so many casualties there, a lot of loss of life, a lot of military guys.

There's all kinds of monuments there where there were guys buried in these steel graves, you know, incinerated and burned and drowned in so many casualties. Yes, it was tragic. My father stayed. He was a businessman there. He stayed and helped. He helped with the feeding of the people, especially the Japanese people who were put in camps. He was in the food business, so he stayed and helped get everybody fed, and then he joined us later in LA.

Okay, so what happened after that? You and Aunt Carol and Uncle Ed were all little tiny kids, and your mom, who was a beauty pageant winner at one time, Miss Honolulu, right? Yes, and she had come to Hawaii from Wisconsin. She hated cold weather, so after school she came to Wisconsin from Wisconsin to Hawaii and loved it and got a job and just stayed. Well, my dad came to Hawaii and he loved it, and so he stayed and worked, and they were doing very well.

They were very successful, but with the bombing he lost everything because all of his work involved food, and so the government took over all the food because it was wartime and they had to feed people. So tell us about that trek back to California. Tell us about growing up there. Tell us about how you came to the Lord, Mom.

So many folks have not heard your testimony before. It's a real exciting thing, and your family and everything. Okay, well, when we got to Los Angeles, both my parents had to go to work and work long hours because they lost everything because of the bombing, and so there were many years of real struggle. When I was 11, my parents divorced, and my mother remarried later, and with the new stepfather came a lot of wealth.

We moved into a big house in Southern California in Glendale. It had a swimming pool, and as a teenager growing up in this beautiful state of California, I had everything a teenager could want except happiness, and I just remember vividly going to bed at night and wondering what life was all about. Well, when I was 14, my neighbor, a very shy girl named Gracie Stockton, invited me to go to church, and I remember thinking I didn't want to go to church.

I thought, how boring, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings. She was really sweet, so I told her I would go, and wow, when I went, I heard some things I'd never heard before, and I remember so vividly that pastor talking about heaven, and he told us that Christ died for our sins, and he paid the penalty so we wouldn't have to pay the penalty, and if we would receive him, ask him to forgive us and to come into our lives and to save us, that he would do that, and so we did that, and oh my goodness, my whole life changed. It was so exciting. I just became a new creature in Christ, and I had a joy and a peace I'd never had, and I was so excited to be a Christian, so excited, and I just wanted to tell everybody, and I also wanted to memorize scripture, so when I'd go to church every time the doors were open, and I would write down the notes, and I would write the passages he would mention, and then I'd come home, and I'd write them out on three by five cards and just go over and over them until I learned them, so from, you know, very early age, I started memorizing scripture, and then I wanted to go to a Christian college, but my parents said no, and so I just committed that to the Lord.

Tell us what happened with that just so everyone will know where we are. You can hear if you just joined us, this is Stu Epperson, Truth Talk. I'm interviewing my mom. I've never done Truth Talk from a pool before, but she loves to quote and float, memorize scripture and quote.

She's had her grandkids, her children in and out of this quiet pool at the hotel. You hear the waterfall in the background in Hawaii because she brought us all here to celebrate her 80th birthday, and so she's here in her element, and she's my mom, she's my mom, and it's awesome to hear her testimony how it is inter-tangled with Pearl Harbor and the bombing. She was only five months old, and you talked about how you came to know the Lord, mom, and you wanted to go to a Christian college where ultimately you met dad.

We want to hear that story. You were connected with some cool people there. People hear the name MacArthur, Dr. John MacArthur, who I went to his school, and he's a well-known pastor and preacher, but his dad, I believe you went to his church a little bit, didn't you? And there was Aunt Jeanette, his daughter, and they had all a big influence on your life.

Yes, and oh Dr. Jack, John's father, was just the greatest preacher, oh my word. I just loved hearing him preach, and he was a godly man, so I really knew I wanted to go to a Christian college, and so my parents were against it. My mother and stepfather, but I knew the Lord would work it out if he wanted me to go, so about this time my brother Edward, who was not a Christian, was just wreaking havoc. He was your typical rebellious teenager running around with just some mischievous guys getting into a little bit of trouble, nothing big, but he was just trying to fill that void, and I knew the only thing that could ever fill the void was the Lord, and so I would just lead with him to accept Christ, but he just wasn't interested, and one night I was in my room reading my Bible. He walked by, and I read him some Bible verses, and he listened, then he just laughed and walked away, made fun, and I remember going to bed so burdened for my brother Edward. Well, about two in the morning, I was awakened by somebody shaking me. I looked up.

It was Edward who was shaking all over, just shaking like a leaf, and he said to me, Nancy, God is dealing with me. I want to become a Christian. Will you pray for me?

And so I had the joy of kneeling there beside my bed with my brother and hearing him pray that prayer. Lord, forgive me. I've sinned.

I've fallen short of your standard. I believe Jesus died for me. He was buried. He rose again. He paid the penalty for my sin. Please, Lord, come into my heart and life. Make me your child, and you know the Lord did, and I'm telling you his life was transformed. And so when this former problem child, now turned nearly angel, went to my mother and stepfather and said, I want to go to a Christian college, and I want to go to South Carolina, they said, go.

Go and take your baby sister with you. They were thrilled, and that's how God solved my problem. And then you met my dad, Mr. Everson, Stu Senior, but we're going to hear that story when we come back on Truth Talk. I'm Stu Everson Jr. with my mom in Hawaii, of all places, because this is where she was born, and she wanted to bring us all back here for her 80th birthday, all 32 of us. We'll be back right after this. Please share this podcast with everyone. Once it comes out as a podcast, please let folks know, and be sure to thank all of our awesome affiliates from AFR to Wilkins to the wonderful radio networks, Truth Network, that all carry this program, Truth Talk. Back right after this, there'll be some pictures of all this incredible Hawaii experience with mom and dad and all the kids on my Facebook page and my Twitter and my Instagram.

More coming up, hang on. The ambiance of the waterfall in the background, the beautiful palm trees, there's no place like Hawaii. They say aloha here a lot, and that's what my mom heard as a little baby, but at five months old, Pearl Harbor happened, and you were evacuated, mom, with your brother and your sister and your mom to Southern California where you grew up. The first segment we covered, your testimony and how you came to Christ, and you really felt led to go to a Christian college. And the reason we're in a pool right now, which I've never done my program from a pool, but we've been able to set this up technically, is because my mom loves to quote scripture in the pool, right? You tell us your quote and float routine real quick before we get into how you met Pops.

Okay, well, my bloke, my flow quote is this. I take either three by five cards or now I just bring my Holy Testament because it's easier to just go over my scripture with my whole Bible because I, over the years, I've memorized a lot. I've memorized books of the Bible and chapters and I have thousands of verses. So I just bring my Bible and I have a flotation belt and so it keeps me afloat. I kick my legs and I move one arm and then with the other arm I hold my Bible and I work on my scripture. And I love doing that. So I try to swim a couple hours every day and I've got that Bible with me.

Awesome. And every night of family devotions in our condo here in Hawaii, we do a time of sharing and a couple nights ago we did, on your birthday, we did a sharing about how much Mimi's impacted our life and the common thread was thank you Mimi for teaching us the word of God. Thank you for leading us to Christ. Thank you for letting God use you to teach us scripture in our kids and our grandkids. And so that's been such a wonderful legacy, mom. You've got a memorizing scripture CD we're trying to make into a podcast also.

We're working on some of that stuff. But talk about that trip. You grew up in Southern California. You came to Christ. There you were in Jack MacArthur's church and you had all kinds of cool disciples like Aunt Jeanette and all kinds of friends who were in your life. And then you got in a car, a carload of folks, and you went to a Christian college. God answered that prayer. Your brother came to Christ.

Tell us about that. All right, so my brother and I went together to South Carolina to Bob Jones University and we found out something about Edward that nobody knew. We found out that he was brilliant. But nobody had a clue because he never cracked a book. He was never interested in academics. But when he came to Christ and God got a hold of his heart, he took the kinks out of his head. And he really was amazing.

So he did a four-year program in three years and then he went on to the University of Southern California where he did his graduate work and he became a college professor in Southern California. Married a godly woman. They've been married now 58 years. Auntie Mona? Yes, maybe 59. And their awesome son, Cousin Ted, who's got a bunch of daughters and a sweet wife too.

You just need to see their whole legacy too. But we're going to drift away from the waterfall because it's getting a little bit loud. We're in the quiet pool in Hawaii. I'm with mom celebrating her 80th birthday.

Thanks for bringing us out here, mom. So tell us what happened. So you and uncle Ed there are at Bob Jones and you met a big tall drink of water, didn't you? Yes, and that's where I met my wonderful husband. And we were married there my second year in graduate school. They had asked me to stay and be a graduate assistant, which meant I would teach in the university while I was doing my graduate work.

And they would actually pay me and I could get my graduate degree. It was wonderful. I loved it. And so after one year, Stu and I got married and he actually had graduated with his graduate degree, but he came back and worked on the campus at the radio station for a year just so I could fulfill my contract. And then we did something really crazy. After we'd been married one year, we decided to borrow some money and take up our meager savings. All we had was our car and our clothes. We didn't even have a place to live.

Well, we had a little rented, furnished place. And we took a trip around the world. And that was just the most amazing experience because, and one of the highlights was meeting Christians all around the world. Many of people were people we hadn't met before, many with whom we couldn't even verbally communicate.

But when you meet another believer, you have that instant bond in Christ. And so we just, we met wonderful people and saw all the wonders of the world. It was just fabulous. Went to Europe, started in Europe, the various countries there, went to the Middle East, all through the Middle East, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and oh, we went to Iran. That was fascinating. Anyway, after we did the Middle East, we went on to the Far East. And so we went to Formosa, went to Hong Kong, Japan, went to the Philippines, where we stayed a couple of weeks with friends that we knew from college who lived there.

And that was a really interesting experience. So you came back and there's something people don't know about you. You have been a teacher at the college level for how many years at, it was Piedmont International University, it was Piedmont Baptist College, Piedmont Bible College, Piedmont International University. Now it's called Carolina University there in Winston Salem. But how many years have you taught there, Mom? Well, I just have recently retired. So I taught there since 1965. So let's see, what is that, 54 years? 54 years. I wasn't even born then.

No. Well, that's the thing. After we were married, when we came back from our trip and settled in, I thought, well, I had been so busy in graduate school and teaching. And then all of a sudden, we get to Winston Salem, and my husband is building a radio station there.

And I had nothing to do. And I thought, oh my goodness, I just prayed about it. Lord, what can I do? And I got a call from then Piedmont Bible College, Dean Reiner. And he said, we really need a speech professor.

Can you do it? And I said, oh my goodness, I'd love to. So I thought, well, I'll just teach till I have children.

So I taught one year, two, three, four, five. Well, about this time, a minister was visiting in town. He was doing a week of meetings. And he stayed with us. And we asked him to pray for us that we would have children. Well, he did. And we did.

And when the fourth baby was born, the oldest was four. And then my husband had to try to find him to get him to stop praying. Anyway, so I taught, I actually still taught at Piedmont while I had the children for a few years, but then I took a little time off and a wonderful professor, Martha Grace Green, taught in my place until my kids were older. And then I went back to teach and just recently retired.

So it's been a blessing, a great blessing. Most of my students, many are, well, actually my students are all over the world. The sun never sets without it shining on a Piedmont, then Bible College, then Baptist College, then International University, and now Carolina. So we have missionaries all over the world. And it's just been a great blessing to invest in the lives of these young people.

The investment of Scripture arguably is the greatest investment you can make, you can receive. And our family has been so blessed to have a matriarch like my mom, Nancy Epperson, who I'm interviewing right now in Hawaii to celebrate her 80th birthday. She brought us all out here.

It's been such a treat. Mom, when you come back, I want to talk to you briefly about the Scripture part, okay? And I want you to quote maybe a Scripture for us, for all of our listeners to be encouraged by and talk about that right here on Truth Talk.

I'm Stu Epperson Jr. Moore with mom right after this. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. The Word of God is so powerful.

It is living, it's active, it's sharper than any two-edged sword. Hebrews 4-12. My mom has dedicated her life to studying, memorizing the Word of God.

She loves to quote and float. We're doing that right now, mom. And we've heard your testimony. We've heard about college, how you met dad.

There's so many gaps to fill in there. But I do want to challenge as we go away today, give you a chance to challenge our listeners about the importance of memorizing God's Word. And how has God's Word changed your life, mom? I've always wanted to ask you that question. Well, what you put into your mind and heart is what comes out of your mouth. It's like a computer.

You put it in, it comes out. And so the Bible says, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. And out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.

So I learned a long time ago, my opinion is no better than anyone else's. But if I'm quoting, thus saith the Lord, I can do that with authority and with power. Because the Word of God, we're told, is quick and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword piercing, even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So early on, I started memorizing Scripture as soon as I became a Christian. And what I discovered is, it not only affects the way you think, it affects your speech.

And it affects your countenance. And we're told in Philippians 4, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. And in Colossians 3 16, we're told, let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. And that's what our goal is as Christians, Christians to allow His Word to flow in us richly. So remember, the important thing about memorizing Scripture, the important thing is that the entire process is an act of worship. So you're not just trying to learn a verse so that your ultimate goal is to memorize it.

No, that the ultimate goal throughout the entire process is to meditate on it. We're told in Psalm 1, blessed, happy is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in the season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chap which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. So we are told that God's hand of blessing will be on you as you love his word and meditate on it. Doesn't mean you're going to be rich, you're going to drive a big car, you're going to have a big house, but God's hand of blessing will be on your life. And then in Joshua 1 8 it says this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein.

For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. And so God promises his hand of blessing if you'll love his word and meditate on it. In Psalm 119 96 and 97 it says oh how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day.

Thou through thy commandments has made me wiser than thine enemies for they are ever before me. And then in Psalm 119 99 and 100 it says I have more understanding than all my enemies because they are ever before me because I meditate on my word. And then we're also told there's joy that comes in meditating on scripture. Psalm 63 5 and 6 says my soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches. When you wake up in the night think on scripture there's a joy that comes with that. And then in 1st Timothy 4 15 it says meditate on these things give thyself holy completely to them that thy profiting may appear to all. You see when you're filling your heart and mind with God's word you're spending time with the Lord. When you spend time with someone you get to know them. When you spend time with the Lord you get to know him and to know him is to love him.

And what happens is it kind of just spills out and touches others. And when Moses went up on the mountain remember he was in the presence of God he came down and the children of Israel couldn't even look at him. He had to put a veil over his face and it says Moses knew not that his face shone but he was radiant he'd been in the presence of God. And I do believe that when we spend time with the Lord it not only impacts us internally but it expresses itself externally. But remember the key is the entire process of memorizing scripture is an act of worship.

It is not a means to an end. The end is to meditate so when you're beginning to memorize it while you're in the process of memorizing it after you've memorized it and then when you review it and meditate on it the entire act is an act of worship. Amen well thank you for teaching us the Word mom you and dad spent some time doing that teaching us scriptures to memorize having family devotions that's so important for families isn't it so basic just read the Bible to your children huh. Yes it is so important in fact we're told in Deuteronomy 6 permeate your home with the Word of God when you're sitting down when you're walking in the way when you're reclining you're reclining just fill your your house fill your your lives and your children's lives with God's Word. And you're an unsung hero you people don't know you know behind the Truth Network which is a scripture-based network where we have Bible teachers we have Bible questions and talk shows that get the Word of God out shows like my show Truth Talk which is carried by all kinds of Christian networks you've had a huge influence on me to to have this you've had a huge influence on Uncle Ed your brother who we spoke about earlier so make sure everyone listens to the first part of our interview early on and your husband dad as they started Salem Communications which has hundreds it's the largest Christian radio broadcast platform in the world and but you have uh God's used you as as a prayer warrior and as a scripture person a scripture warrior too also in the in the Word because the will of God is found in the Word of God. Amen and so after uh after Stu and I were married and Edward was a professor for a few years he wanted to be more actively involved in getting the message out and so um he and and my husband got together and they located a frequency Edward applied for a station he started with one station and then two and three and four and my husband also started with some stations and then one day they put them together and they formed Salem Media and it has been a a wonderful blessing all over the country and every major market in our country the gospel is being proclaimed. Wow so mom I want as we leave I want to recap everything has this been a great birthday for you or what this may have been one of the best vacations family vacations I've ever been on how about for you mom oh yes this has been just a dream and I'll tell you why because my family is so amazing because they all love God they all love the Word of God all I'm saying all praise God that is just such a blessing and um and so they're kind they're loving and we've just had the most glorious time being together and then we get together in the evenings and have devotions and go over scripture and just have such a wonderful time so God is good and it's all his grace it's all his goodness we take no credit at all we give him all the praise and all the glory so you're hearing the splashing you hear a little waterfall we keep having to move it away from this waterfall that we're in a quiet pool and I'm probably the worst person to be in a quiet pool because I'm so loud but I'm with my mom interviewing her because she likes to quote and float she has her scripture cards right there you're you're what are you memorizing right now what passage right now I'm brushing up on Romans 8 and I just about have it down perfectly and then Ephesians 1 I've just finished memorizing that I'm just polishing it up because remember the whole process is an act of worship that's so cool so cool so mom you're memorizing that so in terms of a recap how many kids grandkids great-grandkids give everyone an update on that well I have four children and they all have amazing spouses praise God I have 17 grandchildren and um one great grandchild which is our daughter hopes little in Harrison's little son Walker who's precious and we got pictures of all them up on social media and mom quotas one scripture as we get out of here celebrating 80 years of life her her birth was in Hawaii and Honolulu and five months later the bombs dropped to Pearl Harbor we talked about that more in the first segment so make sure you hear this whole broadcast podcast when it comes out later and God just has done miracles in your life we're so glad that you survived that war and that you have God's used you to bring me and so many others to know him to know Jesus and to learn his word quote one scripture mom as we as we get out of here to leave our listeners with as we say goodbye okay well I think maybe my favorite psalm is psalm 103 but I love them all of course and I won't do the whole chapter because I don't think we have time bless the Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities who healeth all thy diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crown at thee with loving kindness and tender mercies who satisfy thy mouth with good things so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles the Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed he made known his ways unto Moses his accent of the children of Israel the Lord is merciful and gracious slow to anger and plenteous in mercy he will not always try neither will he keep his anger forever he hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities for as the heaven is high above the earth so great is his mercy for them that fear him as far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us like as a father pitieth his children so the Lord pitieth them that fear him for he knoweth our frame he remembered that we are dust as for man is dangerous grass is a flower of the field so he flourishes for the wind passes over it and it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more but the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting and his righteousness unto children's children to such as keep his covenant and to those that remember his commandments to do them the Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens and his kingdom ruleth over all bless the Lord ye as angels that excel in strength that do his commandments hearkening unto the voice of his word bless ye the Lord all he is host he ministers of his that do his pleasure bless the Lord all his works in all places of his dominion bless the Lord oh my soul this is the truth network