Jesus Moments: The Best of FamilyLife Today this Year

Welcome to Family Life Today and welcome Dave and Anne Wilson. I'm so glad to have you here with us. It's a special guest today. Nice to be on Family Life Today. It sure is.

It's a unique experience for you guys. And also we are joined by the president of Family Life, David Robbins and Meg Robbins are here today. It's an all-star cast. The family is here.

We like them. It's going to be all together. Welcome to Family Life Today where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I'm Shelby Abbott and your hosts are Dave and Anne Wilson. You can find us at familylifetoday.com. This is Family Life Today.

Some of the best moments on Family Life Today from this past year. So we're going to do themes and today's specific themes. I thought we were going to do songs. We're not doing songs.

We're going to leave the guitar on the floor where it belongs. Those weren't the best moments. Those were not the best moments. Those were the worst moments.

Thanks for trying. But no, those were not the best moments. Well, today's theme is going to be Jesus moments. Now I know that's very broad, very general, but we've selected some very specific things where we kind of identify them as Jesus moments. And thankfully our listeners got to enjoy quite a few of these Jesus moments in 2023 on Family Life Today.

So brace yourselves, guys. We're going to jump right into it, into the emotional deep end today with Mary DeMuth, who took our listeners to, well, maybe the most life changing and tender moment of her life where Jesus entered into her place of deepest wounding. You know, hearing about Young Life and attending it and just hearing about Jesus for the very first time, I just didn't know. And I remember at the end of every session after the water balloons and, you know, the shaving cream and all that, they would have like a 15 minute talk about Jesus. And my heart would just like, oh, I could feel it in my chest, like, oh, this is the truth. This is what I've been looking for my whole life. All I was was this little girl who wanted a daddy.

And having had three or four dads and most of them predatory was, you know, just difficult. And that summer of my ninth grade year, I remember hearing one of the stories and the story was about Jesus calming the seas. And the question was asked, who is this that even the wind and the seas obey him? And that question just stayed with me all summer long. And that fall of my sophomore year, I went to a weekend camp where they just told you the whole gospel, dying on the cross, resurrecting. And I remember going outside and this is in the Pacific Northwest, big, huge trees.

Right. And my place of biggest violation was under big, huge trees. That's during my kindergarten year. The teenage boys that did that to me took me to this horrible park that had these big trees and I would dissociate and fly into those trees. So I remember hearing the message. I sit my back against this tree, big, huge hemlock sign of death and hearing about Jesus death on a cross on a tree and the stars are up above me. And I just say this very simple prayer. Would you please be the daddy who will never leave me? And in that moment, I was completely healed and fine for the rest of my life.

Wouldn't that be nice? I love that. That's not my story. But that was the beginning of a very long healing journey. The beginning of just falling in love with Jesus Christ and following him for the rest of my life. And I'll never forget that moment.

Wow. I mean, it doesn't get much more painful and simultaneously beautiful than that, does it? So Dave and Anne, I'm curious, what do you guys feel when a guest takes you to such a holy kind of Jesus moment like that on the program? I think it feels like Jesus comes into the room and they are truly holy moments for us to get to sit and hear those stories. It really is just a reminder of the gospel and how Jesus redeems, restores and heals.

As Mary said, not overnight. I mean, all of us sitting at this table, we can resonate with that. I mean, because I have abuse in my background, I can resonate with like, yes, he has healed me and continues to heal me.

Yeah, I remember that moment. I mean, I'm sitting in the room where she shared that story and it was so intimate. It felt like she was honoring the whole world, we as hosts, but all the listeners to say, I'm going to take you to a place that's holy. And the fact that we get to do that, and the flip side of it is I'm looking across the room at this woman who's healed. And you can see the redemptive work of Jesus in just a horrible dark place. There is now light beaming, and so I think the listener goes, God can do that in me too. That's a Jesus moment. To the point that she was even able to be joking and silly about it in that moment, like that's real healing. It wasn't like deflecting or dissociating.

It was actually being in that moment. So thank you guys. You do such a great job at treating those moments with such delicate love and reverence for the deep work of God in the lives of our guests and our listeners too. So we're better for you guys doing that.

So now we're going to transition. One of our favorite guests this year was Sherri Lynn. She's radio co-host with Brant Hansen, one of our favorite guests here on Family Life Today. They're heard all around the country, and Sherri took us all on an unforgettable moment she experienced on her very first overseas mission trip, a moment that changed her forever.

I was always fearful of international travel. And so in our job, people will say, hey, come see this mission. Come see that mission. And one time someone said that to us.

I don't know what mission was. And they said, it's Peru. We're going to go. And you have to go. And I said, I don't have a passport. And they were like, oh, OK, well, we'll get so-and-so to go.

And that became my thing. That was your excuse? I don't have a passport.

I just don't have a passport. So I actually didn't. Sherri, what were you afraid of?

I don't know. It was it was the unknown. It was the unknown.

And I didn't know what to expect. And it just continued to overtake me. But when I got there and I felt the joy of that place, the kids dancing. And there's a story we told about three sisters who had brittle bone disease.

And so, you know, they were constantly breaking their bones and couldn't walk. And we had told that story for so long. We had made a video about it. I talked about on the radio and everything, not really putting together that it was this hospital.

So the one day I'm in the ward and we're praying for the kids who are going to get surgery. And they said, hey, on the other side is where rehab happens and all that. And as I walk around the corner, I see one of the sisters walking towards me.

They couldn't walk before. And I was like, is that one of the sisters? And they said, yeah.

And then the other one came around walking. And to me, it was such like a Jesus biblical moment. Like we had talked about these sisters. We had talked about healing.

That's what that trip meant to me is that I believe so much in the mission. But when I felt it and saw these little girls and I didn't want to be the big blubbering lady from America. I just felt like I was crying all the time.

I'm not a crier. I felt like I was crying all the time. The tears of joy. It was tears of joy.

It was tears of God. I can't believe you let me intersect with this. God, these lives are changing.

Healing is forever. They're learning about Jesus too. So their lives are changing in that way.

It's everything I talk about, but I saw it and it's real. At one point, there was a little party there. You know, some of them hadn't had their surgery yet.

So they're in their wheelchair dancing and everything. And it was such a joyful party. I remember walking out of that room and starting to walk down the walkway. And I did a video with my nieces and I said, I can't remember what I used to complain about in America.

I don't know what I was complaining about, whatever that was. That was those kids and the reason why that joy is there because this place has given them a place of beauty that looks like Jesus. Those moments on our program, David and Meg, those really give our listeners a window into the powerful work of God all around the world.

And he's really moving in mighty ways through ordinary people. Wouldn't you say? Most definitely. Yeah. I mean, just even hearing her talking about just the privilege of being able to see that firsthand. What God is doing, what he's up to, the tangible picture of God's power, his kindness, and his deep love for us.

Yeah. Hearing her smile, which exuded joy, just reflecting on that moment. We get to participate, as 1 Peter talks about, as being the royal priesthood. He sets us apart because Christ is in us, the hope of glory, and we get to pass him on to those around us.

And one of the coolest things about mission trips and in family life, we have started family life, family mission trips, because there's something special when dads and sons and mothers and daughters and grandkids with their grandparents go and take steps of faith together. She was taking steps of faith, as Sherri shared, and seeing God show up in a pretty amazing, miraculous way. He shows up in different ways, but you go together and you see a bigger God. That's really what we get to see. You see God is at work in other countries just like he is here. We get to join in with what he's already doing, and you get to participate and see him move.

You get your eyes open, too. Like she was saying, what are my problems back at home? I think we all need that reminder every now and then to look at our life and go in comparison to what's happening in different places around the world. We're not seeing that as an alternate view of reality. That actually is reality. Maybe my world is the alternate view.

Maybe my world is the one that needs to be changed. So David, I know that we are being intentional about breaking down some of these most amazing Jesus moments here on Family Life Today. It's important that people know that they can participate with us at home.

Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, I think about Sherri's story that she shared, and Mary's, and it is about bringing the gospel into our lives in fresh ways, the power of the gospel that we are not ashamed of. And whether that's bringing to people around the world who do not know Jesus, or as Mary shared, God coming and our wounds get swallowed up in His wounds.

All of us have wounds. Every person listening today has stories and backstories. And as we at Family Life Today get to participate in bringing the gospel and the good news of Jesus's wounds, swallowing up our wounds and redeeming our stories, when you give to family life, that's what you're giving. You're giving every day the hope of Jesus and the gospel to enter into people's everyday lives, the lives that maybe when we go out of the country we get to see, what is my problem?

Well, every day we're in that grind. And Family Life Today is one of the parts of our ministry where we bring the good news of Jesus day in and day out. And we would invite you to give. Right now we have a matching gift campaign that's been given by several generous partners and friends of family life. And when you give, every dollar you give will be doubled to impact more homes knowing the gospel deeply. Yeah. It's really important that people can know that they can participate in all of this. And so that's what's unique about this matching campaign that's going on.

So if you want to be a part of that matching campaign, you can go to familylifetoday.com or give us a call at 800-358-6329. That's 800, F as in family, L as in life, and then the word today. Hey Shelby, you ever said that before? I've said it two times. Maybe four?

A hundred thousand? So I want to transition to our next clip from one of our favorites here at Family Life Today, Ron Deal. And he produces our podcast, Family Life Blended. Because he's a frequent guest on Family Life Today, our listeners know a little bit about Ron and Nan's story of losing their son, Connor. Here's a powerful moment from the program this year where Nan describes God meeting her at Connor's grave. And it happened of all days on Mother's Day. That year of Mother's Day, we go out to visit my mom. She said some things to her mother and I was like, wow. Yeah, I said some things to my mom. I just said, Mom, I just want to thank you for being my mom.

Thank you for taking me to the library. My love of books, my love of teaching. My mom was a teacher. And my sister looked at me and she goes, wow, that was cool. And Ron looked at me and he goes, now I know something's changed in you. And that was real. That was from the heart. That was Holy Spirit right there. Then on our way home, we stopped at the cemetery. And you know, it had been 12 Mother's Days. And I remember going to Connor's grave and I said, son, it's not good that you're not here for me to hug on Mother's Day. But God is good. God is good all the time.

You know, since Connor's death, I hadn't heard her say anything like, God, I can trust you. And I was like, OK, God's done something here. And I just got to figure out what it is.

And I just got to try to join in the process. And, you know, we tell people COVID was really good for us to help us lean into him in ways that we just couldn't quite do together. And then lean into one another in new and radical ways. I was a very prideful person in my hurt and my pain and my loss. And one thing I learned in my recovery is that I'm not the defender of my heart. I've been trying to do that for so long, defending myself from pain, abandonment, words, overworking, loss.

You know, music has always been such a balm for me and such a place to go. And I learned that God is the defender of my heart. And there's a song called Defender, and I love this line. This is the line that just floored me in this song.

It says, when I thought I'd lost me, you knew where I'd left me. You reintroduced me to your love, picked up all my pieces and put them back together. You are the defender of my heart.

And I can just see the Lord with that shield and that sword going, OK, fears, shame, anything. He's defending that now, and I can rest in that. I can go to him with my losses. I mean, Ron could overwork.

He can. All of that stuff could happen again. I could lose another child. But I know that God has never left me or forsaken me, and that he never will. There are beautiful moments like that in our lives when God meets us and changes us authentically. And not just behavior modification, but heart change. And it reminds me, you guys know this, that I'm a chronic pain patient. I have degenerative disc disease where a disc in my back pushes on my sciatic nerve, and I try to do everything to get rid of it. But it's been a consistent problem in my life. And for the initial maybe nine years of that pain, I was just kind of a jerk in many ways.

It made me go internal in a lot of what Nan was saying there. I understood that it makes you want to defend yourself against other kinds of pain because you have this justification that you're suffering in one way, and therefore you're not allowed to suffer in other ways. And I had this moment about two years ago where the pain got inflared in a pretty significant way.

And in that moment, it was the worst pain I've ever been in my life. I was like, God, I just don't want to be the person that I was before. I don't want to be selfish. And so I remember I was praying this in the shower, and I got out of the shower, I got dressed, I went into the bedroom, and my wife was there, and I said, I don't want to be the person I was before.

I don't want to go internal. You deserve better than that. My relationship with God deserves better than that. My ministry deserves better than that. My kids deserve better than that. And I remember in the middle of that sentence, she cut me off.

She goes, whoa, whoa, whoa. I can already tell that you're processing this in a different way. You're different. And that makes me want to move toward you as opposed to away from you. And you can't fake it with your spouse.

I mean, you can try for a little while, but you can't really fake it from your spouse. God meets us in these moments, and sometimes it's in the midst of debilitating, crippling pain, where He screams at us, hey, will you trust me? Will you rely on me? And I found that this moment of pain ended up being one of the greatest catalysts for spiritual growth in my life. Have you guys ever experienced something like that?

Listen to Nan again. I felt like I was peering into her soul. Again, holy. I mean, today is about Jesus' moments and your moment. I've felt pain and knows that with my back and different things. And pain gets your attention in a way that either makes you really angry at God and you feel like He's very distant, or like Nan and Shelby, you just shared, there are moments where you realize God is right in the middle of our pain, sort of embracing us in a way that we can't feel any other way. So, I mean, it reminds you of the power and the grace of God who understands our pain, because He went through pain as well for us. Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Dave. Well, one final clip for today, a Jesus moment. We're going to hear from a man that, Dave, you appreciate, our listeners learned was instrumental in your spiritual journey.

His name is Philip Yancey. And he's written a lot over the years about doubts and disappointments as a Christian. He wrote the famous book Disappointment with God.

But here in this clip, Philip takes us back to his own turning point, kind of Jesus moment, where the truth of the gospel became clear to him in ways that it wasn't before. Here I am in this room, and for some reason I started to pray. I said, God, and everybody kind of got tense, like electrical charge hit the room or something. And I said, we're supposed to care about these 10,000 students at this university, try to keep them from going to hell. But I don't care if they all go to hell.

I don't care if I go to hell. And then it was really tense in that room. This is at a Bible college campus, and, you know, I was about to get struck by lightning. I started praying aloud. This was completely unplanned.

I had never prayed and hadn't gone into that room intending to. And I had a, I guess I'd have to call it a vision. I wasn't asleep.

It wasn't a dream. But I started talking aloud about the story of the Good Samaritan. And what I said was, here we're supposed to care for these people, like the Good Samaritan cared for this tramp lying in a ditch covered with blood.

As I said that, that vision flipped in my mind. And I looked at the figure leaning down, and it wasn't the Good Samaritan. It was Jesus. And I looked at the figure in the ditch, and it wasn't a tramp who'd been robbed.

It was me. I didn't know what to do. And I just kind of closed the prayer quickly and went away. And it just rattled me.

Where did that come from? And I realized that was the truth, that God was reaching down trying to heal me, my wounds. And every time he did, I would spit in his face. And I actually did that in the vision I had just seen. Jesus would lean down, and I would spit in his face.

And he'd lean down again, and I'd spit in his face. And I realized I was the neediest person on that campus and how much I needed God's grace. A week later, we were supposed to have a time to tell a story when God had spoken to us through the Bible, and I had no idea what to say. But this was such a powerful experience.

And I had a girlfriend at the time. I wrote her a note that night, and I said, I may have had the only authentic religious experience in my life. And I had gone forward 20 times, given my testimony hundreds of times. You know, you do that when you grow up in a church environment.

But none of them really felt authentic. And so when that class happened, again, much to my surprise, I kind of raised my hand, and at the last second was called on. And that changed everything for me. People ask me, with all the church abuse that you suffered, how can one experience like that change everything?

Well, that's like asking Saul of Tarsus. Why did you turn from a Christian persecutor to a missionary, a Christian missionary? Well, when you had an experience like that, and I've got to say, I've waited to tell that story in detail for my whole writing career, because as soon as you tell a story like that, people will say, well, that never happened to me. I didn't have one of those experiences.

And they're right. God deals with us in different ways, but God knew that I needed that. It was something that I didn't manufacture.

I wasn't even seeking. And God reached down in an act of great grace and mercy and said, I can work with you. I know he's close to you and he means a lot to you. Dave, how do you feel about hearing that clip when he had an authentic Jesus moment? You know, I was so excited when I found out Philip Yancey was going to be in our studio.

I mean, he was like a hero. And I know Jim Mitchell, our producer, felt the same way, because when I discovered his book, Disappointment with God, I had never heard an authentic Christian write about doubt and struggle and skepticism, even cynicism. And I thought I was the only one, you know, because you never talk about it in church.

No Christian had ever talked about it. Everybody just believed, and they had this faith. And then I find this book, and I show it to Ann, and she's like, I don't struggle with those things.

I'm like, okay, here I am all by myself. And that book allowed me, as a young man, to understand I'm okay, there is evidence, you can go on a journey, you can bring your doubts to God, you can bring your questions to God, and God will meet you right there. He doesn't shame you.

He literally says, you need evidence? Go ahead, put your fingers in the holes in my hand, Thomas. It's just such a beautiful. So when he was sitting across from me, I'm like, it's like Tom Brady's in the studio.

It's like, oh my goodness, Philip Yancey. And it's hard to be able to tell him, your writing changed me, and I know millions of others. And here's what's so cool as I hear that story again, is I know that we get to do that at Family Life Today. Honestly, I had never heard a Christian radio or broadcast ever be that honest. And we get to be that honest. And I think it's a joy, because I know there are listeners that are like us and like Philip that go, we can say those things out loud? And so we get to bring Philip and other people into your kitchen, into your car, and meet you right where you are. And here's what you don't understand, is that doesn't happen without donors, financial partners of Family Life saying, I have been changed by this program, I want others to hear it.

That's why you get to hear this. And so I want to say to you, if you've given to Family Life, thank you. You are our partners, you make this possible. If you haven't, I don't know what you're buying for Christmas this year, but maybe take out your checkbook, which nobody does anymore, but go online and make a donation, be a Family Life partner. This kind of programming will change not only your life, but your neighbor's life, and you can jump in and help us do that. So do it this month, it's matched, so your donation will be doubled.

And I say, become a partner with us. That's right, every donation given will be matched dollar for dollar. So you can go to familylifetoday.com, or you can give us a call at 800-358-6329. Again, that's 800, F as in family, L as in life, and then the word today.

And I wanted to remind you that our Cyber Monday deal is today, and it's not too late. It's going on until the end of the day. You can check it out at familylifetoday.com. Well, coming up tomorrow, if you're anything like me, you have trouble consistently reading the Bible.

It's tough. Well, David and Wilson are going to be joined tomorrow by Trillia Newbell as she talks about her devotional, 52 Weeks in the Word. That's tomorrow, we hope you'll join us. Thank you guys for joining us, me, all of us, today on Jesus Moments, a special Family Life Today episode. And on behalf of David and Wilson, I'm Shelby Abbott. We'll see you back next time for another edition of Family Life Today. Family Life Today is a donor-supported production of Family Life, a crew ministry helping you pursue the relationships that matter most.