In this sermon, Brother Denny shares his personal testimony of how he and his family were faced with a crisis that forced them to make a decision about their faith in Jesus. They had to choose whether to continue living as they were or to fully commit themselves to following Jesus. Through various Bible verses, Brother Denny emphasizes the importance of trusting in the Lord and not relying on our own understanding or the opinions of others. He also highlights the significance of offering sacrifices of righteousness and putting our trust in God rather than in human beings or worldly authorities.

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. 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. 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 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.