Episode 167. 12 Books of Christmas Day 4: Hope For A Woman’s Heart with Pam Tebow
Links
Unedited Transcript
Pam I am. So just thrilled to get to talk to you today. Thank you so much for your yes. And for Jordan. Well, thank you for asking me. I feel privileged. Be really fun. I am so excited to talk about your devotional. It's called hope for a woman's heart. We're going to get into that here in just a few minutes.
I think this conversation matters so much for women right now, and I just can't wait to get to encourage women with you today. But before we do that, I am so excited to have you as one of our authors for our 12 books of Christmas. So we get to talk Christmas for a few minutes. We love Christmas. I know.
And so I, this feels like such a fun question for me to be able to ask you, because I've long loved your family. And so to get to talk about your Christmas traditions and what you guys love to do around the holidays, just feels really fun for me. So I would love to hear like when the kids were growing up, like, what did Christmas look like for you guys?
Well Christmas, um, for me and my family, before I married my husband and moved on. As good as I wanted it to be, because we didn't really, it was all about gifts and not about Jesus. Yeah. And cause they didn't grow up in a Christian home. And so my husband and I wanted to do things differently. We wanted to make Jesus center stage because that's what Christmas is all about.
So we would, um, you know, we would do all kinds of things. Depending on the ages of our kids and we have five, still have five, um, have number 10 grandchild on the way. So that's fun. And now we all get together for Christmas as a family, which is, which adds even more to the challenge, but makes it so special.
But when our kids were growing up, you know, one thing that we always did was my husband read the Christmas story. So that was so important. Sometimes when the kids were little, we would act out, you know, I can remember, um, having all the little kids. One was shepherd. One was Mary, when had to beat. It was always the little one that had to be baby Jesus.
And we would do plays so that not only when we teaching them, but they were acting it out and I still have those little costumes, you know, that they just kind of makeshift costumes with. They were the things that they wore the shepherd boy. And so we had more fun with that and I think. Those memories really have resonated with our kids because they've gone on to be creative with their children at Christmas, but we still get together at Christmas.
We still read the Christmas story and they always want my husband to read it. And we, you know, we try to. To focus on Jesus' birthday, have a birthday party for Jesus and do special things for, um, for him in honor of him, whether it's giving to a ministry or, um, getting together and going to city rescue mission, you know, as a family, um, different types of things that we can.
Do for the Lord and not just presence for us. So we, we try to keep that perspective. It's hard in our world because our world is so all about Christmas and you know, all their presents and all of that. And we try to draw names now because our family is so big. Yeah. And 19 of us. And so, you know, we try to draw names so that everybody's not buying for everybody because we don't want to make gifts and spending a lot of money.
The biggest part. Christmas. And then we talk about some of our special Christmases. We go back with our children and we remember are probably the most impactful Christmas was our first Christmas in the Philippines. We went as missionaries. Yeah. I don't know if you want me to tell that story, but I do it to our kids because you know, the, the, you know, our youngest wasn't born yet.
We had four kids and we, we had just arrived in the Philippines. God clearly called my husband and I to go as missionaries. He's an evangelist. So he wants to get the gospel to people. Who've never heard it at all. And so, um, We were in Manila for a month. And then we moved to an island of Mindanao. It's like the wild west of the America, what America was in the old days.
That's what this island is like in the Philippines, kind of the wild west of the Philippines, but that's where God called us to go. And so, um, my husband had contracted home, but when we got there the home, wasn't what he thought. Um, didn't have running water. It just wasn't, it just wasn't acceptable. It was falling apart.
He had to go back and renew our visas. And he left us in the home of missionaries kind people, but it was really challenging because since it was right before Christmas, it was really challenging because, you know, we had cold bucket bass. I had a baby 18 months old, all my kids were young and, you know, we had windows open with critters crawling through every night, such a switch.
I had to wash diapers by hand because there were no Pampers in those days, you know, all those obstacles. During that time, when my husband couldn't get back to us, God just cemented our relationship with the Filipino people. And he gave them a love for us and we had a love for them. And so we would learn to ride tricycles and here's, this is me all by myself, with my little kids in a strange country where we did not speak the language, but a lot of people spoke English.
Going on a little tricycle to go to this store and buy some American type food, which they didn't really have, but just, just all of that began to immerse us in the culture and with the people. And the coolest part of this whole story is we were looking for home and because we had a really embraced the Filipinos around us.
Not knowing it, they were looking for home for us and they really wanted to home that had a bathroom in it because they knew that's what Americans like. Well, there aren't many of those of that out. At least there weren't at the time. And, um, This is a long story, but I'll shorten it. Um, a man who became a Christian reading, a Gideon Bible, um, was a wealthy fishermen in the Philippines.
And he built a house on an island house there and Minda now the town where we were living in. Um, but he, he didn't want to rent to the American missionaries and the people kept pleading with them, but no one is living there. Don't you want to rent to this family? We like this family. Well, meanwhile, his wife on the other island had a dream and God told her to tell him that he had to rent to the American missionaries.
And my poor husband couldn't get home because all the planes had been booked and he was on a boat, a slow boat. And so on Christmas Eve, my husband arrived and he found us in this lovely home. And because these, these, uh, Filipinos had gone to America, they realized that we have a wonderful room called the bathroom with a running, so running sour and a toilet have flushed.
And I know that we take that for granted, but we didn't take it for granted. Done all those other things with little kids. And so he arrived home and he walked in this home. They had furniture cause we brought no furniture and it had a bathroom. And the Dole pine plantation had, had, uh, delivered a Christmas tree, unbeknownst to us.
And we had beautiful gifts that we bought that fell apart, you know, by the end of the day. But none of that was. When he arrived home on Christmas Eve and he found a there, I mean, I, I can hardly. Tell you about crying, how precious it was that God had done all this. And he loved us that much, that he took care of all the details that we could have never put together ourselves.
And it was just the best Christmas ever. So when we, when we talk about Christmas with the kids and we get together every year, we review what God did that God drew us there, but he not only sent us. He took care of us and he took care of those little details. You know, just like a bathroom that we all take for granted, you know, the things that mean so much to us.
Um, he just did that and we. All we could think about not presence was just the fact that this is all about God's love because that's what Christmas is that God loved us so much that he sent his only son. Jesus. And it just gives us a chance to review again with our family. This is what Christmas is about because we can easily get it confused with Cal and talk about.
Yeah, other things and they're fun and there's nothing wrong with them, but you know, our, our primary purpose for celebrating Christmas is to celebrate the, the love of our great God sending Jesus to us. Yeah. And that's a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing that. I mean, it's a God story, right?
Like it's beautiful. God's story of sustaining your family for him, providing for your family in a way that only he could have done, he could have found it. And yeah, I mean, it just. That encourages my heart so much to, I am a pastor's wife. I got married a couple of years ago, so my husband and I met a couple, well, several years before we started dating.
And so he was already pastoring here in south Mississippi where we live, um, when we started dating. And so when we got married, I moved nine hours away from everything I had ever known in Tennessee at the mission field. Isn't it? It, well, and we say a lot of times because the culture here feels so different than what we would consider home, which, which still Tennessee still feels like home to us.
And so we will often say even in the way that, you know, We talk about our life here. Sometimes there are a lot of days where it does feel like we're missionaries and that's sometimes the way that we have to see, um, this season of our lives, but God has been so faithful and has provided exactly what we need.
I mean, I look around our, our home that we're renting now, and it's not the home that we were in when we, when we first got married. But it just the right time, God opened up this other home that was. Um, just the space that we needed and office space that I needed and he's just has been so faithful. And so I love that you guys get to look back on one of those first Christmases with that story and even.
You know, I think a lot of times those types of stories encourage my heart when I'm in the midst of something where maybe God hasn't answered a prayer yet, and I am seeking the Lord for four provision or whatever. And to remember those times, You say, okay, God, I know it might look different this time, but I trust you.
And I know you're faithful, even if you didn't do that thing in the past, but like, right. Thank you for those reminders that I have of your goodness and your provision and you sustaining our family. Cause I'd know, and I trust that you're going to do it again, you know? And so I love that you share that, so good.
Okay. A fun Christmas question. So is there something that you. Love to make for your family, like food wise, that just has to be on your table. On Christmas day, everybody has different things. So tell me, I have one. Well, it's funny. Um, I started making this kind of sausage breakfast casserole, and now all of my kids.
I think that they have to have that too. So they all make it for their families. And it just, it's funny how you, you make foods that become a favorite and a staple. And, um, I mean, it's really simple, you know, and we changed some of it over the years. We use Turkey sausage and we use, you know, you try to get healthier and healthier.
But they still think that that's what they need on Christmas morning. And they all my children, if we're not together, they make it for their kids and they make it on Thanksgiving. They make it on Christmas. And it's amazing. The, the traditions that we begin, uh, that our children want to have those traditions.
And I'm glad cause that's a fun one, but even better is that they read, you know, the Christmas story from the Bible and that's the business that's tradition. But yeah, we do have favorite foods. I love that. That's so fun. So fun. Okay. I am so excited about your new devotional that we get to talk all about today.
It is called hope for a woman's heart. And when I saw it, when I read the title, I thought, man, what a message for women right now? Right? This is what we need right now in the midst of so much going on in the world. And so just from your heart, you know, as you read. These, these thoughts for women, why was it important to you to encourage women with the hope of Christ this year?
I mean, that's always important, but with like the time and place we're in right now, why was that? You know, you feel like the message God put on your heart. Well, that's interesting because this book was published right at the beginning. And so I had to come up with the title even before that, but God knew he always knows the future.
And as I've, I have the privilege to speak at women's events, other kinds of events too, but I love the women's events and always, I agreed to stay and talk to the women after the events. And one of my favorite messages is hope. Especially at Christmas time, I call it hope for the holidays because I realized that that's the time that women are the most challenges I'm challenging because I think they, you know, you think it's going to be the happy, joyful time, but they're reminded of what hasn't happened or, you know, someone that's not there.
Used to be there at their Christmas table or S you know, they're sadness, they can't measure up. They don't have all the, you know, Christmas outfits they'd like to have, or whatever the case. It's also a sad time. The most suicides happen at Christmas, which just is tragic to me. But as I talked to these women, I listened to story after story of how they resonated with the message of hope and how they needed it, how they just about given up hope, because life was so hard and maybe they'd been divorced or they lost a child or they were ill and so many, um, Hard things happen in our lives.
You know, we have, we have good lives, but we have a lot of hard days and it's been, it's been interesting how often that happens. Year after year. And so I thought, you know, if ever I get to write a book, I want it to incorporate hope. So, you know, cause that's one of the messages that I feel like women respond to so often.
And so that's, you know, they let me pick the title and so that's what I, you know, chose. But also the devotions just came. I felt like God gave me. Each devotion one at a time, you know, I had the stories, but he reminded me of the stories and then he would give me the scripture and he would just put it together.
I mean, I really feel like I can't even take credit for it, such a God story of how God did it. And I'd rather that be the case because, you know, God's the one that orchestrates everything good in our lives anyway. And I wanted it to truly be. The, his hope that he affects women with, as they read each devotion.
So in order to do that, I had to trust him for each of the devotions one by one. And they came, you know, I just felt like I was ready for the next one. And God gave me an idea so he can have all the credit, but I'm grateful. I'm grateful that women can be encouraged with the hope that we can only find in Christ.
Yeah. Yeah. That matters so much. I've heard more than one author say. And that going through this process, it's like, It's like, God will just download for you. Like the words that and the truth that he said. Right. You know, like he is giving her messages that, yeah, it really, really is. And that encourages my heart.
I'm writing my first book right now. And you know, there are days. What is it? Oh, I'm so excited. I, well, I'll show you. This much with listeners right now, but it, um, it's going to really encourage women to see their calling through a gospel centered perspective. I thank God. Yeah. I just there's book after book that is flying off shelves at target that give women a framework to, you know, pursue their gifts and pursue their talents.
How do we connect that to making God known and like the gospel going forth? Like, how do we take the hope of Christ into the boardroom or the stay at home mom? Who's, who's being the homeroom mom of her kid's class. Like how does she pursue her calling and keep the gospel at the center of that. And so I'm really excited to see what God does with it.
There are days where you sit down and write and you're like, okay, God, I don't have anything today. Like I just am fully relying on you to download in there. Yeah. Whatever it is that you, you want to be a part of this message. So I love that we kind of share that in the writing process. That's really cool.
So there were a few things as I kind of flipped through the book that I thought Hmm. I know these will really speak to my people. And one of them, especially as we are entering into the Christmas season that I thought was really awesome. Is you talk about having a cluttered heart. Yeah. We also do that from experience.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Many of us, I would argue all of us have struggled with this in the past, and you say, take advantage of this great trade today. Exchange sends clutter for God's forgiveness, freedom and peace. So. Why is this exchange so important for women and how do we not? How do we do it, right.
It's not a one to three framework of like, how do we have a decluttered heart, but like, how do we, how do you want to encourage women to fix their eyes on Christ in the middle of a life? That feels good. No, it's, that's a good question. And if there's not an easy answer, but I know that Christ crisis, the answer, you know, we, I think we haven't, well, I don't think I know we have an enemy and he comes to steal, kill and destroy our freedom.
Our peace, you know, our, um, our purpose, everything that God gives us, he wants to destroy. And he can often do that by cluttering our hearts with worry with unforgiveness. I mean, I'm forgiveness is a big one. Of, um, the, the little sins, you know, that aren't so bad, but really they keep us from the freedom we have in Christ and, and on and on.
And all of us know all of us, your minds are working now and thinking of the things that, you know, you need to apologize to someone, or you need to get something straight, you need to right a wrong and, uh, all that can clutter our hearts. I'm a real. Neat next. So I like everything in its place, but sometimes I don't.
Let my, um, I let the clutter fill up in my mind, you know, when I don't let it fill up in my home and that's Satan has, has us in bondage, then we're in bondage to our sin. You know, David cried out and said, created me a new heart. Oh, God, we knew the steadfast spirit within me. No, he was so burdened by a sin.
And then when he confessed to sin, he had such freedom. And what an example for us, because we have freedom too. And I, I just encourage people to do that because sometimes we, oh, yeah. That's why we're not able to, you know, to feel like the holy Spirit's presence or to have the joy, you know, I love the title of your podcast, but if we want to radiate the joy of Christ, that, you know, the love that he gives us, that we can pass on to other people that peace in the midst of a world that is so full of anxiety, we have to remove that clutter.
And so I, I try to do that each morning, you know, Go to the Lord, first thing every day and, and, um, give myself to the Romans 12 one and to give myself living sacrifice holy acceptable to him and I, and I have to confess those things because there's always something. And you know, of course I have to do it during the day too, because, you know, we just, that thought that action in those small things and the big things, and it's just.
Tool of the enemy to keep us from being all that God wants us to be. And we, some people never get past that, you know, they're, they won't release that bitterness. They have towards someone. Um, or that, that, you know, they won't confess that little tiny sin because. That keeps us bound up psych we're tied with a rope and we have no freedom.
Yeah. Yeah. That's so good. I had a conversation the other day on a podcast about radiants and somebody was asking me about, um, kind of the verse, the core verse that God kept bringing me back to you as I. I was trying to come up with, what do we name this podcast? And it's Psalm 34, 5. It says those who look to him are radiant and their faces are never covered in shame.
And, you know, I love that verse. I figured that was, yeah. Yeah, it is. And as I'm reading through the Bible chronologically this year, as I was walking through scripture, I began see. Evidence of that everywhere. Right? Like I'm walking out to way Exodus and Moses is coming down from Mount. Sinai has been in the presence of God days and his he's glowing with the glory of God.
I mean, it's just, it's everywhere. I can not be Proverbs 31 woman that smiles at the future. I love that. That's. Exactly. And she knows where it turned into her. Aternity yes, yes, exactly. Yes. And so I had a friend, she asked me, she was like, well, Rebecca, like, you know, what is it, how do we become more radiant?
You know, like, what is, what she was looking for is like a framework, right? Like what do I do? Like a plus B equals C how do I become radiant? And I, it was just like the holy spirit spoke to me in that moment. And it was like, you know, Rebecca. I think what I'm asking you to do is not to tell women how, but to help them understand that when we abide in Christ, the radiance that comes from that, that's the by-product of looking to Jesus, right?
Those who look to him are radiant. So it's not so much this. Okay. You know, read your Bible, memorize scripture, go to church every time, the doors, right. It is those things, right? It's walking in community. It is all of that, but it's also those moment by moment forks in the road, you know, choices that would have, like you're talking about to choose the narrow path to, to, you know, To repent of that sin to pursue forgiveness.
Like all those things that you're talking about, those are all choices that we make, um, that we're better able to do in a way that honors God when we are walking in step with the spirit. Right. And then the product of that is writing. You know what I mean? It's true now. It's so good. And keep preaching that message.
I think one of the real problems too, is that we carry around so much anxiety because there's a lot of stress. Women tend to, to have more stress a minute seems like, and we carry it around with us. And I just, one of the things I've I've learned to do, and I'm guilty of that. So I'm speaking from personal experience.
I have to trade my anxiety for peace. So I, you know, I. Picture myself doing that. Okay, Lord, here's all my anxieties and, you know, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God and the peace of God. So I have to give him all my anxieties and then in return, he gives me his peace.
Now I have to do that regularly because. So many things in life makes us make us anxious, concerned. We're worried we're fretful, but we have to keep trading that and keep trading and giving it to the Lord. And we turn and gives it to, he gives us his peace and I wouldn't take anything for the peace of God.
And yet I'll go on. Not even realizing that I don't have it at the moment because I'm carrying it all on my shoulders. And I do that. Yes regularly. So I think it's a trade we need to make all the time often, you know, and I think then we can have that peace and that joy and be radiant when we're not carrying that, you know, all those things, societies of what ifs and all that we have to do and our to do list.
And, you know, I know all the women that are listening since that, because they all have responsibilities. Right. Absolutely. Yeah. And on that note, you also talk in the book about having gratitude and sort of that, that spirit of Thanksgiving versus grumbling scratcher has so much to say about this as well.
And so. As, especially as we walk into the holiday season, the Christmas season, as we talked about earlier, we think Christmas and we think, oh, it's, you know, this time we spend with family, it's this joyful time. But so many times it is full of stress and it is full of crap. Right. Complaining. And so. You know, how would you want to encourage women to turn from that?
As they're walking into this season? That's a good, that's really a good point. I, a long time ago, my husband made up a rule. He takes large groups on mission trips and, and he realized that if somebody complained that everyone was complaining, you know, Spreading lice or gangrene. So he made a no complaining rule for the mission trip, but a no complaining room in our home or rule in our home.
So if we had something want to talk about, we could discuss it, but we couldn't complain about it. And so I thought about that and I, I, um, I made up a tune to a verse in everything. Give, thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Then it goes on. But, um, that verses had such an impact on me personally and not complaining because.
Uh, one day, almost 30 years ago, I walked, um, out of a store in, uh, a giant piece of a doorframe fell on my head and, um, I was knocked unconscious. And when I came to that verse in everything, give, thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ. Jesus was spinning around my head. I mean, it was such a God moment because I've had surgery since I've had, um, Pain in my pace face where it was said for 30 years.
And yet that versus still true that it kept me from being better. No multi-million dollar settlement. You know, it was before the days of ambulance chasers and, you know, somehow the evidence is spirited, et cetera. And I won't go into all that. But it is, it is such an amazing tribute to the power of scripture because it's that one verse has kept me from complaining for 30 years.
And I just, I share that story with women because all of us have things that we could complain about things that are not pleasant that we want to grumble. We want to say, why me Lord. What a difference in everything. Give, thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ. Jesus. My husband has Parkinson's and it's progressive.
He's. He handles himself very well. He's, you know, still, um, can tell you where every verse in the Bible is found and you know, so that's good. He walking, it's getting harder and it, you know, he, he knows he can anticipate more of that, but he never complained. So when people ask him how he is, he says I'm blessed.
So we have a grandson that was born in the mission field and grew up in the mission. And wellness had multiple issues. People say, well, why aren't you complaining? He said, cause I want to be just like my grandpa. That's how we influence people. He doesn't want to complain cause his grandpa doesn't complain.
And I feel like when we grumble we or complain about something, then the person that we complain to, then they'll complain and they'll complain and it's a vicious cycle and we can hop that. We can halt it by not by realizing, wait a minute, God allowed all this in our lives. Yes. Not everything is going to be good until we get to heaven and we're going to have problems.
We're going to have issues. You know, we're going to get, we're going to age, you know, and get gray hair chest to me. I know. And, and, you know, issues like Parkinson's other things are going to come along or are we going to complain about all that? Are we going to take what we get from the hand of God and realize that he has a plan and purpose for.
And we can thank him for it. And you don't think in books you're oh, you're so excited about, you know, dealing with this injury or whatever it is, but you can thank him because he's going to give you the grace to go through it. And he, it is God ordained. Yeah. He knew it before you were ever born. He planned it for our good and his glory and he's going to use it.
I've been able to share that with so many women along the way and encourage them because they all are going through things. Yeah. And they can thank God too, by faith. It's by faith. It's not a feeling you don't feel grateful always, but I can do it by faith. And then God has the feelings come along with it.
And he's so good to allow that. The first is, and that's not the only one that lots of scripture that will encourage you not to complain and to realize how blessed we are and that, you know, everything is father filtered. So we can count on, especially at Christmas, because that's a hard time for it as women.
We want it all to be perfect and, and so much complaining takes place then, you know, because it isn't perfect and nothing ever will be, but we can. Relax. If that's possible. I have a hard time with that too. And count on the grace of God to give us this peace and, and not normal. Yeah. Yeah. That's so good.
And you know, really those, those comments of grumbling and complaining, they start as thought. Right. And we see so much in scripture about, you know, we had the mind of Christ. We have that command of taking our thoughts, captive to the obedience of Christ. And so that's something that I could, I feel like I should just like stamp it on my forehead.
Like take your thoughts. And so it's like, before it ever comes out of my mouth, It's hanging out in my mind and before you speak. Right. Exactly. Exactly. And so I just think that matters so much to us as we walk into this season, especially right. We were spending time with family members that we don't spend a lot of time with the rest of the year, maybe, or friends that we don't see super often.
And so what a gift that is, but if we choose to spend that time grumbling and complaining, like that's not fruitful at all for the kingdom of God, you know, and just the atmosphere. Yeah, it does. It does for sure. Okay. Well, one of the last things that I want to make sure that we cover because, um, as I read this, I just was thinking about your family and how, um, How God has worked this in you guys so beautifully.
And, um, and that is the part of the book where you talk about sharing your blessings with those Indians. And I mean, if, and I don't say this at pant, cause I know you're going to say, well, all glory be to God like he's working in and through us. And so I, I know all of that, but I just want to say. Your family models this so well, and so beautifully.
And I, and so I honor you in that and I just want to ask, you know, as the kids were growing up, like there was a moment when you, when you decided like, I want to model this in our family. I want our family to be known for that. Right. Um,
Would you encourage listeners who are mamas, they're raising their own kids and they want to teach their kids to share their blessings. They want, they want that for their family. Like, how would you encourage them? I think we have to live in, in front of our kids. You know, they watch us and I think actions speak pretty loud.
I didn't grow up in a family that wanted to bless other people that were givers. Um, and neither did my husband. We got married and we kind of, I mean, we didn't grow up in Christian homes, either one of us. So we had no clue how to really live the Christian life, but we may just, you know, decisions that came a lot of them came from scripture and my husband is a giver and our kids all became givers.
And it's just amazing. Cause I wasn't, I'm super frugal. I didn't really have to be growing up, but I, of course I had to be when I married my husband cause we're in ministry. So, you know, we always had to be. But that doesn't mean you can't be generous and you can't give, and you can't share what God has given to you.
And so he just set the tone for our family. And we started when the kids were young, you know, when we were in the Philippines, we, um, we, people there's so many poor people there. And so people would come to our gate and all the missionaries said, well, you can't do, there are too many poor people. You can't help everybody.
So don't bother don't, don't let the beggars. Well, we, we declined to do it their way. We thought, well, wait a minute, that doesn't sound like our guide. We want to be a testimony. So people knew that they could come to our game. We had a little bags of rice and, and we would help them get prescriptions if they were sick.
And our children watch that and our children got involved in and there was a little beggar boy. That was asleep outside our gate. And we brought him into our home and we tried to, you know, we fed him, we bathed him, we closed him cause nobody claimed him and our kids. The kids got so involved in all that.
I mean, involved in the process of giving, of serving, you know, we wanted them to see firsthand, um, what that means. And you know, we, my husband took them on mission trips and so they go to places where people don't have very much and they learned to. Yeah. Part of what they had, you know, to, to, um, not just to share the gospel, but then to share their lives and their blessings with other people.
So it's just, it's day by day, our kids watch us and we have to live that in front of them. We can't just tell them. To give, you know, scripture says, given it will be given to you good measure, pressed down, shaken, ever shaken together, running over. It will pour into your lap for by your standard measure will be measured to you.
And I thought that was such an important verse. That was the first, first that I ever put to a tune because I wanted to teach it to my kids. But as you give, God gives you back so much more. It's not necessarily monetarily, but think of all the blessings that we have the love and enjoy, and the family and the faith and all that God gives us.
So we're, you know, we needed to first learn it and then we needed to teach it to our kids and to do it. Day in day out and to do it in a way that they caught it, you know, not just talk about it, they'd see us in action. I'm not a natural giver, but I learned a lot about the joy of giving. And once you catch onto that changes everything.
So it's, it's sweet. I can still remember. Yeah. Um, Christmas that I was sick. I have this inner air issue and it, you know, I get vertigo so sick at my stomach and I could hardly move my head from side to side. And our little boy to me was our little boy, our youngest. And it was a little boy at the time and he didn't have any money to buy presents.
So he got up early on Christmas morning, went out in the rain and the coal was not that cold in Florida, but it was raining and he picked weeds because he knew. Uh, that I was too sick to do anything, you know, that I liked my flowers, but he picked weeds for me. And that was his gift. And I'll never get over it.
I can pry, as I say it. And that's, you know, I really think they learned a lot of that from, from my husband who's to give her, but that, that was so touching and he, you know, he, he's still a giver because he learns to. Given so much there was foundation, et cetera, but that gives people joy. It gives us so much more joy to give than to receive.
And people think about that at Christmas. You know, our family will get together and go to city rescue mission and do different things like that to impact them around Christmas time or Thanksgiving time, you know, so that as a family, we can do those kinds of things that. Make a difference in other people's slices so that it's not all about the presence that we get.
And that's hard to do because we live in such a commercial world. You know, everything is focused on the gifts that we get and what are we buying and what are we wearing and the parties, et cetera. So you have to think about it and make a plan to have an impact on your families and your friends by, you know, maybe.
You know, making it a little different every year, but trying to, to, to give and to serve and to do that. So that it's caught, you know, you can't just say it, you can't just teach it. You have to catch a hard challenge challenge. Well, it doesn't just happen, right? Like does it have to be intentional? That's what I'm walking away from what you said, thinking it's like, we have to be intentional about this and the best of really only way to teach this is just to show.
I just had to do it and model it and yeah, that's so, so good. So, so good. I love that so much. Okay. I love this message so much. It's called hope for a woman's heart. If people didn't catch the title at the beginning of the show, make sure you go grab PM's book and we're also going to be giving away a copy.
I have it here in my office to one of our listeners. Um, he listens to the 12 books of Christmas series and I'm so grateful to have Pam be a part of that. And now what we're going to do is hop on over to our Patrion community, where we're going to get to know Pam a little better and kind of a bonus round of questions.
So I'm excited about that, but for now, I just want to say again, Pam, I'm so grateful for your yes. And your time today and for this message. Thank you for being with me. Thank you. What you do. Thank you.
