A Journeywoman is Redeemed with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth
You might regularly listen to the Journeywomen podcast, but have you considered what a journeywoman is? Well, today we’re kicking off a brand new series in which we’re seeking to answer the question: What is a Journeywoman?
By definition, a journeywoman is a worker, skilled in a trade or craft, who earns her qualifications through training and experience, kind of like an apprentice. If you’re a Christ follower, you could say you’re a Journeywoman for Jesus - a worker, learning the trade of her Master through Biblical instruction, discipleship, and by navigating the challenges that he sets before her to cause her to look more like himself.
In our first episode, we’re going back to a conversation I shared with Nancy Wolgemuth on living in light of redemption, because a journeywoman is redeemed. Nancy Wolgemuth has touched the lives of millions of women through Revive Our Hearts and the True Woman movement, calling them to heart revival and biblical womanhood. Her love for Christ and his Word is infectious and permeates her outreach. Her books have sold more than three million copies and are reaching the hearts of women around the world. Nancy and her husband, Robert, live in Michigan.
Our hope and prayer is that this episode encourages you to remember the great story of redemption and to walk with people to the cross—to Jesus. That is what being a Journeywoman is all about.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What is redemption?
What is the overarching, eternal, often unseen Story that God is writing in this broken, fallen world?
How has God been redeeming the stories of his people throughout all of history? As Christ-followers, where do we fit into that Story? How does the gospel redeem our stories?
How should redemption change how we think about ourselves and our identity?
How does the reality that we are redeemed offer us hope in the struggles that we face on this side of heaven? How does redemption impact our ongoing struggle with sin and difficulty?
In Romans 8:19-23 Paul talks about waiting for the redemption of our bodies, but we are already redeemed by the blood of Christ. What does that mean?
How does redemption impact our daily lives and what practices will help us remember our redemption?
How is God weaving together the messy parts of our stories to bring glory to his name?
What is the importance of living in light of redemption and sharing how God is redeeming our stories?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“We think of redemption as something that happened to us when we got saved. A lot of times we don’t realize that redemption is a part of our lives from eternity past to eternity future. It’s a never-ending process until we see Jesus. It’s something we need afresh every day of our lives. He not only redeemed us, but he is redeeming us.”
“The whole concept implies that there is something we need to be redeemed from. It starts with being needy, with being desperate, with being in trouble. The word has to do with an action God takes on our behalf to rescue us, to save us from sin, evil, error, from ourselves. It’s buying us back. God pays what is needed to get us rescued from whatever has taken us captive that he wants to set us free from.”
“He created humans to love him, to walk with him, to know him. Adam and Eve rebelled against God’s rule and so God set in motion a plan he had designed in eternity past. Knowing they would sin, knowing we would sin, he set in motion a plan to redeem them from their lostness, to redeem them from captivity.”
“All through the Old Testament you have this theme, this stream, this tide of redemption moving toward it. From the animal sacrifices—a picture that prefigured how Christ would give himself as a sacrifice to redeem mankind from their lostness. And then Jesus comes to earth, he dies in our place for our sin to rescue us from our sinfulness, from our brokenness, from our lostness, from our poverty, from everything that has gone wrong, with the goal of making everything right in the end. That is the journey we’re on, and that he is on with us, and we have the promise that the journey will be completed. It’s going to be finished. That is the great Christian hope that we have.”
“We are part of a story that is on a continuum.”
“If we could step back and see this continuum as God sees it. It’s not about me and this moment or this day or even my lifetime. My life fits into a big, broad tapestry of history (past, present, and future) that is this whole story that God is writing.”
“God is writing this one great big long story. Ruth’s life fits into. Mary and Joseph’s lives fit into it. Esther’s life fits into it. Paul’s life fits into it.”
“He is a redeeming God who is making all things new. So we can also become instruments of redemption in the great storyline that he is writing from one generation to the next.”
“As God is redeeming us, it’s not just about us and our story. It’s about a great, big, huge story of redemption that God is writing through all of the ages and we get to be a part of that.”
Hunter: “We get to be a part of that! To be a journeywoman is to nestle yourself in God’s big story. We look to Scripture and consider God’s faithfulness to his people–to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and more–throughout redemptive history. And we can also look back and consider God’s faithfulness to us, personally, throughout our own lives. But one thing I’ve experienced more and more since recording this episode is the joy of considering his faithfulness to my brothers and sisters in my very own local church. In the gray, fabric chairs of our church I look to my right and see my sister who is singing with her face lifted, even though her husband recently lost his job. I look to the left and see children who have various physical disabilities, helping one another stand up to sing. The everyday faithfulness of my brothers and sisters in my local church encourages me to keep on the narrow way that leads to Life. In the intro every week I say, “Life’s a journey we were never meant to walk alone, we all need friends along the way.” As journeywomen, we know that in every season and challenge that we face, those church friends will point us to our good and faithful God.”
“There is no crown without the cross. There is no glory without the pain.”
“God actually uses the pain and the problems and the failures of mine and others to accomplish his purposes in me.”
“In the process of tripping and falling and weeping in the closet the beauty comes, the ashes are turned to beauty. And it not only sanctifies us, but it also makes us a safe place and a compassionate place for others hurting people to come and find grace.”
“Anything that makes me need God is a blessing.”
“God doesn’t ever want us to be in a place where we think we can do this without him.”
“When you look at the redemptive story that God is writing–creation, fall, redemption, consummation, the end of all things—it gives us perspective for what we are experiencing right now. It gives us context. It says that my struggles, my problems, my failures, my sin, my difficulties… None of it is purposeless. None of it is random. None of it is chance. It’s all purposeful. It’s ordained for me, for my life, by a God who is good, who is wise, who is loving, who knows what he is doing, and a God who is on his throne.”
“We must learn to counsel our hearts according to what is true.”
“There is grace for this moment. My problems, my pressures become opportunities to cast myself helplessly, hopelessly on Christ and to counsel my heart not according to what my emotions are telling me, but according to what truth says in God’s Word.”
“It’s the pressure and the problems that force me to Christ.”
“We need a redeemer who has saved us not just from the penalty of sin, but who is presently saving us from the power of sin (sanctification) and who promises that in the future we will be saved from the very presence of all sin and brokenness. If I can look ahead to that, keep my eyes on the finish line, I can know that the best is yet to come.”
“God has grace for toddler years.”
“If you only let into your life what you think you can manage, you will never experience the fullness of God’s redeeming grace.”
“God knows what you need to get you past what you think you can manage.”
“No matter what season of life we are in, God creates things in our story that make us conscious that we need him. We need to be redeemed.”
Hunter: God uses our circumstances to make it clear that we need him. This is Journeywomen training 101. To take the analogy a step further, the Master allows the apprentice to undergo challenges that will cause her to look to him in dependence. Then, he lovingly corrects and instructs her through his Word, helping her to think and act more like him. What difficult things in your life might God be using to draw you nearer to himself? Think about that. What hard things are you facing today that are helping you lean a little harder into the Lord? What circumstances might the Lord be using to conform you to the image of Christ? Instead of grumbling or trying to muscle your way through the challenges you’re facing, look to the Lord, ask for his help, and keep resting in his future grace. None of this is wasted, and this is not the end. That is what it means to live in light of redemption.
“God is using this season and the sacrifices of it to redeem you and to make you cast yourself upon the mercy and the strength of Christ.”
“How would you know God was strong if you never felt weak?”
“Weakness is a means to tap into his grace.”
“God brings people and circumstances into my life so I can realize how much I need him.”
“God is a redeeming God who is making all things new. That means he rescues us not only from our bondage to shame, to guilt, to sin—whether our sin or the sin of others—but there's a journey, there’s a process through which he redeems the losses that have been caused by our sins or the sins of others.”
“We have a God who has felt every pain, every wound, but he has taken upon himself in Christ on the cross all the woundedness, all the brokenness, all the lostness, and comes to bring health and healing and grace and hope for every sufferer.”
“No one should have to have their own story written and feel alone in that story.”
“Christ is a redeemer.”
RESOURCES
You Can Trust God to Write Your Story by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth & Robert Wolgemuth
Ruth: Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper
Book of Ruth on Revive Our Hearts
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is redemption?
What does God’s story of redemption look like over all of history?
What helps you remember God’s redeeming power in your own life?
How does the reality of redemption offer you hope in the current struggles you are facing?
Read 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. What is the hope we have?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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