I Know That!

My mother did her job well but she had such a reluctant student. She was an expert seamstress and tried with diligence to teach me how to sew. She loved materials and threads and sewing machines and yarns and from those materials she could and would make dream dresses for me. I dutifully followed her instructions so by the time I went to college I had the knowledge I needed to sew but I refused to do it. It was boring. It was tedious. It took way too much time. And beside why should I bother? Mom continued to sew for me!

However, that all changed the day I got married. For some reason which I could not understand at the time, Mom put her sewing machine away and took up painting while I was left to fend for myself. I had gotten use to nice clothes....cheap. Now as we struggled financially to pay for graduate and undergraduate tuitions on $6300 a year, there was no money for clothes. However there was a little money for material. And so I dragged that knowledge out (along with an old sewing machine one of Mama’s friends gave me) and put it into service. Soon I was making my own dream dresses.

Like my sewing skills, one can have the knowledge without having it affect their lives, but when we put that knowledge to work it can greatly enhance it. But sometimes lack of putting knowledge to work can be brutally harmful even leading to destruction. Listen to these words from Hosea 4:6:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have rejected knowledge,

I also will reject you from being priests for Me;

Because you have forgotten the law of your God,

I also will forget your children.

…because they have ceased obeying the Lord.”

In this passage God is saying something important to all of us. Learn. Know. Study. Obey. There is much to be gained but equally much, oh so very much, to be lost if we choose to ignore the very words, guidance, counsel, and truth, that God gives us in His Word.

At least once a week we get a call at Big Dream Ministries from someone who tells us, “I never knew or understood the whole Bible. The Amazing Collection has opened my eyes to so much of God’s Word that I didn’t understand!” We love those calls. God’s Word changes lives. It sets the captives free. It brings joy to the depressed and courage to the fearful. But without it…..well words like “destroy” “reject”, and “forgotten” paint a sobering picture. Love demands obedience but before obedience there must come knowledge.

When it comes to sewing it really isn’t earth shattering if knowledge is not followed by obedience. But God’s Word? Well it really is.

Emotional Roller Coaster

Emotions are funny. They seem to hit with a mind of their own. Joy can turn to sorrow in a millisecond and sorrow can turn to joy. I remember as a young woman sending the man I loved off on a military cruiser for the summer as a midshipman. I had expected a letter at least once a week and probably more. But week after week passed with no word and I grew more and more distressed. After six weeks had passed and still no letter I was fully convinced that his love for me had grown cold and that I would never see him again.

But one day a telegram arrived (you can tell how long ago this occurred!). It had just a few small words: “I love you. I miss you. See you soon.” And in that moment all anxiety turned at joyful anticipation.

Emotions change and they can change quickly.

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October 3, 2002 a shipment of 1000 sets of DVDs arrived from CRT Custom Products out of Nashville. This included the books of Genesis through 2 Kings. The packaging was beautiful. The price was less than what we had thought. And as the many boxes were being lifted into the warehouse I have to admit I was overwhelmingly excited. We had worked hundreds and hundreds of hours and here was the culmination of all of that work, prayer, time and tears.

The shipping truck pulled away and I was left alone. The boxes were piled high all around the room. Boxes that contained 5000 companion workbooks also added to the enormous amount of “product’. And then a thought occurred to me. We had 1000 sets that we had to sell. We had no sales staff. We had no brochure. We had no mailing list and no advertising budget.

I raced to the office and looked over the list of all of the people who said they wanted a set as soon as we received them. One, two three, four, five, six, seven…..seven…that was it! That left us with 993 sets of DVD’s and 2493 workbooks! And at that moment emotions changed and all joy turned to raw terror! What were we thinking? Did we have any idea how many 1000 sets were? Couldn’t we have ordered 250 or better yet 25!!

Then I remembered the past. God. God providing the money we needed. God providing the perfect testimonies for every book. God providing talented vocalists. God providing our every need. And so, why would I think that God could not provide for our needs at this point?

That was eight years ago. The warehouse is once again packed only now we have reordered workbooks tens of times and the DVD’s have multiplied as we have added new studies. Seven broadcasting stations air the Amazing Collection in five languages world wide. Had I known that on October 3, 2002 I would have continued in my excitement, continued in joy. But isn’t that what Christ tells us to do?

Consider it all joy brethren when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

James 1:2

Do You Remember?

Some years ago our Big Dream team went on a little retreat near the Georgia mountains. Eleanor Lewis gave a talk on the theme of “remembering”. It was fascinating to see how serious God is about us remembering what He has done, remembering who He is, remembering His works and goodness. The longer I live the more crucial those words become because the truth is I often fail to remember and it is in that failing that anxiety finds its fertile ground

I began keeping a journal as a young adult. There are times now that I will pull out one of those books and read a few pages. What is shocking is not what I have remembered but what I have forgotten! And so often what I have forgotten are the mighty works of God. Those journal entries are proof that when God says do not be anxious, do not fear, do not be concerned, He can say that because He is in control and He IS working all things out. So many of the blog stories are nothing more than stories from my journals and each one calls out…. “do not be anxious! God has a plan and it is good!”

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We had been trying to find the right song and story for First Chronicles, something that would develop the idea of restoration. After searching for some time and getting down right stressed over the whole thing we finally came up with a song that a very popular recording artist had just recorded. It wasn’t by any means perfect but it was the best we could come up with. There was only one problem. It would be very expensive for us to get a license. We felt we had no choice and so we moved reluctantly forward but the very night we were going to film, the weather turned nasty and we were unable to do it. We rescheduled.

The next day we met with Eleanor Sams to hear her testimony and talk with her about filming her for First Chronicles. She had the most gentle, loving spirit and was immensely bright and articulate. She brought along a scrapbook that had wonderful old family pictures that helped to enhance her story.

Eleanor’s story is unusual. She grew up with a black mother and father in a close knit family. But after she had children she found out that she had a white grandfather, a slave owner. It was a blow to her because she had prejudices, resentment and anger but God worked a miracle in her heart and through some very unusual circumstances brought restoration to her and her family.

After talking with her at some length, Kelle, our production/creative guru, came up with a great idea. She wanted to incorporate some of those family pictures into the testimony.
Eleanor agreed that would be a wonderful idea and so it was set that the following week we would film both Eleanor telling her story and also use several pictures from the scrapbook.

On the way home that night, Kelle began to think that we needed a Negro spiritual as the music for that book. It would go right along with Eleanor’s story, in fact it would be great to have a “story board’ for the music that would not only enhance the song but also Eleanor’s great story.

Kelle called Antonia Lawrence, a lovely vocalist who had done some work for us previously. Antonia’s response was shocking and thrilling. “I will not only sing a Negro spiritual, I will write one tonight just for this story of restoration!”

And so it came about that Eleanor told her story of restoration. Antonio wrote and sang a song of restoration. And Eleanor’s daughter did the acting for the “story board” and Eleanor’s scrapbook provided the extra visuals that enhanced it all.

Remember? Remember! God is in the details and even when we don’t see it at the moment, He is in control.

I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

Yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.

Psalm 77:11

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

There is an old saying” What you don’t know can’t hurt you” that has been around for decades, maybe centuries. Now come, let us reason together. That is the greatest lie known to man? EVER!

For instance if you don’t know that fire can burn you up and you decide to walk into it, it probably will hurt you…a lot. If you don’t understand the pull of gravity and jump off a twenty story building there is a very good chance (like 100%) that indeed it will hurt you.

When it came to the legal aspects of production what we didn’t know really could have hurt us greatly. By God’s grace, we were able to learn a truth before we got ourselves and the ministry into legal trouble.

We had assumed that if we wanted to use a piece of music in our film project we would simply include it. So for the first few weeks of development we carefully choose music we thought would fit into each teaching session. Then we began to learn from several of our music professional friends that, no indeed, you can NOT use any music you want. In fact all music (except for that which is classified Public Domain or was written especially for us and given to us) is protected by a very complex systems of licenses. In fact had we known just HOW complex all of this would be we would NEVER have used ANY music. But then I do believe God revealed only as much as He wanted us to know, a little at a time so we WOULD add the music He wanted in every section.

Our first step toward taking care of legal business in the music area was to ask Elise Norman to help us obtain the music licenses required. Elise is a beautiful mother of four, an attorney and a dynamic vocalist. She graciously agreed to help us. And so we began the process of gathering licenses needed.

Now for a little music license education:

Synchronization License gives us permission to use the music in a video. We would
need one of these for almost every piece of music we used.

Mechanical License gives us permission to record someone’s music using our own
vocalist and musicians.

Master Use License gives us permission to use a recording that is already in existence.

So almost every song would require two licenses. Deciding what kind of licenses we needed was only the very beginning. Then we had to identify the company who owned the music. Silly me…I thought you simply pick up the phone and call Toby Mac or the Gaithers and, bingo, we would have the required license. NOT SO! Companies own the music and it is not always easy to find the right company. Once we had that part identified we then sent in an application for the license.

I know God gives all of His children opportunities to learn patience but He really outdid Himself with us…and He used music license companies to teach us! It was not uncommon to wait two, three or four years before finalizing the paperwork. Once that is done then we get to write a check, usually about fifteen cents for every DVD duplicated with that song on it. In our case, it was one thousand.

All of this took immense amount of time and effort. Elise worked on this for more than two years and then because the task got overwhelming, she handed it back to us and we hired a music lawyer from Nashville at great expense to get the rest of the licenses . Two or three years later (and much money) he said he did not have the time to complete this and turned it over to a music license friend of his who did this on the side. That was a disaster as this fellow had all of our records for more than eighteen months. During that time we had the opportunity to spend more money and receive little help. We fired him at the end of a very frustrating relationship and Jodie Mannion took over the work . Jodie worked on it for two years and we then hired a music service company to help her and now after nine years it looks like we are about at the end with only two more licenses to finalize.

I am so grateful to God that He did not allow us to find out the hard way that what we don’t know can ruin a person, company, a nation.

Lamentations 3:22

Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness.

Fitting Into His Schedule

I remember the final months of my mother’s life. She had become a complete invalid, paralyzed from the neck down. She lived with us and I was her care giver. Her needs were great and truly demanded more from me that I thought I could possibly give.

One evening, in total exhaustion. I knelt by my bed and with tears streaming down my face, poured out my frustration and anguish to God. When I was done listing all of my complaints and the many duties that were beyond human might, I stopped talking just long enough to hear the Still Small Voice. “I will restore to you the years the locust have eaten” (Joel 2:25). Eleven words and they made all of the difference. I rose, clinging to the promise.

Mama passed away several months later. I had cared for her for three years. God was good to His promise and the next three years proved to be full of rich blessings beyond my wildest dreams. During those years there was plenty of time for rest, spiritual and mental refreshment and a great deal of joy knowing Mom had received the best care and was now with her Savior.

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I ponder God’s schedule for my life because in many ways my schedule is HIS schedule. I hear talk of the need to protect oneself from the demands of others, I see great boundaries that people put on their lives because they want to be sure they get enough “down time” or “me time” or whatever else you want to call it. But my experience has been a bit different. I do think God demands much from those who love Him and are called His children. But He is also mindful of the need for rest and relaxation and provides it at the most surprising times. 

There were many days of packed schedules while we were developing, teaching and filming. One such day looked like this:

Morning:
4:00 Study and prayer
5:00 -8:00 Clean the house
8-9 Shower, dress, go to meeting
9:30 Prayer team meeting
11:00 Meeting with our copyright consultant

Afternoon:
12:30 Doctors appointment
2:00 Meeting with our workbook writer.
4:00 Meeting with Speak Easy Training Group

Each time I found myself frantically running from one thing to another just barely arriving in time for the next event.

By 3:30 I was driving the 35 miles to downtown Atlanta for the 4:00 meeting I had been asked to attend. I was worn out and still had the grocery shopping to do and several letters to write before the day was over. “ Lord, I need help”, I prayed.

My cell phone rang. The meeting in Atlanta was canceled. I turned my car around, got the groceries, wrote my letters and was able to have dinner on the table for my husband when he arrived. The rest of the evening was spent in quiet rest.

This is not a coincident. In fact it happens with some regularity. Many times I have been so pressed for time only to see God intercede in the most creative and unexpected ways to free up my schedule and allow me the rest I need.

I do not see any of the disciples spending a lot of time protecting their schedules but more seemed to pour their lives out for Christ, trusting Him to empower them for the work He wanted them to do and trusting Him to provide the rest and refreshment they needed at the right time. That is the way I want my life to be, under the control of God’s schedule for my life, never saying “no” to Him, being totally available to whatever He wants me to do, when He wants me to do it.

Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

No Distractions. Please

We don’t have a TV set. We had one up until 1980 and then the old Arvin died and we decided not to replace it. As time passed no one wanted it back because we found we were enjoying the peace that came with no noise.


My mother in law moved in with us in 2002. She brought a TV with her. Things had changed in twenty- two years. First of all it is impossible to just watch the news. Along the bottom of the screen is important information that draws the eye and the mind. When that happens I totally loose what the announcer says because in my small brain I can only take in one thing at a time. In constant frustration I am torn between the earth shattering news the announcer is saying and the critical information that blips along the bottom of the screen. I admit, I am easily distracted and the distractions cause me to miss gaining accurate information about anything on the news!! It proves that the eyes and the ears are connected in a mysterious way….


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After we had gained the opportunity to film at Walk Thru the Bible, we realized we needed a set. Soteria helped us by recommending Guy Tuttle’s company and so we contacted him and explained what we needed. We told him our budget and he kindly did not flinch or laugh. We said we wanted to film a Bible Study that taught the Bible sequentially from Genesis to Revelation. He seemed to understand. And then we left everything in his hands.


On May 20, 2002, the day before our first filming, I arrived at the studio to see how things were coming along. There were numerous people all busy doing their thing: cameras were being set up, lighting guys were on tall ladders hanging huge lights from the ceiling, the sound men were getting their equipment in place. All in all there was a bit of chaos. But as soon as I walked into the actual filming area I was struck by calm. Guy had worked his magic and designed a set that was peaceful, lovely and well,…perfect! Unlike television, there was nothing to distract, to pull eye away from the message. The creamy color was pleasing to the eye and the large plants on the side added soothing color. The sheer curtain behind the stage hung in front of our deep cranberry logo, “The Amazing Collection’ all printed on Plexiglas so the letters seemed to hand in space.


The platform was raise about six inches and in front was a perfect clear podium that was unobtrusive yet large enough to hold our Bible and notes. And best of all the cost fit our budget perfectly.


Though it is not fancy as some, it is none the less perfect, for we wanted the Word to be the centerpiece with no distractions. And once again we saw God provide the right people at the right time. And somehow, He gave them the creativity to produce the perfect set at the perfect price.


That set would see us through sixty-six film sessions over a period of four years. And each time we would go back into the studio, Guy’s company would have the set ready for us. Beauty without distraction. Calmness without chaos. ….and no distractions.

Ecclesiastes 9:17

The words of the wise heard in quietness are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.

“Oh To See Ourselves As Others See Us”

It is impossible to judge ones self accurately. I can picture in my mind myself as a thirteen year old. In one picture I am on my way to the county fair. I have on my head (I am so ashamed to admit it) a long haired, gray, winter hat (yes HAT, not wig) that I have brushed down to look like hair. I am wearing it in August. I thought I looked adorable. I didn’t.

So I ask myself, where was my mother!!! She was a sensible, wise and good woman who loved me dearly. Surely she could have put a stop to such poor judgment? But I feel certain that she just couldn’t bring herself to tell me I looked ridiculous and so said nothing. I wish she had.

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We had completed the first twelve DVDs. We would force our family members to watch every one of them and they always gave raved reviews. But like my mother, family can not always be trusted to give an accurate opinion.


Though we had talked to a few churches, no church had jumped at the chance to use them for their ladies ministry. In fact, one church had rejected them after viewing the first video because of a theological difference. (They would later embrace the study and incorporate it into their highly successful Women’s Ministry program.)


The truth is we had no idea if the work we had done would resonate with other women. We simply could not judge it accurately. We had begged God to help the women who watched the programs to truly “learn for life” through our teaching. But in order for the student to learn, the teacher must have presented the material in an interesting and understandable way. We just didn’t know if we had accomplished that or not.


Susan Frost was director of the Women’s Ministry at Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta Georgia. She was a friend and knew about what we were trying to do. She took a leap of faith and added The Amazing Collection: The Bible for Women Book By Book to their fall program. And with that we waited.


Waiting is not fun especially when a lot is hanging on the outcome. We had a great deal tied up in the work. Not only a large amount of money been donated and spent but also a tremendous amount of work had gone into the project by forty plus people. Still we had no guarantee that what we had done was “good enough” for women and ministry.


On February 13, 2002 I got a call. The Eastside ladies loved the videos! They were learning so much. And YES they were learning for life.


I am not sure what happens between the confidence of a thirteen year old and the lack of confidence of fifty plus year old but I do know that at thirteen we can think more highly of ourselves then perhaps we ought. But later in life it can be just the opposite. Life has shown us that there are many others who are smarter and better at any given talent and yes, even have more fashion sense then we do! Eleanor, Linda, Margie and I all struggled with trying to see the filmed sessions with clear eyes but we just couldn’t. We would find every flaw and grieve over not doing a better job. At last we had to go to the only source of comfort and help we knew. “Lord, please give us Your power and wisdom to do the best that we can. But where it is not good enough change it and make it so.


These days as I receive words of praise from as far away as the Middle East, England, Scotland, New Zealand and Australia not to mention the many emails of encouragement from the states, we all realize that God heard our prayers. He has literally “cooked the DVDs” in the can” and has helped us produce a tool that greatly impacts women and helps them learn for life about every book in God’s Word. It is His and He has done it.

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The amazing thing was that on that fateful night as a thirteen year old, I met my future husband for the first time. He was fourteen and at the fair with a mutual friend. It is evidence of God’s grace and mercy that I would even be considered to be his wife after such an unfortunate first impression. It is also evidence that it is not our great wisdom that matters but God’s great intervention, kindness, strength and mercy.


Yes, judging oneself accurately is impossible.

Our soul waits for the Lord;

He is our help and our shield.

Our heart shall rejoice in Him,

Because we have trusted in His holy name.

Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,

Just as we hope in You.

Psalm 33:20-22