Welcome to Fierce Calling, where I chat with guests who take action where their passion, compassion, and conviction intersect and use their gifts to impact the world for Christ. We share stories of hope and God’s faithfulness to encourage, inspire, and challenge listeners to walk in their Fierce Calling. In this week’s episode, A Journey Out of Darkness and Into God’s Sacred Refuge, I welcome friend Lynn Rienstra, an insightful author, dedicated spiritual mentor, and pastor’s wife who brings profound wisdom on embracing authentic Christian faith and finding freedom from fear.

Lynn delves into the transformative power of Jesus and how believers can live free from fear, and in God’s sacred refuge, as emphasized in her new book, Sacred Refuge: Finding Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis She shares her personal journey from fear and performance-based identity to discovering her true identity in Christ, encouraging us to walk through crises with faith and hope.

Lynn also reflects on her experiences with Samaritan’s Purse, emphasizing service and the gospel’s power in transforming lives. Together we explore themes of spiritual resilience, community, and the vital role of storytelling in deepening our faith. Join us as we discuss the beautiful message of progress in faith, finding God’s sacred refuge in turbulent times, and how we can all become beacons of light and grace in today’s world.

Connect with Lynne!

Lynne Rienstra is a recovering Pharisee and spiritual orphan. Her dream is to catalyze a movement a loving service among women that will transform our churches, communities, culture, and world.

Through her mentoring, speaking (she’s taught thousands of women for over two decades), and writing, she leads women out of hiding and into a transforming encounter with the living God. In that place, they discover their identities as his brave beloved, rising up to restore our broken world as carriers of God’s love and presence.

Lynne has followed a series of callings: English teacher, corporate insurance broker, pastor’s wife, women’s ministry leader, homeschooling mom, and development professional. (Since 2013, she has served as a regional director for Samaritan’s Purse).

She holds a BA in English from Smith College and a Certificate in Spiritual Formation from the Transforming Center in Wheaton, Illinois. Lynne has contributed to numerous books, magazines, and online devotionals.

Serving alongside her husband, Rob, a senior pastor, gives Lynne much joy, as do their adult children and grandchildren. Lynne has traveled to twenty-six countries on five continents (including North Korea, Iraq, and Kenya, where she lived for a summer among the Maasai. She loves Earl Grey tea, all things French, period dramas, reading C. S. Lewis and Elizabeth Goudge, and scoring vintage clothing finds.

You can book Lynne for your event, or as a podcast or TV guest, at BraveBeloved.com. Listen to her Brave Beloved podcast and access her teaching on YouTube. Lynne can also be found on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and X.

What Threatens to Steal Your Joy?

Check out Surrender the Joy Stealers: Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You 6-week Bible study rooted in John 15. You can find more info at https://dorisswift.com/book/

Let’s Stay Connected!

Find my free resources including Fear Fighting Bible Verses, Simple Tips for Sharing Your Faith, Surrender the Joy Stealers, Step Out of Your Doubt and Into Your Calling ebook, and more on my dorisswift.com homepage!

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Transcript
Surrender the Joy Stealers Bible Study Intro …

Doris [00:01:45]:
What is threatening to steal your joy? What is it that feels so heavy right now that you could barely stand? God has a plan, and his plan is to surrender it. Surrender it to him. It might be a prodigal. It might be a relationship, a marriage, something with your job. So many things. We have so many amazing blessings, but there are so many things in our life that threaten to steal our joy. I’m Doris Swift, author of the award winning 6 week Bible study, Surrender the Joy Stealers, Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You. And it helps women rediscover the overflowing, ever present Jesus joy within that fills, empowers, and ripens the fruit that God produces in our lives.

Doris [00:02:36]:
Using personal and biblical stories, I share how you can identify your joy stealers, surrender them to God, reawaken the joy within, and share the joy with others. You can do it on your own or with a group. Check it out, friends. Surrender the joy stealers. Rediscover the Jesus joy in you. It’s available on all the online retailers. It’s time to take your joy back. Welcome back to the show.

Time Stamps

00:00 Lynn Rienstra leads women to transformational encounters.

05:27 Freed from fear through spiritual growth journey.

09:54 Fear hinders authenticity; true acceptance is freeing.

12:16 Book explores resilience through biblical and modern women.

15:09 Biblical perspective offers encouragement through hardships.

18:55 Testimonies, overcoming fear, community support, breaking stigma.

21:30 Supportive prayer partner strengthens faith in God.

24:38 Despite cancer shock, I felt peace, fearlessly.

28:01 Overcoming fear through faith and divine intervention.

32:48 Finding hope and shelter in life’s crises.

37:09 Strive for balance of truth and love.

40:40 Service diminishes personal struggles, fosters outward love.

41:52 Dedicated 11 years to global church partnerships.

48:20 Faith in resurrection covers and unites us.

51:15 Bravebeloved.com book offers sacred refuge gift.

Now On with the Show …

Doris [00:01:40]:
What is threatening to steal your joy? What is it that feels so heavy right now that you could barely stand? God has a plan, and his plan is to surrender it. Surrender it to him. It might be a prodigal. It might be a relationship, a marriage, something with your job. So many things. We have so many amazing blessings, but there are so many things in our life that threaten to steal our joy. I’m Doris Swift, author of the award winning 6 week Bible study, Surrender the Joystealers, Rediscover the Jesus Joy in You. And it helps women rediscover the overflowing ever present Jesus joy within that fills, empowers, and ripens the fruit that God produces in our lives.

Doris [00:02:31]:
Using personal and biblical stories, I share how you can identify your joy stealers, surrender them to God, reawaken the joy within, and share the joy with others. You can do it on your own or with a group. Check it out, friends. Surrender the joy stealers. Rediscover the Jesus joy in you. It’s available on all the online retailers. It’s time to take your joy back. Welcome back to the show.

Doris [00:03:02]:
Today, I am excited to introduce you to my friend, Lynn Rienstra. She is a recovering Pharisee and spiritual orphan, which is a result of growing up with 3 dads by the time she was 19 and of her own wayward heart, which she’ll be sharing about with us. Through her mentoring, speaking, and writing, she leads women out of hiding and into a transforming encounter with the living God. In that place, they discover their identities as brave, beloved, rising up to restore our broken world as carriers of God’s love and presence, which I love so much. She encourages women to walk in their fierce calling. And Lynn has worn so many different hats, including being an English teacher. She’s a pastor’s wife, and she’s been a women’s ministry leader. And since 2013, she has served as a regional director for Samaritan’s Purse, which is fantastic.

Doris [00:03:58]:
So we are gonna get into that, and we’re talking about her book that is coming out, actually releasing today. So this is the perfect time you’re listening to this. Sacred Refuge, Finding Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis. It’s gonna be an amazing conversation. Welcome to the show, Lynn. It’s so great to have you.

Lynn Rienstra [00:04:17]:
Thank you, Doris. I feel like this is a God ordained conversation and very timely. Thank you.

Doris [00:04:23]:
Yes. Yes. For sure. And I know that you have been through a lot of difficult things in your life, and there’s some things that you were going through as you’re even writing this book. And so, I would love if you would share a little bit about your story and how you are taking action your passion, compassion, and conviction intersect? Mhmm.

Lynn Rienstra [00:04:45]:
Glad to do that. Yeah. I think probably it was, born out of my first memory, age 4, watching my dad leave the front door of our apartment, misinterpreting that, thinking that it meant that I was nothing and no one, and just believing the enemy’s lie that the best I could hope for was to fake everybody out. And I began to build this kind of false persona. Probably a lot of women do this and can relate to this dynamic thinking the core line is I’m not enough. Right? And we have no clue how beloved we are of God. We begin to live out of performance, out of perfectionism, a lot of fear. So fear really became the central stronghold of my life.

Lynn Rienstra [00:05:27]:
Kind of will I be enough? Will I, please the right people, the right you know, all the things, all the traps that is really easy for us to us women to fall into. And so God’s work in my life is to was has been to free me from that Phariseeism that you mentioned earlier. You know, if I just keep the rules, I’ll be okay with God, and the spiritual orphanhood, which which is, you know, right out of Galatians 4, Romans 8. Paul saying, he hasn’t given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of adoption. Do you know how beloved you are of God? And when God began to call me out of those dark places, orphanhood, Phariseeism, etcetera, especially orphanhood, I began to grow more courageous. I began to, experience fear losing its grip in my life in very real, very practical ways. And I began to experience the freedom that the bible talks about is our inheritance in union with Christ. So that’s been a long journey.

Lynn Rienstra [00:06:28]:
It’s still going. I have not arrived. But but that in a in a nutshell is kind where I’ve been and what I’ve seen God do. And so, of course, we share with others what it is he’s been teaching us, and that’s what my my work is about.

Doris [00:06:41]:
Yeah. Wow. Thank you for sharing that. And just it’s just so heartbreaking hearing about when your dad walked out the door. I mean, here you are, this precious, little, sweet, 4 year old girl. And and I know oftentimes when parents leave, the the child feels like they might have done something wrong, or that they were responsible, or that, like you said, that you felt like you were not worthy, not worth anything. That there was no value, and so those lies are things that continue on in life. And I I know that you wrote this book because you were going through a lot of difficult seasons, but so that that dad, you you said you knew learned that you had to fake everybody out.

Doris [00:07:27]:
So tell us a little bit more about what that looks like.

Lynn Rienstra [00:07:31]:
Yeah. Well, it really kicked into gear, in my middle school, high school, even college years where God had given me, you know, a good brain, and I got good grades. And I thought, well, this is how I’ll build my identity. And it was all false. It was a false foundation. The Lord wooed me away from that. He didn’t allow the house of cards to crumble, so to speak, until I was in my late thirties. And by then, I’m married.

Lynn Rienstra [00:07:56]:
I’ve got a couple of kids. I’m teaching women on retreat. I’m driving home one night, from inner city Boston where I’d just given a one day, conference for women in a church in the middle of the city, really rough neighborhood. I had seen I had seen sacred refuge in their lives in a way I had never experienced it for myself. I’m there to teach them and they’re teaching me. Right? As I’m driving home back to the Cape, where we lived, we had our 2nd church there. I just sensed the holy spirit’s presence with me in the car. And it’s like he said to me, not audibly, but I sensed in my spirit.

Lynn Rienstra [00:08:31]:
He said, I dwell in the midst of brokenness. And it just it it cut through that pattern that I believed, that lie I believed in, the pattern under which I lived. It was a stronghold for years that said, you’ve got to look like you’ve got it together. Mhmm. And it’s like he said, sweetie, you try so hard to look like you’ve got it all together. But you and I know the truth. And here’s the thing. Your performance has nothing to do with how I see you, how I love you, and how willingly I went to the cross to become your sin and give you my righteousness and restore, our relationship so that it can be, that of a brave beloved.

Lynn Rienstra [00:09:16]:
You can you can come out of the fear that you’ve walked in, and you can really rest under my wings. Think think not Psalm 91. Right? Uh-huh. Right. I can’t rest the place in the shadow of the almighty. Mhmm. And that is a place of quiet and peace and rest, where all of the questions about who who am I, am I enough, are finally put to rest. That’s our inheritance.

Doris [00:09:39]:
Yes. Amen. You know, that’s gonna encourage someone listening today. Many listening today, because we do live in a culture where we need to look right,

Lynn Rienstra [00:09:54]:
you

Doris [00:09:54]:
know, say the right things. We we wanna be accepted. We wanna do whatever it is to be part of the, you know, the the cool group. Or it’s just it starts in school, you know, wanting to sit at the popular table where we have to feel like we have to earn our acceptance. And so it’s so freeing that then we can just not have to put on airs anymore and be who we truly, truly are. And I, you know, and I think it’s so important that your ministry speaks to the fear that women experience because it is the root of so many other things, and we could call it all different kinds of things. But when we get to the root of it, we find out it’s actually fear. So how have you found that to be true, and how do you encourage women who are walking in that right now?

Lynn Rienstra [00:10:47]:
Yeah. Good question. You know, what you’re talking about, living in fear and act actually almost being paralyzed by it is what I experienced, maybe what others listening experienced when COVID hit. And here I am, a pastor’s wife for, you know, many decades. My kids are grown. I’m working for Samaritan’s Purse. I’ve seen a lot of things around the globe. And the pandemic hits and I really, I stopped, being able to, to, to sleep well.

Lynn Rienstra [00:11:14]:
I wasn’t eating well. I thought, wait, wait, hold the phone. This isn’t right. If I’m a blood bought precious child of God, why am I believing things that are putting me in fear? That’s the enemy’s work. I don’t wanna be a part of what his intentions and schemes are. And I had this kind of holy righteousness, holy not righteousness, holy anger kind of bubble up in me. And I said, I’m done. I’m not I’m not gonna give the enemy another toehold another minute.

Lynn Rienstra [00:11:45]:
And the the book actually Sacred Refuge was born out of that struggle, that that coming out of a place of hiding in fear. I part of my ministry is just calling women out of hiding. It’s where I live so much of my life. It is not who we’ve been created and redeemed to be. Mhmm. It’s where the enemy wants us. Right? It it falls right in line with his purposes to sideline us and silence us and put us in fear. So we don’t stand up in who we are and do the things God’s called us uniquely to do in this time.

Lynn Rienstra [00:12:16]:
Anyway, so the book really came out of that. And then I started looking at the women I had met around the globe, who would who had every reason to be inferior. They were in crisis of one kind or another. Women in migration, women who couldn’t feed their kids, women who lost family members, to mortar fire in a war zone. Just horrible, horrible, rough stuff. And I said, lord, what is it that you give us in Christ that allows us not just to survive those losses, the results of living in a world that’s post fall, but actually begins to teach us more of who you are and how beloved we are of you even when life hurts terribly and the losses are deep. What does that look like? And so I began to study women in the scriptures who found themselves in the same kind of crisis, women in migration. Well, that sounds a lot like Ruth and Naomi.

Lynn Rienstra [00:13:11]:
Right? Yeah. A woman who who loses a family member. I’m sure people on this call can relate to that kind of deep loss where you’re just wake up every morning, you think, did that really happen? Am I still in that world without that person? And it’s it’s just a constant grief. And you and then we look at, like, you know, Mary and Martha, Bethany, and their brother Lazarus and that whole amazing story in John 11. Anyway, so, one after another, women who were found themselves in trouble, deep losses, difficult crisis situation, and then the God who sees them and loves them draws near. And and for the and for years, the Lord’s been asking me this question. I’ve been asking women on retreat and conferences. What if what if the deepest desire of your heart turned out to be the very thing God most wants to to give you? You know, God is not opposed to us.

Lynn Rienstra [00:14:10]:
He’s proven that to us by giving us Jesus. He’s actually for us and with us through Christ. And then the second question, what if your crisis, whatever it is, and I I know people listening might right now say, oh, my crisis is like, fill in the blank. Is it a child who has walked out the back door of of faith? They’re no longer in church, no longer walking with the Lord. It’s breaking your heart. I get that one. Is it a is it a cancer diagnosis? That was me last year. Is it a devastating accident? That’s, yeah.

Lynn Rienstra [00:14:42]:
I mean, we all have our thing. What if your crisis turned out to be a portal, a a threshold, a a means through which the guy did not send this crisis, if you will, he’s he’s allowing something, to happen that invites you to come deeper in, like, as CS Lewis puts it, come higher up and further in, higher up and further in. What if? Yeah. That changes the whole equation.

Doris [00:15:09]:
It really does. It really helps put a biblical perspective on the hard, hard things and look at it from a different light and look at it in his light or through his light. And that is just precious. That is such an encouragement because you’ve been through so many things. And I know that you refer a lot to how powerful story is. So Yeah. If you could share more about your story and some of the things that you were going through while you were writing this book, which I love that we keep referring to the title, because it’s just like sacred refuge. Who does not want that? You know? So share a little bit more about what was going on with you when this was all being written and playing out.

Lynn Rienstra [00:15:58]:
Yeah. Well, the title itself, if you back it out, it’s opposite is what? Unholy, not sacred, unholy fear. Not safety, but fear. The stuff that’s putting us in hiding. So so many of us, I certainly, this is my story, lived in unholy fear for decades. Even as a believer, not understanding, what what the lord had done for me in Christ. He’s been teaching me that. I I think story is essential.

Lynn Rienstra [00:16:24]:
I mean, Jesus understood the power, but go read the gospels. He teaches through story. And in ancient culture as well as our postmodern culture, Actually, we’ve come full circle from propositional truth through the reformation and the modern age. We’re postmodern now. We might even say post Christian. I hate to say that. We’re not truly post Christian. Christ is alive and well and reigning.

Lynn Rienstra [00:16:48]:
Don’t get me wrong. But our culture has moved to a place where they don’t listen to the church or to believers or honor the truth of the gospel. We understand. You understand what I’m saying?

Doris [00:16:59]:
Yeah.

Lynn Rienstra [00:16:59]:
But story is powerful, because it can encapsulate it captures our attention in a way that propositional memorized formulas, truth, whatever, will never be able to capture us. It invites us to enter the story through our imagination. And, really, that’s what scripture is. It’s it’s a 66 book long redemptive story. What a story arc. Right? It’s a great battle and a great love story woven together. That’s the gospel. Right? And God’s inviting us into his redemptive story, by the by the chapters that he’s writing in our own stories.

Lynn Rienstra [00:17:40]:
So even even the scripture says this, Revelation 1211 tells us we overcome the enemy through 3 things, and probably people can name them. The blood of the lamb. Right? We don’t go anywhere. Nothing gets accomplished without the atoning work of Christ, the blood of the lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our lives unto death. So the the word of our testimony, our words spoken in story form, being able to say, here’s what I have seen God do for me, builds the faith of others who sit there and go, wow. I I didn’t know that he would do that for somebody. Now the enemy at that moment will say, well, that’s for her. She’s a special case.

Lynn Rienstra [00:18:23]:
It’s not for you. Don’t let him do that to you. The truth, the scripture speak, and and the word of and I’m gonna share in a minute about what I went through last year. The words of our testimony stand in the heavenlies in a powerful way. It’s almost like you see them as a torch in the dark. And and let’s be attracted to the truth in them, the God who has lit that fire and say, God, would you light up the path that for me right now is dark? Would you light up my path with truth? Beautiful.

Doris [00:18:55]:
Yeah. Yeah. And just how you were explaining that of the light, you know, and and sharing our testimonies, and how important that is, and how we do overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, and that you shared how you were struggling with unholy fear for so many years. And I think that just some of the things I think that have caused many to turn away from the church is the stigma of you do have to have it together, or, you know, you have to feel like you have to have enough faith. You know, people will tell you these things, like, well, you don’t have enough faith. You have to pray more. You know, things like that. And it’s permission to reach out and say, I’m struggling and I need, you know, I I have the Lord and I’m gonna lean on the Lord, and he has given community for people to come around and lift us up and and pray for us and help us.

Doris [00:19:57]:
And and so when you help women to actually come out of hiding, come out of, like, isolation too, like, physically and spiritually, that that’s a powerful thing because women tend to isolate when they’re hurting, or when they feel like they’re not worthy, or they can’t be used by God because of where they’ve been, or what they’ve done, or what’s been done to them. And that, you know, that could be just lie after lie of the enemy, and it’s kind of like compound trauma that continually happens in someone’s life. And it it’s something that the enemy, like you said, the enemy wants to keep us quiet, wants to keep us shut down Yeah. So that we cannot do the work that God created in advance for us to do. So yeah. So continue on and share, you know, the story and the thing that you were you were gonna share about what God has brought you through, especially last year.

Lynn Rienstra [00:20:58]:
Yeah. I think as believers, part of our calling in is to spur one another onto love and good deeds, to help each other, not compete. We women love to compete and compare. That’s not gonna take us anywhere healthy. But when we begin to know what calling he’s given us specifically, then we’re not in competition. It’s just something we’re walking out with God’s help, but we won’t get there alone. We begin to share both our fears about how we feel inadequate. Don’t think I can pull this off.

Lynn Rienstra [00:21:30]:
I just had a call earlier today with a dear prayer partner, asking her, saying to her, here are the here what God’s calling me to, but it’s way beyond me. And she said, I’m gonna help pray into this with you for you. And I thought, goodness gracious. What a what a gift from God. Right? She’s she’s creating a safe place for me to be real, to say, this is beyond me. And then she’s pointing me to God, and who’s really the ultimate he if he gave the calling, he’s going to provide all that’s needed to to, walk in this good works that he’s prepared in advance for me to walk in, for you to walk in, for listeners to walk in. Right? And she’s pointing me to him and putting it’s like Jonathan strengthening David’s hand with God. Right? That is sacred sisterhood right there.

Lynn Rienstra [00:22:17]:
That’s powerful stuff. To something else that you said a minute ago, Doris, about how people are leaving the church maybe because they feel like they can’t be good enough. They can’t the outside is is is too marred. I’ll never I’ll never measure up to whatever these people think I need to be or do. If, if as the church, that that’s what we’re presenting is as Christianity, then we really haven’t understood the gospel. Mhmm. The gospel says, I mean, that’s why the Pharisees hated Jesus and Jesus called him on it. Right? He said, you’re whitewashed sepulchers.

Lynn Rienstra [00:22:52]:
It’s all about looking good on the outside, but the inside is death. Yeah. It’s a mess. The people that were attracted to Jesus, the people he actually hung out with were a mess. They were the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and they flocked to him because they knew that they knew that he saw them and valued them and loved them. And then he put that all into action when he went to the cross. So he’s looking for those among us who will create those safe places by being real, by believing that the gospel really is not about learning more, trying harder, being in good doobie. It’s about throwing ourselves completely on the mercy and goodness of God who’s given us Jesus, like I said before, to to become our sin on the cross and to give us his righteousness.

Lynn Rienstra [00:23:39]:
And when that truth begins to permeate, not just our brains, but migrate that crucial 18 inches south to our heart, we will start to come out of hiding. Yeah. We will move from being the the, those in caught in unholy fear to those who are living in sacred refuge. So I guess I, should I tell you about last year and what was going on with those writing?

Doris [00:24:04]:
Please do. Yeah.

Lynn Rienstra [00:24:05]:
Yeah. So I’m, the Lord provided this contract, traditionally published book with Kriegel. That’s another whole story, but it was something he did. And I’m in the middle of writing. And, in May, I get a callback to my local, women’s resource center for another look see on my mammogram. And you can see where this is going. And another few minutes a few another few weeks later, I get a call saying, missus Reenstra, my radiologist is calling saying you you have cancer. And it it’s a it’s quite a moment.

Lynn Rienstra [00:24:38]:
Right? When you hear the c word in the same sentence as your name, and you’re kind of in shock and you’re kind of like, wow, this is surreal. Never thought that would happen to me. But I will, I will say, and I want people to hear this, even hearing about cancer in my being, in my body, even at that moment, I remember the stronghold of my life for years years has been fear. Right? God had done a critical mass of, of deliverance, if you will, enough freeing of me from that old fear. That in that moment, when I’m hearing really bad news, not this is not good news, there’s no fear. There’s there’s no, oh my gosh. This is gonna take me out. Oh, is God really in control? Have I lost his love? He just I don’t know how to explain it, Doris, but it was like he just covered me in this this, bubble of of his presence, his peace.

Lynn Rienstra [00:25:33]:
So I wanted that stuff out of my body immediately. Like, if they had said we can do it tomorrow morning at 6, I would have been there. That wasn’t the situation. In fact, it took 6 weeks till I got under the surgeon’s knife to have the cancer removed. And that happened, and I’m grateful. So he’s carrying me that whole time in his peace. I was impatient a little bit, but I’m I wasn’t worried. I just had to trust him.

Lynn Rienstra [00:25:58]:
That was good.

Doris [00:25:59]:
Yeah.

Lynn Rienstra [00:26:00]:
Coming home from surgery, my husband is driving me home, and I’m in the back seat thinking I might lie down, got my seat belt on. We’re driving home, 3 hours out from surgery, and somebody runs a stop sign and t bones, like, crashes into our car

Doris [00:26:16]:
Wow.

Lynn Rienstra [00:26:16]:
And totals our car. Wow. And and I, you know, I’m literally and the seat belts right over the surgical sites. So let me just say, I won’t go into details, but it was it was painful. It was hard. But even in that moment or the moments right after when reality is hitting, you’re like, oh, we’ve been hit. Oh, the the airbags are deploying. Oh, there’s a lot of powder in the car.

Lynn Rienstra [00:26:40]:
You know? But peace. I just sense the holy spirit saying, I have you, and all will be well. And I wanna say that to those who are listening, who are going through any number of different kinds of hard things and crises. Please, if you are a child of God, please hear the Holy Spirit Testify with your spirit that he has you. He’s with you, and all will be well. And you can actually walk through this dark time, hard time, potentially scary time. I do it. I’m the Lord’s teaching me how to do it with 2 steps.

Lynn Rienstra [00:27:18]:
That’s how we walk. Step to step 1, standing on the promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. It’s all through scripture. Step 2, for I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Step step again. I will never leave you. No right? And just begin to move through out of the darkness into his light, out of the fear, into his perfect love, which casts out fear. So he he kept me in sacred refuge.

Lynn Rienstra [00:27:50]:
He supernaturally covered me under his pinions. You know, those beautiful heavy feathers that lift a bird high. That’s where I found myself, and it only he can do it.

Doris [00:28:01]:
Wow. That’s so beautiful. And thank you for sharing that. It it was really powerful. And to think that God had done such a work in you to remove that fear, like setting because you had you had a firm foundation in him, but you struggle with the fear part. And then and then he helped you to work through that and throw off the fear, and then it was preparing you for these things to come. And so that not only would you encourage other people to walk out of fear and just allow the Lord to to take that out of their life because he doesn’t put the spirit of fear in us. Fear.

Doris [00:28:46]:
But it just in this particular season of your life when you’re I mean, you’re going through this health scare situation, but you weren’t scared because, you know, it was something where you knew God was still in control, and it didn’t, it didn’t shake your foundation, which is so important. Didn’t shake your faith.

Lynn Rienstra [00:29:08]:
That’s a great point, Doris. And really, he’s the one who builds that foundation. And we talk about Jesus, the people go, well, what is the foundation? We talk about Jesus as the rock of our salvation. That’s he is our foundation. And actually cancer as, you know, wasn’t fun. Surgery, the accident, recovering from both of those radiation, not fun, but it was a gift. And I really mean that because it brought me to the end of myself. It introduced me to a deeper part of God’s love and compassion for me.

Lynn Rienstra [00:29:43]:
I experienced him carrying me and covering me. I love that. Caring, covering. He did both at the same time. Yeah. And it it allowed me to have a little more credibility when I’m writing to women who were going through even harder stuff than that. Mhmm. Bottom line for me was that I discovered during my cancer journey that the thing that I really that really we should all fear more than anything, which is eternal separation from holy God, Jesus had soundly and irrefutably dealt with that danger.

Lynn Rienstra [00:30:21]:
The the most dangerous thing in my life was not my dad leaving, not this, that, or the other, people rejecting me, not being enough, cancer. Is it gonna take me out? No. He dealt with it, and he he gave me a spirit to believe that he did that for me. And so that foundation got built and it got strengthened through this crisis. I’m not there. I haven’t arrived, but it that foundation’s a little stronger than it was a year ago because I’ve watched him solidify it. The pylons have gone deeper, if you will, into the ground, through faith. And and that’s a gift.

Lynn Rienstra [00:30:57]:
But I want us I wanna encourage listeners to say, is you is or is you ain’t. Right? As they say in the south. Right? I’m a transplanted New Englander, but I’ve been in Atlanta for 25 years. So we we say those things. Do you do you have that foundation, friend? Do you know that you know that that you your life is established on that foundation? If so, it God will give you all that you need to walk through this crisis in a completely different way than the world would would normally do, and it’ll be to his glory.

Doris [00:31:29]:
Amen. Yeah. It’s like a treasure, you know, that we have. Looking at it from the perspective of who we are in Christ, like, you knew your identity in Christ, and you know God, and you know his character. And so, instead of when we hear bad news because there’s bad news, that was a good news that you heard, then instead of focusing on the bad report or the bad news, and that can really overtake someone. And to become, like, so focused on that and worrying. And like you said, is it you know, you didn’t worry that it was gonna take you out, but that could be the focus that we turn to. And so when we put our eyes on the Lord, you know, that changes the perspective of the whole thing because, you know, you would not have been able to write this book had you given into the fear and said, this is it, you know.

Lynn Rienstra [00:32:28]:
Yeah. Good point. Yeah. The gig would have been up. There would have been no credibility. I I really hope the Lord would not have allowed me to finish or or publish a book about something I wasn’t walking through.

Doris [00:32:39]:
Yeah.

Lynn Rienstra [00:32:40]:
But it was his gracious gift to help me walk through it with him. That was his gift. That was that’s not because I’m in a great shakes. That’s because he’s a great God.

Doris [00:32:48]:
Mhmm. Yeah. And looking at it as a gift, when the things that God allows like like you said, he doesn’t bring the bad stuff, you know, in our lives. The enemy wants to take us out, basically, you know, so we’re not effective for the kingdom work, you know, that we are called to do. But then that you like, you’re you know, the subtitle of the book, Finding Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis. Because there’s gonna be a crisis where either we’ve just walked out of 1, we’re gonna like, you know, they say, you’re gonna either be in 1 in the future, if you’re not in 1 now, or you just walked out of 1. And so knowing, that there’s that hope that we have, that the world cannot provide the hope. And as we were talking earlier, this just the world, the way the world has turned completely away from God, and not being, like, God so loved the world.

Doris [00:33:51]:
So he loves the people he created in his image. But the world, when we refer to it as the world that’s, you know, like, turned from him, it’s the world that is in opposition to who he is, and so we we’re called to make a difference, and we’re called to bring his message of peace and hope and and the gospel to a lost and dying world. And so this is really encouraging so many people because especially too as they look and they say, how did Lynn get through this? Like, how in the world? You know, did she get through it? And it’s your open door to to share, and this book is powerful.

Lynn Rienstra [00:34:39]:
And, you know, these are really unprecedented days. Right? I think a lot of us are just kind of holding our breath. What’s gonna happen with the election? Right. What’s gonna happen to our country? Will the economy hold? What kind of world are my kids and grandkids gonna inherit? These are the things that generally can put us into fear.

Doris [00:34:56]:
Mhmm.

Lynn Rienstra [00:34:57]:
Even if it’s a specific crisis in our life like cancer, we’re kind of I think tempted to go into hiding, just hunker down, just hope for the best. Those are not strategies that are going to get us anywhere good. Those are not more than conqueror strategies. Right. But the gospel is that foundation is and the hope that we have in the middle of brokenness is. And I think in days such as these, and I I hope I’m wrong, but I feel like these are darkening days. The light of the gospel is going to begin to shine irrefutably, and powerfully for those who are being saved. God’s spirit, I believe, is being poured out even though we see a lot of darkness.

Lynn Rienstra [00:35:41]:
I mean, I just had a friend who was in a school shooting situation last week, and you just sit there and go, oh, lord, have mercy. Where are we headed? Nowhere good. It doesn’t look like But yet at the very same moment, I believe God’s sending his spirit, and I think he’s wooing people. He’s wooing his children closer. He’s saying this is the time. Get in under my wings. Get in right now. This is the time.

Lynn Rienstra [00:36:05]:
But he’s also, through us, wooing those who haven’t yet found that shelter. And it will just you know, it’s like seeing you could just picture a dark war zone at night and the bombs going off in the distance and everybody’s hunkered down in their trench. Right? Oh, I just hope it goes okay. I hope we make it through. And there’s a campfire out on the out on this, nighttime war this field. And people begin what’s the campfire? Well, it’s the presence of God. It’s the truth of God. It’s hope of God.

Lynn Rienstra [00:36:34]:
It’s the sacred refuge and peace he gives us. And I think he’s gonna draw people out of those trenches into the presence of those who are walking in the light. And we’ll begin to see each other’s faces, and we’ll begin to tell stories. We’ll begin to share in the sacred sisterhood. God’s got this. He’s got you, and all will be well.

Doris [00:36:56]:
Yeah. Wow. That is just a beautiful picture of, you know, what God has done and how he calls us to unite

Lynn Rienstra [00:37:09]:
Mhmm.

Doris [00:37:09]:
And bring the truth and the balance. I mean, we don’t have a perfect balance of grace and truth like Jesus, but we that’s something we can strive for as we were sanctified day by day to try to bring that grace and truth and love and God’s love. And there’s such an attack on identity and family. You know, it’s just so obvious to us of what’s happening with this and attacking kids confused, am I boy or my girl? You know, like, those things are all just the lies from the enemy because God created them in his image and who he created them to be, and so we can be a light to them. And I love earlier how you were talking about taking the 2 steps. Because oftentimes, we hear all we need to do is take one step forward. But I love that you were talking about taking 2 steps because that’s actually how we walk. And so can you repeat that again how Sure.

Doris [00:38:09]:
For the steps?

Lynn Rienstra [00:38:11]:
Yeah. We’re actually making forward progress. Right? We talked about it. Well, I feel like I’m making 3 steps forward and 2 back. Right. Well, it’s still progress, but we we make the steps left, right, left, right, on based on the rock solid promises of the word of God. We stand on that. We say it to ourselves.

Lynn Rienstra [00:38:30]:
We say, lord, help me to receive and believe this. Promise number 1, I I will never leave you nor forsake you. Think Joshua 15. Think the great commission. Very end of Jesus before he’s ascending to heaven. Right? I will never leave you nor forsake you. Why? Because he loves us. He he he came to the to the earth to be with us and to bring us back to the father.

Lynn Rienstra [00:38:53]:
He doesn’t want us at a distance. Okay. I’ll never leave you nor forsake you. Why? Because Paul says, I’m convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. So it’s his presence and his love. And his presence and his love. And if we begin to not just have it here, but believe it in our heart and our bodies or our spiritual faith walk begins to move us forward on those truths, we’re actually gonna experience in practical ways the implications of those truths. And that is gonna be a powerful witness.

Lynn Rienstra [00:39:29]:
I think the I think the church could, could begin to regain her voice in our culture because those two truths will move us closer to the Lord. We’re gonna hear his calling on our life. I want you to start that food kitchen that I’ve been talking to you about for 10 years. Are you ready to finally obey? I want you to get behind the local crisis pregnancy center. I want you to start a neighborhood Bible study for kids after school. I don’t know what it’s gonna look like. What are those callings? But they will be fiercely God birthed as we walk in those truths. I love you.

Lynn Rienstra [00:40:02]:
I’m with you. I love you. I’m with you. I love you.

Doris [00:40:06]:
Wow. That and we can all remember that. That is just so simple yet so profound. And, you know, how you’re talking about, well, I’m calling you to do this, or I’m calling you to to do that, you know. And I know the world is looking for authenticity. They don’t want the put on airs kind of thing. They want people to be authentic, and they wanna see what authentic faith in Christ looks like. You know, a real relationship with Jesus outside of, like, you were talking about the Pharisee and all of that.

Doris [00:40:40]:
All all of the rules and all of the things, you know, and all of the stuff that’s mixed in that was really man man made kind of things, you know, mixed in, you know, all of that can be so confusing. But I I love that when you brought up being called to service too, because we’re being called to serve others and love others. And when we look outward, it’s certainly it doesn’t always take away what we’re going through or the circumstances we might be walking in, but it helps diminish that pain and whatever struggle that we have because we’re looking outward and we’re serving others. And so I think that’s a perfect segue for you to share a little bit about what you do actually with Samaritan’s Purse, because I know so many of us know that name, and they, you know, we participate in the shoe box, you know, Operation Christmas Child. We know those different things that we do, connected to under Samaritan’s Purse’s umbrella. But what else what do you do with Samaritan’s Purse and some of the things that that you’ve experienced while in this position and role with them? Mhmm.

Lynn Rienstra [00:41:52]:
Sure. Well, I’ve been with them for 11 years. God opened this opportunity up in a way that I never could you know, you could knock, knock, knock on the door and it never opens, but God opens things for us, and he certainly did that with this situation. So I work on the donor side. I work with our partners. And specifically for the last 5, 6 years, I’ve been working with our church partners here in the Southeast US. What a privilege to come alongside of the body of Christ at this moment and and really say thank you to pastors and global outreach directors and say, here’s what God is doing because of our partnership in the gospel. And, you know, to your point earlier, Doris, about service, one of the things that I think Samaritan’s Purse and being a part of our work, I’ve been all over the world, I’ve been in the Middle East, I’ve been in Africa, both East and West Africa, I’ve been across Central and South America, seen amazing things, met incredible people, watched God show up in the middle of brokenness.

Lynn Rienstra [00:42:51]:
But one of the things I’ve noticed and learned is, everything we’re doing obviously is about the gospel. Right? Mhmm. I came to Christ listening to doctor Billy Graham preach the gospel, and the gospel’s always gonna lead at Samaritan’s Purse. It’s who we are. It’s what we do. But what we do is, do such excellent work and do it in the strong name of Jesus that people are drawn to the savior because of that beautiful, gracious, life saving work that we get a chance to do because of our partners. So was it Saint Francis of Assisi said, preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.

Lynn Rienstra [00:43:29]:
Right? I I hope I’m not misquoting that or wrongly attributing that, but I believe that’s accurate. And I love that idea. Right? Everything we do points either to the fact that God is real and he loves us and he’s given us Jesus, or we’re on our own. You might as well give up. You know, whatever. It’s it everything we do says one of those 2 basic messages or live for yourself or whatever. When we, as the body of Christ, really die to self. Jesus says, you wanna follow me? Okay.

Lynn Rienstra [00:44:00]:
Do what I do, which was I came not to not to be served, but to serve. Take up your towel. Right? Roll up your sleeves, kneel down and get into the ditches of life. Think Luke 10 and the story of the good Samaritan. Right? The Samaritan got into the ditch. He got into the mess. Yeah. We’re not gonna go there if we’re still living in fear, but our fierce calling from God is to cross the road with compassion and and in in practical ways, get into the ditch with people and then make a difference, because God loves them.

Lynn Rienstra [00:44:33]:
We can actually express that love to them and preach the gospel in word and deed. And I think when those two things are combined, nothing can shut that message down. The enemy has nothing to say against that. It’s powerful.

Doris [00:44:49]:
It really is. It really is powerful. And especially to when we’re serving a physical need, you know, as Jesus did. He wanna make sure people were fed, you know, and, but fed not only physical, but spiritually, and just showing love in a way that others cannot understand. Well, why would you even wanna help me? You know, why why what is it that compels you? It’s just like when I say, where you’re taking action, where your passion, compassion, and conviction intersect. It’s like, what what is that that that intersection is what’s compelling us forward to do whatever God’s calling us to do, and it looks different for different people. But I think it’s fantastic, you know, that you are involved in this organization that is so driven by the gospel and serving others and loving others well, which is what Jesus had said. Love to love others, you know, well and and die to self.

Doris [00:45:51]:
That is such an important message because the opposite messages we might hear is that we’re supposed to be prosperous, you know, we’re supposed to have things. We’re supposed to get the biggest house, the biggest you know, the best car and, you know, all these things that are temporal that, you know, we should store up our treasures in heaven. Isn’t that what the word says. Right? So

Lynn Rienstra [00:46:15]:
yeah. Yep. And loving that way, loving the way Jesus did is always gonna cost something. It literally cost him. I mean, he was he was enjoying the glory of heaven at the right hand of the father when he took on flesh, cross the road. Right? It’s back into that story. Right?

Doris [00:46:32]:
Yeah.

Lynn Rienstra [00:46:32]:
He’s the ultimate picture of the Good Samaritan. He had compassion that moved him bodily, spiritually, in other words, to earth, took on flesh, got into the ditch, and then so beautifully, willingly as the servant of us all went to the bottom darkest part of the ditch. Think about those trenches. That’s all coming together. He went to the bottom part of the ditch on the cross. And when he cried out, my God, my God. He doesn’t say father because at that moment, the father’s face has been turned away from the son. At that moment, when the son, as Paul says, he who knew no sin became sin for us.

Lynn Rienstra [00:47:12]:
Horrible, horrible, horrible moment for for the trinity and the unity that’s ruptured. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful moment for us. Because when when the father turned his face away from the son, who became our sin, it was completely dealt with. There’s no wrath left for us. There’s no condemnation left for us, Romans 8:1. And it means that the if we believe that and we’re in that in in that relationship with the father through Jesus, it means the father will never turn his face away from us. Wow. That is good news.

Doris [00:47:48]:
It is.

Lynn Rienstra [00:47:49]:
And it’s only found through Jesus.

Doris [00:47:51]:
So good. Well and you really laid that out and explained that so eloquently and beautifully, and it’s it’s an encouragement. For someone who’s listening today, you might have just listened to not even knowing what this was about. And you might not know Jesus, but seek him and you’ll find him. And so that was that was a powerful explanation about the cross and and Jesus as our good Samaritan.

Lynn Rienstra [00:48:20]:
And just to finish it, to be sure we tell the whole story, he didn’t just die, he rose again. And if by faith, we we really lean into and put our full faith and wait on him doing for us what we can’t do for ourselves. We can’t drag our dead people can’t drag themselves out of a ditch, even near dead people like the guy in Luke 10. It’s impossible. We have to be rescued and he’s done it. So by faith, he not only dealt with our sin problem once and for all, he becomes the lens to which the father now sees us. We’re covered with Jesus. We’re in union with him.

Lynn Rienstra [00:48:55]:
He’s seen us as as beautiful and obedient and precious children forever. This is incredibly good news. But he pulls us out of that ditch with himself in resurrection. Paul says in Ephesians 2:6, we’ve been raised with Christ and are now seated with him in the heavenlies. That’s where our spirits are. It it’s a it’s a rich, rich inheritance that we have. And because of it, we do not need to live in fear. We can live the rest of our lives in sacred refuge under the wings and that safe place Jesus has purchased for us.

Doris [00:49:30]:
Yeah.

Lynn Rienstra [00:49:30]:
That’s the invitation.

Doris [00:49:31]:
So precious. It it is. And it just yeah. That’s right. Jesus didn’t stay dead. That’s that’s the foundation of our faith, you know, that he’s alive and that he it’s a free gift, and it’s something that we can receive. We’re saved by faith or by by grace through faith, and it’s free, and we don’t have to earn it. And that’s so beautiful.

Doris [00:49:56]:
So, wow, this has been such a powerful conversation, Lynn. I would love if you would share, how can the listener connect with you and find your book that just released and any other resources that you might have available for them?

Lynn Rienstra [00:50:12]:
Sure. Absolutely. Well, yes. The book’s called Sacred Refuge. It’s available wherever books are sold, certainly Amazon, Barnes and Noble, christianbooks.com. Krigel.com where, where it was published. And then at the very end of the book, I invite women. There’s a QR code and I invite women, to access a free resource that actually helps them continue that journey.

Lynn Rienstra [00:50:36]:
Right? You were loved. I I’m with you. I love you. I’m with continue that journey out of hiding, out of darkness, into sacred refuge. So that free resource is accessible at the end of the book. The book includes a study guide, so they can actually do that on their own or with a sister or mother or women at church. It’s a great resource for women’s bible study groups if that’s of interest. And then my website, they we can start a conversation if they wanna go to either lynnreidster.com.

Lynn Rienstra [00:51:04]:
That’s hard to spell potentially unless they look at your notes carefully, but they can also access it through brave beloved.com. Not brave and beloved, brave beloved.com.

Doris [00:51:15]:
Bravebeloved.com. I love that. Yeah. And I will I’ll have all the links in the show notes so the listener can find you and reach out and and grab your book and grab some copies for for people in their lives because, like you said, there’s you know, we were called to encourage each other. We were made for community, and this book is a blessed gift that you can give to a friend that is hurting and needs this amazing message of sacred refuge. So thank you so much for being on the show, Lynn. I hope to have you back on.

Lynn Rienstra [00:51:49]:
Thank you, Doris. I would love that. Bless you, sister.

Doris [00:51:52]:
God bless you. This has been amazing. And listener, check out the show notes so you can find this book that just released today, Sacred Refuge, Finding Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis. And God bless you, and we will talk soon.

Thank you for listening!

I hope you’ll join me next time when I talk with another woman who is taking action where her passion, compassion, and conviction intersect.

Until then, friend, have a blessed week and I’ll talk to you soon …

Doris