Barbara Rainey's Top 10 Interviews

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 1)
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 2) - Building Up Your Man
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 3) - Praising the Positive
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 4) - Embracing the Differences
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 5) - Leaning on God
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 6) - Being His Helper
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 7) - Facing the Storms

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

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Being His Helper

Guest:                        Barbara Rainey                                                        

From the series:       Letters to My Daughters (Day 3 of 3)

Air date:                     February 17, 2016               

Bob: The Bible calls women to be helpers to their husbands; but as Barbara Rainey points out—sometimes, when you’re trying to help, you’re not helping.

Barbara: I think, in most women’s hearts, we do start out—in the early years, especially—genuinely wanting to help. It switches somewhere, along the line—to becoming a control issue, to becoming a management issue, to becoming a critical issue—where I am being his mother and not his helper. I’m being his parent and not his partner.

I think that is the lesson—it’s that we, as women / we, as wives, need to be aware and to recognize when it does and to say: “Oh yeah! I need to be his friend. We’re peers, we’re equals, we’re teammates; and we can work this out together,” rather than it—letting it become this great obstacle.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, February 17th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. How can a wife be a helper to her husband? 

1:00

We’re going to explore that today with Barbara Rainey. Stay tuned.  

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us. I had somebody share something with me a long time ago. I always thought this was interesting—they were talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life. They were saying that the word for the Holy Spirit in the Bible is the word, Paraclete.

Dennis: Right.

Bob: What they said was: “There’s a difference between a paraclete and a parasite. A parasite is something that attaches itself to you and just sucks the life out of you.”

Dennis: Right.

Bob: “A paraclete is something that attaches itself to you and pours life into you.” I mean, that’s always stuck with me. I’ve thought, “That’s not only true of our relationship with the Holy Spirit—He does attach Himself to us and pours life into us—but all of our relationships tend to be parasite or paraclete relationships”; don’t you think?

Dennis: They do. It’s interesting— 

2:00

—that in the Scripture, God refers to Himself as our Helper. I think the Holy Spirit is our Helper.

Bob: Yes.

Dennis: He comforts us / He gives us the power to live the Christian life.

Bob: Jesus said, “I will send another Helper,”—indicating that He had been the Helper. So Helper really—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit—are all identified as “Helper.”

Dennis: That’s right; but if you go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, the first use of the word, “helper,” is not referring to God but referring to the woman that God made for man.

Bob: Yes.

Dennis: I know, for Barbara, who joins us again on FamilyLife Today—Barbara, welcome back.

Barbara: Thank you.

Dennis: She’s written a book that is—was first written for our daughters, as they married, and our daughters-in-law as they married our sons. One of the first sections of the book talks about the role of being a helper. You believe that’s important; don’t you?

Barbara: I do. I think that we have come to think of helper in a more negative sense——more as a servant. 

3:00

Yet, when you go back to the very beginning—as you were just talking about a minute ago—and realize that God used that term to describe the woman / to describe Eve when He made her. He called her helper before the whole thing broke down and fell apart in the Garden. It wasn’t Plan B—it wasn’t: “Oh, well; now, that you’ve made mistakes, and I’m kicking you out of the Garden, and you’re going to have to start living in a different place—now, you have to be the helper,”—it was helper from the very beginning. 

If we really focus on that, and think about that, it means that I was made, as a female, to be a helper—I was built for that, I was fashioned for that, I was designed for that. It’s not a second thought / it’s not Plan B—it’s not an afterthought. It’s intuitive in who I am, as a female, to be helper in the same way that God is helper to us.

Bob: You say, in the book—when you got married, you say, “I was eager to begin being my husband’s helper; but beyond cooking for him and doing our laundry, I honestly had no idea what the concept / the assignment really meant.” 

4:00

Barbara: Yes. 

Bob: I think there are a lot of women who, when they hear the term, “helper,”—they think, “What is it if it’s not cooking, cleaning, and laundry?”

Barbara: Those things are a part of what each individual couple works out—who does the cooking / who does the laundry. All of that is a creative blend of the two that are in the marriage unit. And often—

Bob: Who does the cooking at your house? I’m just curious—

Barbara: Well, you know, right now, he do...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 1)
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 2) - Building Up Your Man
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 3) - Praising the Positive
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 4) - Embracing the Differences
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 5) - Leaning on God
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 6) - Being His Helper
The Art of Being a Wife (Part 7) - Facing the Storms

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Facing the Storms

Guest:                         Barbara Rainey                    

From the series:       Letters to My Daughters (Day 1 of 1)

Air date:                     December 26, 2018

Bob: To be the woman and the wife that God created you to be, you have to know how to walk by faith on the good days and on the dark days. Here’s Barbara Rainey.

Barbara: Most people who have been through suffering—whether it’s shallow, small things or really deep, tragic things—can say, on the other side, “I didn’t enjoy it; I didn’t like it, but I knew God better as a result.” I’ve heard so many people say that. I would say it’s true about us too. We’ve learned more about God in the valleys than we have on the high places and hills in the sunshine.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, December 26th. Our host is Dennis Rainey; I'm Bob Lepine. We’ll spend time today exploring how a husband and wife can draw closer together and become one as they walk in the valley and in the path of suffering. 

1:00

Stay with us.

Welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition. Anybody who has ever been to one of our Weekend to Remember® marriage getaways knows that—on Friday night, as we are getting underway—we spend some time talking about the common potholes that can derail or destabilize a marriage relationship. I think there are some things that are pretty standard/pretty common that can cause a marriage to wobble at high speeds.

Dennis: We begin the conference with a message that is really about five threats to your oneness—five threats to your marriage—five threats to your marriage going the distance over your lifetime.

2:00

Bob: One of those threats is a failure to anticipate the unexpected trials that come into a marriage. It’s not a question of whether unexpected trials will come into a marriage—but “How do you respond when they do?”—because all of us are going to hit them; aren’t we?

Dennis: Well, if you think about it—the vows are built—the traditional vows, “…in sickness and in health”—in financial success and in also being poor. I mean, the basis of what we promise, when we establish the marriage covenant, is that we’re going to take the storm, head-on. We don’t know what it will be; but we’re pledging to one another to not quit but to keep on loving/keep on believing and make our marriage go the distance.

Bob: And we are taking some time this week to talk with your wife, Barbara. Welcome back to FamilyLife Today. 

Barbara: Thank you, Bob.

3:00

Bob: We’re going to talk about some of those valleys and dark places that the two of you have walked together in 40-plus years of marriage and how you’ve not quit in the midst of that.

Dennis: What Barbara has done is—she has taken the past, almost ten years, to complete a book to wives called Letters to My Daughters: The Art of Being a Wife that is designed to be what it is. It’s an older woman stepping into the life of a younger woman with sage advice/with seasoned advice—with the advice that comes after four decades of marriage. The way this book is constructed is—you end it with this subject that Bob’s talking about here—the subject of suffering. 

I guess I’d have to ask you, “Is that because of what you and I have been through?”—because we have been through some dark valleys together. 

Barbara: Well, that’s why it’s in there; because it has been an integral part of our marriage relationship. It’s in there because I think most brides/most young women get married with some—

4:00

—what I call “fairytale theology.” They get married, thinking that: “Everything is going to be great for us. We’re not going to have difficulties. Yes; there will be some uncomfortable moments, but we’re not going to really have hard stuff. We’re going to—we’re going to be great. We love each other, and everything’s going to be great.”

For those, who are Christians—like you and I were when we got married—we also start our marriages out, thinking: “You know, we believe in God. If we do it God’s way, it’s going to all be good. We’re not going to have any hard things.” That was how I started our marriage—thinking: “A plus B equals C. If I obey God and I do these things that are in the Bible, then God, therefore, will give us an easy, nice life.”

Bob: So do you have a new equation, now, if it’s not “A plus B equals C”? What would you say to a young wife, who says, “If it’s not that, what is it?”

Barbara: There’s a lot of algebra. [Laughter]

Bob: Some calculus—[Laughter]—a little geometry.

Barbara: And I don’t know algebra very well, so I can’t even give you the formula! [Laughter]

5:00

Dennis: We’re laughing, but it’s the hard stuff of life. This is a broken world. There is a heaven, and it’s not here—it’s not now. 

Barbara: Yes.

Dennis: God came, in the person of Jesus Christ, to give us an abundant life now and help us face these hardships—but it’s like the funeral you and I participated in earlier this year—a dear couple that we love greatly, who buried the body of their 15-year-old son. It’s unthinkable!

Barbara: Yes.

De...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 1) - Keeping Your Focus
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 2) - Teaching Your Kids to Handle Loss
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 3) - The Unchanging Christ

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Keeping Your Focus

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                       

From the series:       Unshaken: He Is the Stability of Our Times (Day 1 of 3)

Air date:                     October 17, 2016

Bob: Do you ever find yourself being anxious or troubled by the events that are taking place in our culture?  You’re not alone. Barbara Rainey has the same feelings. 

Barbara: I mean, there are plenty of times that I’ve listened to the news, or read an article, or listened to someone and I’ve—my response has been fear. I have felt fearful in my heart, and that’s not what God wants me to do. He doesn’t want me to respond in fear / He wants me to respond in faith. So, my responsibility is to create a balance between the messages that I’m allowing to speak to my heart; and I want to grow the messages that are going to grow my faith. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, October 17th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. How do we foster faith in our own heart, and how do we help our children feel secure in times of instability?  We’ll talk about that today. Stay with us. 

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Monday edition. You grew up in the Ozarks in southeast Missouri; right?—southwest Missouri. 

Dennis: Right. 
 
 

Bob: At that time, when you were growing up, was there a Silver Dollar City?  Did it exist?  

Dennis: No; there was a cave. [Laughter]

Bob: I’ve been to the cave. 

Dennis: There was a cave, and there were two shows in Branson. 

Bob: Yes; but Silver Dollar City came along years later. 

Dennis: The Presley Brothers and—what was the other one?  

Barbara: The Baldknobbers. 

Dennis: Baldknobbers—that was it. [Laughter] Branson, Missouri, was not the hotspot that it is today; but there was no Silver Dollar City. 

Bob: Your wife, who is joining us today—you obviously know the history of Branson a little bit. 

Barbara: Well, I just remember Dennis’s mother talking about that. I think they went a few times—did you?—when you were growing up? I remember her talking about the Baldknobbers; because it’s such an odd, strange—

Dennis: No. 

Barbara: —weird term. 

Dennis: We never. 

Bob: You didn’t go?  

2:00

Dennis: We never. 

Barbara: Well, maybe, she used to go—I don’t know! [Laughter]  

Dennis: I don’t know that my mother ever went. 

Barbara: Okay; well, she knew about them. [Laughter] 

Dennis: It was great, great cultural music; but maybe, a cut above where we were. [Laughter]

Bob: I remember—because I grew up in Missouri as well—and I remember vacationing in Branson, as a child, and going to Silver Dollar City. Here is my distinct memory—there was an attraction in the middle of Silver Dollar City called Slantin’ Sam’s Cabin. Do you remember Slantin’ Sam’s Cabin?  Does this ring a bell to you?  

Barbara: No. We took our kids there, too; but I don’t remember it. 

Dennis: It must have been a real high point. [Laughter]  

Bob: This was a cabin you’d go into where the walls all leaned one way and the floor tilted way up. In fact, I remember—in one room, you’d go in and water ran uphill because of how they had it all arranged. 

 Dennis: Oh, yes. 

Bob: And I loved going to Slantin’ Sam’s Cabin and just walking through it. You came out feeling disoriented. In fact, years later, when I took Mary Ann there, we walked through it— 

3:00

—she said, “I don’t want to go to Slantin’ Sam’s Cabin.”  

Barbara: “I don’t like this.”  

Bob: “It just gives me a headache.”  

There is something about the amusements—like those mirrors in the old amusement parks, where you looked everywhere—that can be fun for a day; but if the world you’re living in starts to feel like Slantin’ Sam’s Cabin, all of a sudden, it goes from being a fun attraction to being something that’s very disorienting. 

Dennis: You know, what you are describing, Bob, is what we want to talk about. Barbara has a passion—and I do too—for equipping families to know how to live in a culture that seems to be more disorienting today than it ever has been. I mean, think about what’s taking place politically, what’s taking place from a societal standpoint / the redefinitions that now have become the new norm, what’s taking place morally in our country, and then, how Christians feel / those who are followers of Christ—

4:00

—how they feel—because they’re no longer welcome, in many regards, in our own country. We’re now getting blamed for things that are being brought to our country by outsiders. 

Bob: Yes; we had a guest earlier this year who talked about—he used the metaphor—he said, “We’re no longer the home team.”  There was a day, when we were growing up—to be a Christian and to live out Christian values in this culture—people generally supported that and thought that was good thing. 

Dennis: I no longer sit down in an airplane, when I’m travelling to speak at a conference—I no lo...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 1) - Keeping Your Focus
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 2) - Teaching Your Kids to Handle Loss
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 3) - The Unchanging Christ

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Teaching Your Kids to Handle Loss

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey           

From the series:       Unshaken: He Is the Stability of Our Times (Day 2 of 3)

Air date:                     October 18, 2016

Bob: As a parent, do you want your children to grow up full of faith and courage?  Then, your children need to see a mom and a dad who are full of faith and are courageous. Here’s Barbara Rainey. 

Barbara: I think that that’s our call as parents—is to model a relationship with Jesus Christ that’s authentic, and strong, and rooted in the Rock. That’s what our kids will notice, and they will follow that. That’s what we want—we want our children to grow a faith too, but we have to remember that we are modeling that in what we say and in what we do because our kids are paying attention. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Tuesday, October 18th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. In times of instability, are you modeling for your children what it looks like to walk by faith and be full of courage?  We’ll talk more about that today. Stay with us. 

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Tuesday edition. I have some counsel for those who might be trying to decide on a church home. If you should show up at a local church and the worship pastor says, “Let’s sing the great hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, and let’s sing verses one, two, and four,” you should leave that church immediately; and you should never consider joining that church. 

 Now, there are some hymns—first of all, I just—

Dennis: The one, two, and four—counsel of Bob Lepine. [Laughter] You heard it first here on FamilyLife Today. 

Bob: There are some hymns where it’s fine to skip a verse if you want to; okay?  I don’t prefer it—I like to sing all of the verses of all of the hymns—

Barbara: I do too. I agree

Bob: —but I’m also aware that Charles Wesley did write some hymns that had 20 verses to them. So, I get narrowing it down to the best ones. But when it comes to Martin Luther’s A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, this is based on Psalm 46. 

2:00

You can’t go from verse two to verse four without skipping a big, important part in the middle.

Barbara: A big chunk of Psalm 46. 

Bob: Exactly right. And Psalm 46 is that Psalm that says, “God is our Rock, our fortress, our ever present help in time of need.”  I was thinking about the hymn and thinking about that Psalm—with what we’ve been talking about this week—because a fortress is a place that you go into to feel safe from an enemy that might be attacking you. And there are times in our culture today, where we look around and go, “It feels like I need a fortress just to rest for a little bit.”  
 
 

Dennis: And fortunately, I’m married to a great woman who recognizes that, not only do we need a fortress—and reminds me of that in our marriage / in our family—

3:00

—but also pinned both Bob and me underneath her foot and said, “I’ve got to go into the studio and share with our listeners the need for stability today.”  [Laughter]
 
 Bob: Let me just say—it was not a hostile takeover. 

Dennis: It wasn’t. 

Barbara: Thank you. 

Bob: We were very happy. 

Barbara: Thank you. 

Dennis: Semi—semi-hostile. [Laughter]  But she is all about a new plaque that she has developed. Interestingly, when she created it, she said, “You know, we haven’t even talked about it on FamilyLife Today, and these things are flying out of the warehouse,” —it is Isaiah 33:6: “And He shall be the stability of your times.”  Share why you have created this, Sweetheart. 

Barbara: Well, I think everyone is aware that we live in a very uncertain world, and it’s not just in America; but it’s all around the world. People are feeling the sand underneath their feet shifting, and people don’t know quite what to do with economic changes. They don’t know what to do with political changes. They don’t know how to respond to changes in their family. 

4:00

Life is an uncertain adventure. And when uncertainty comes or when instability is felt, we need to know what to do—we need to know how to respond and what to do next. 

The idea of putting this verse on a plaque—in a really pretty frame too—is so that we can be reminded every day in our homes that Jesus is our stability: He is the One who never changes; He is the One who is the Rock; He is the One who is our fortress. So, no matter what’s happening personally or no matter what’s happening in our world around us, He will never change; and that’s what gives me my security. 

Dennis: Uncertain adventures demand leadership. What Barbara’s talking about demands leadership of men and women in all walks of life—whether you live in an apartment, inner city, suburban America, smaller towns across the country. These are days when individual followers of Christ need to know who they are and why they are here. 

5:00

Barbara and I were talking about just the whole need for leadership in the family in the midst of uncertain times. I was reminded of a story that I told in my book, Stepping Up. It’s a story about Sir Ernest Shackleton who, at the age of 40, recruited men to go with him to the South Pole, the Antarctic. He took 27 men on December 5, 1914. After 45 days at sea, ran into what was called heavy pack ice that trapped his ship in the pack ice and they couldn’t get loose. They tried for three weeks—couldn’t get out of the pack ice. I want to read you what leadership sounds like in uncertain times. 

This was written by the ship surgeon, Alexander Macklin, in h...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 1) - Keeping Your Focus
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 2) - Teaching Your Kids to Handle Loss
He is the Stability of Our Times (Part 3) - The Unchanging Christ

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

The Unchanging Christ

Guests:                     Dennis and Barbara Rainey                                               

From the series:       Unshaken: He Is the Stability of Our Times (Day 3 of 3)

Air date:                     October 19, 2016                 

Bob: Do you look at what's happening in our world and in our culture and lose heart?

Barbara Rainey says there's reason for optimism.

Barbara: I think, in the long run, this is going to be very good for the people of God.  It's going to be very good for the church, because it will prove who really belongs to Christ. It will prove what we're really made of and where our loyalties lie; because if our loyalties are in the government—and who’s in power / who the President is—that's going to go away / that's going to fade.

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday October 19th.  Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.  Could it be that God is actually causing all things to work together for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose, even in a political election year? We'll discuss that today. Stay with us.

1:00 

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition. So here's the question: “Optimist or pessimist—which are you?” And your wife is here. [Laughter] So whatever you say, I am going to get a fact-checker, right here, to determine whether what you say is true.

Dennis: I'm a realistic optimist. 

Bob: A realistic optimist. [Laughter] That sounds like you're hedging your bets on—

Dennis: No; no. I just take a real clear look at what's taking place. These are troubling days/challenging days—we don't know what the future holds. 

But that's how I describe myself. I think I want to respond in faith. I think we are put here for good works. In fact, I was just thinking about this broadcast—I quoted this earlier on the broadcast—Psalm 37, verse 3:  

2:00

“Trust in the Lord and do good.” You can't be a pessimist and do nothing—you have to trust in the Lord, and I think, be an optimist. An optimist says, “God is at work.” 

I just walked into a meeting a few minutes ago and was just talking about the days in which we are alive. The gentleman who was there said, "Do you think maybe God's got a message for us?" And I said, "Do you think?!" [Laughter] I mean, these are fascinating days: “What is He up to? Why would you want to be up to anything else other than what God's doing?”

Bob: Okay; let me see if your wife would agree with your characterization. Is he a realistic optimist? Is that a good characterization?

Barbara: I do think that's a good description, and I was trying to decide what I would say. I would say he’s definitely not a pessimist.

Bob: Okay. 

Dennis: But what about you, Bob?

Barbara: He's by far more optimistic than pessimistic.

Bob: I want to know about Barbara first. 

Dennis: Okay.

Bob: Are you an optimist?—or a pessimist?

3:00

Barbara: Well, honestly, I think I'd have to say the same answer that Dennis gave; because I can see the negative in things, but I think my faith calls me back to believe God. I think were it not for my faith, I think I would probably be a pessimist—

Bob: Yes.

Barbara: —because I tend toward depression. I tend toward realism and practicality; so I tend to see the reasons why things won't work sometimes. But— 

Bob: So how hard was it for you to create a plaque that says, "He shall be the stability of our times”?—Isaiah 33:6.

Barbara: Well, actually, this one was pretty easy. There have been some other things that weren't so easy, but this one was pretty easy.

Bob: A lot of people have seen this and said: “I need that—

Barbara: Yes.

Bob: —“in my home. I need something that reminds me—in a time, where we start to lose faith / where we start to lose hope—

Barbara: Yes.

Bob: —“I need something to remind me that there is still a reason for hope”; right?

4:00

Barbara: Well, the purpose of this plaque is to help us remember that there is Someone who never changes. I may change, my circumstances may change, my family may change, the country may change—I mean, everything is up for grabs except Jesus. The plaque we designed so that it will remind us every day, if you hang it in your house, He shall be the stability of your times. And why? Because Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He won't change. He's never going anywhere. 

No matter how unstable the world feels at any given moment, He's never changing. That reminder, I think, is really important for us, as Christians, in this era in which we live; because we are surrounded by so much that is creating uncertainly, and creating fear, and creating anxiety in our hearts. Jesus wants us to not be afraid but to trust in Him.

Bob: So let me ask the realistic optimist—

Barbara: Optimist

5:00

Bob: —over here: “As you look at the world that we are in today—you look at the economic condition, you look at the political scene / we've got an election coming up. We're going to have a new President, and we don't know which direction we're going to be headed. Are you hopeful about where we will be, as a church ...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 1) - A Call to Advent
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 2) - Being Still
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 3) - Introducing Your Kids to the Savior
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 4) - His Savior Names
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 5) - Remembering Christ at Christmas

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

A Call to Advent

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                       

From the series:       Celebrating Advent (Day 1 of 5)

Air date:                     November 28, 2016

Bob: Does your church or does your family do anything to celebrate the Advent season?  Are you even familiar with what Advent is?  Here’s Barbara Rainey. 

 Barbara: The term, “advent,” just means Jesus’ coming—it means the time when He came to earth / He left heaven. The Book of John tells us He was sent by God—He left heaven, and He came to earth. He became a baby, as we all know in the story, and was born and lived and gave His life for us. But the time—those weeks leading up to Christmas—years ago, in the Middle Ages or somewhere in there, the church fathers met and decided that this would be a good time to help people prepare their hearts to celebrate and to worship when Christmas Day actually came. 

I think it’s a great concept because, in our culture today, we don’t wait very well, we do not celebrate very well, and we don’t mark the days very well. 

1:00

I think there is some benefit—especially for families—to mark those Sundays of Advent with, even, a ten-minute gathering. Get together before bed time, if you have to—or after breakfast or whenever it works—and just think together about what this season is all about. The whole idea of Advent is preparing your heart to worship and to appropriately celebrate the gift of Christ. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Monday, November 28th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey. I’m Bob Lepine. We have a great opportunity, over the next four weeks, to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of Jesus’ coming. We’ll talk about that today. Stay with us. 

2:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Monday edition. I just—I’m wondering: “Do you guys have, at your house, somebody who comes through—like at the end of the weekend after Thanksgiving—and says: ‘Okay; we’ve got to do a major shift here!  We’ve got to take all the Thanksgiving stuff down’?”  

Dennis: You’re looking at him. [Laughter] My martyr meter is going off right now. [Laughter]  

Barbara: There’s not that much Thanksgiving stuff to take down; mind you. 

 Dennis: There really isn’t; but I’m going to tell you—the Christmas—we have it out in a little storage shed. I’m not saying it’s a lot, but we hire an 18-wheeler to move the 200 feet from our storage shed up to our back door. [Laughter]  

Bob: You had to put an addition on the storage shed—didn’t you?—just to handle more Christmas stuff over the years?  [Laughter]  

Barbara: You guys are terrible!  

Dennis: We are terrible. 

Barbara: You are, because it’s so not true. 

 Bob: But the truth is that—

Dennis: Barbara—you know, here is the thing, Bob—this is a paradox of life. 

 Bob: Yes?  

3:00

Dennis: Barbara says her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. 

Bob: And by the way, Barbara is joining us again today. Welcome back to FamilyLife Today. 

Dennis: Welcome back, Sweetheart. 

Barbara: Thank you.

Bob: So, Thanksgiving, which we’ve just completed—your favorite holiday; right?  

Barbara: Yes; and the rest of the sentence is?  

Dennis: Why are there boxes of Christmas gear that we bring in?  

Barbara: Because there is so much more available to purchase, and to display, and to decorate with for Christmas than there is for Thanksgiving. 

Dennis: Especially since you created Ever Thine Home®. 

Barbara: That’s part of it too. 

Dennis: You have declared the reason for the season, both at Thanksgiving and at Christmas—

Barbara: So, part of—

Dennis: —and at Valentine’s, and at Easter. 

Barbara: —and Easter. Part of the reason—

Dennis: —and the Fourth of July!  [Laughter]  

Barbara: Part of the reason we have more at Christmas now is because we have all the old stuff—all the old Santa, snowmen / things have nothing to do with Jesus—stuff that I haven’t gotten rid of yet. 

Dennis: You know what I think?—[whispering]—they could disappear. 

Barbara: They could. 

 Dennis: [Whispering] They might—they might vanish. 

Barbara: But we’ve replaced them with all the new things about Jesus. 

Bob: If you see an extra trash can out at the curb tonight when you go home—[Laughter]

4:00

Barbara: I’ll know what it is; yes! [Laughter]  

Bob: —you will know—

Dennis: It may be my body!  [Laughter]  

Bob:

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 1) - A Call to Advent
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 2) - Being Still
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 3) - Introducing Your Kids to the Savior
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 4) - His Savior Names
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 5) - Remembering Christ at Christmas

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Being Still

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                       

From the series:       Celebrating Advent (Day 2 of 5)

Air date:                     November 29, 2016

Bob: Taking time during the weeks leading up to Christmas to prepare our hearts for the celebration of His coming, that’s what Advent is all about. And Barbara Rainey says, “It helps us cultivate faith.”  

 Barbara: The whole purpose for Advent—the reason that the church fathers came up with this idea, back in the Middle Ages—was to encourage people, who were believers in Christ, to prepare their hearts for Christmas Day. It’s a way to anticipate His coming / it’s a way to look forward to celebrating the birth of Christ on Christmas Day. When we practice Advent today, it’s essentially the same thing—it’s a way to mark the time, but it’s also a way to build anticipation. 

One of my favorite writers has written: “That loss of expectation is loss of faith. What else is faith but expectation?”  I love that quote—that when we expect, we believe / when we are anticipating, we believe. 

1:00

I think that’s really, really good for us. 

I think there are some real benefits for families. The first one is—it teaches us to be patient. We are not a patient people in this culture—our children aren’t patient / we’re not patient. We’re so used to everything being readily available whenever we want it. But if you mark Advent—and you can only open one lunch sack, for instance, or one little box; and you have to wait a whole week for the next one—it teaches us, as people, to be patient—that’s a good quality / it’s a good attribute. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Tuesday, November 29th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I’m Bob Lepine. There are lots of people wanting you to be thinking about lots of different things during these weeks before Christmas. We think it’s good for all of us to be thinking about the celebration of Jesus’ coming. We’ll talk more about that today. Stay with us. 

2:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Tuesday edition. I just need to make sure our listeners understand you prepare for FamilyLife Today very differently than your wife prepares for this program, when she is joining us on FamilyLife Today—as she is today—Barbara, welcome back to FamilyLife Today. 

Barbara: Thank you, Bob. 

Bob: And here is what I mean by that—

Dennis: Yes; why don’t you tell me what you mean by that?  [Laughter]

Bob: We have been doing this program for 24-plus years now. 

Dennis: Over 5,000 broadcasts. 

Bob: In those 24-plus years, there has never been a day that you’ve come in to the studio with four brown paper bags that have glitter, and glue, and numbers on them. You’ve never come up with a little craft like this for our program. You just come in with some notes, and “Here’s what I want to talk about,” and “Let’s go. C’mon!  C’mon!”  And your wife comes in—this is beautiful / she brought in some bags with glitter and glue on them. 

3:00

Dennis: And she’s appealing to something that you and I, both—when we were little boys and, even today, as adults—she’s appealing to our curiosity: “What’s in bag number 1?” and “What’s in number 2?” “—3?” and “—4?”  

I remember where my mom used to stash all the Christmas presents before she would put them under—

Bob: You knew where they were hidden?  

 Dennis: Oh, yes. Are you kidding?  I mean, I was a super-sleuth around the house. 

Bob: Snoop is what you were—not sleuth—snoop. 

Dennis: Oh, well, that’s true too. I would sniff them out. And I admit—one time, I found the closet upstairs—our house was a small, small house. It was kind of dark up there, but there was no one watching. So, I kind of unwrapped—

Bob: —a couple of the presents?  

Dennis: —a couple of the presents. 

Bob: Yes. 

Dennis: And my mom was a better sleuth than me. [Laughter]  But here is the thing—the anticipation of leading up to Christmas is something that every child / every adult enjoys. 

4:00

I think what Barbara is doing here, around Advent and Christmas, is appealing to that curiosity and trying to get us to think about, “What’s in bag number 1?”  I think she’s going to let you do it, in a second, after we talk about what Advent is. 

Bob: You brought these in as object lessons for us on today’s program; right?  

Barbara: Well, they are object lessons; but it’s also a way for listeners to hear us do this and go: “Oh, that’s not so hard. I could do that. I could even do that this year.”  Practicing Advent is not that difficult. Here is an easy way that you can practice Advent with your family, even this year. Even though the first Sunday of Advent was last Sunday, there are still four Sundays left. You could still do it this year if you wanted to. 

Bob: There are four lunch sacks here on the table. 

 Barbara: Just plain old, brown lunch sacks—nothing fancy. 

Bob: And with glitter and glue, you’ve got numbers 1,...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 1) - A Call to Advent
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 2) - Being Still
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 3) - Introducing Your Kids to the Savior
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 4) - His Savior Names
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 5) - Remembering Christ at Christmas

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Introduce Your Kids to the Savior

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey                       

From the series:       Celebrating Advent (Day 3 of 5)

Air date:                     November 30, 2016

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Bob: Many parents would love for their family to have a more spiritual / a more Christ-centered focus during the Christmas season. But there’s not a lot that points us in that direction. Here’s Barbara Rainey.

Barbara: As we were raising our children, I noticed that there was very little available, even then—and that was 20 years ago—that helped us, as a family / helped Dennis and me turn our kids’ attention to Jesus at the Christmas holiday. I wanted to do that—I wanted to help my kids appreciate Christmas for what it was really all about. And yet, I couldn’t find things that helped me engage my kids in conversations about it. I couldn’t find things, other than a Nativity scene or two, that we had that would help us turn our attention, and help us turn our kids’ attention, to the meaning of Christmas.

1:00

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, November 30th. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. What can we be doing, as moms and dads, to be pointing our children in a more Christ-centered direction as we get ready to celebrate Christmas? We’re going to explore that today. Stay with us.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Wednesday edition. I’m going to have to get a new mailbox I think. I mean—

Dennis: Too many catalogues?

Bob: Yes; stop and think: “How much meaningful mail do you get in a year these days? I go out to the mailbox every day to see what’s in the mailbox. How many days is it just junk?”

Barbara: Most of the days.

Bob: Most days it’s just junk mail. Every once in a while, there’s a lovely letter from FamilyLife—so we have that / we always get that—and open that first thing; but most of the time, it’s just junk. 

2:00

Well, you get to Christmastime—

Dennis: I just wrote you a note, Bob—I just thanked you. You should be getting it here pretty soon.

Bob: Well, I’ll keep my eyes open for it. Thank you. [Laughter]

Barbara: Yes; thank you notes are nice to get.

Dennis: A handwritten note is really valuable today.

Bob: Those are nice and rare. 

So, now, at Christmastime, there is not enough room in the mailbox for all of the catalogues / for all of the—just all of the stuff / all of the junk that everybody wants us to buy. I’m just telling them, “Don’t send them to me anymore, because I’m not buying your stuff; okay?” I’m just trying to tell them—

Barbara: They don’t believe it, though.

Bob: I guess they don’t; no.

Dennis: Barbara joins us on FamilyLife Today. Welcome back, Sweetheart.

Barbara: Thank you.

Dennis: She had me actually go to the garbage the other day, Bob, and fish out of the garbage a magazine that she said captured really what is the message / what has become the message of Christmas this season.

Barbara: I did; because I didn’t want the magazine / didn’t need it—

3:00

—so I pitched it. Then I started thinking about the messages that that magazine was communicating to me at Christmas. This one came in the mail the other day. On the cover, it says, “385 Ways to Dazzle Family and Friends.” [Laughter] I thought, “Well, first of all, who has time for 385 ways, number one; and secondly, is it really about dazzling your family and friends?” I just thought: “Oh my gosh! We have really—we have really changed.”

Bob: This is all about Christmas—you’re supposed to do all of this—

Barbara: This whole catalogue—

Dennis: It’s a new advent—385 steps / 385 ways—[Laughter]

Bob: So, did you read any of them?

Barbara: Well, I flipped through it; and of course, it’s multiple choice—you don’t have to do all 385. They want you to have lots of options.

Bob: That’s a good thing; yes.

Barbara: One of them said, “Take a bow as you reveal the spectacular cake.” Another one said, “Show them you love them by giving one of these handmade gifts to everyone on your list.” [Laughter] I’m thinking, “Even if you just chose one of those, it’s overwhelming, all by itself.”

4:00

Bob: I can do the bow; but I’m just thinking, “My friends and family are not going to be dazzled when I take a bow.”

Barbara: No; no. [Laughter]

Dennis: It is all the wrong message, though.

Barbara: Yes; it is.

Dennis: What we want to do is—I don’t know that we want to dazzle. I think we want to refocus—a little bit like a camera—bring back the focus to Christmas and what it’s all about and help families celebrate Jesus Christ.

Barbara: Actually, I think dazzle might be a good word. I think what we want is—we want to be dazzled by the incarnation—the fact that Jesus actually came to the planet to rescue us when we didn’t des...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 1) - A Call to Advent
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 2) - Being Still
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 3) - Introducing Your Kids to the Savior
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 4) - His Savior Names
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 5) - Remembering Christ at Christmas

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

His Savior Names

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey and Laura Rainey Dries                

From the series:       Celebrating Advent (Day 4 of 5)

Air date:                     December 1, 2016

______________________________________________________________________________

Bob:  The Christmas season gives all of us the opportunity to be talking more easily and more comfortably with friends or family members about who Jesus is. Here’s Barbara Rainey.

Barbara:  This good friend of ours had the great privilege of leading his son to Christ as a result of focusing on the names of Christ at Christmas. I think that’s what God is calling all of us to do. He’s calling all of us to settle things and make things right with Him. Christmas is a wonderful time to do that, because we’re naturally thinking about Jesus being born in Bethlehem. It’s a perfect opportunity for moms and dads to help your kids understand what a decision for Christ looks like and why that’s the most important decision they’ll ever make.

Bob:  This is FamilyLife Today for Thursday, December 1st. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine. 

1:00

Are you thinking, and planning, and strategizing about ways you could take advantage of spiritual opportunities in your family or among your friends during the holiday season? We’ll talk more about that today. Stay with us.

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Thursday edition. It’s actually the first day of December. This is the first day of the last month of the year, and the last month we’ll be celebrating our 40th anniversary as a ministry.

Dennis:  You’re exactly right. It’s been a great year to celebrate 40 years. FamilyLife has been, for 40 years, the Proud Sponsor of Anniversaries™—not ours—yours. I read a great letter recently, Bob, from a couple, whom you mentioned, congratulating them on their 70th.

Bob:  That was great—back in August; yes.

Dennis:  Seventy years of marriage—just a great letter of how their friends at church heard it and they thought: “You guys are famous! You’re on FamilyLife Today!” [Laughter] 

2:00

Well, 70 years deserves a celebration; and you know what? There’s another season that demands celebration as well—that’s Christmas. We want to help you do a better job of doing that.

Before we talk about how we’re going to help you celebrate Christmas—Bob, in our family, when I was growing up, we had a time when the family would come together around the dinner table and we’d say, “There’s something important we need to talk about.” It didn’t happen many times but enough times that I knew, as a young lad, this was important. 

You know what? We’re at a table here—kind of a dinner table of sorts. I’m asking the listener to scoot up a chair and just listen as I invite you to become a part of FamilyLife’s mission. We need you. We need you to stand with us as we stand alongside you—as a single person, married, parent, grandparent—with God’s blueprints for marriage and family. 

3:00

This ministry’s made possible—our mission of supporting families—is made possible by folks like you. As you slide the chair up to the table, maybe you can slide your checkbook out on the table and write a check; because that’s what makes this broadcast possible. I just want folks to know we believe this is the mission of the hour for our country, and we need you to stand with us if you believe that as well.

Bob:  And there is a significant incentive right now. If you’re able to help with a donation, there’s a matching gift that has been made available to us, here at FamilyLife. We’ve asked our friend, Michelle Hill, to be our matching-gift monitor throughout the month of December. Can you give us the details on how the matching gift is working?

Michelle:  Sure, Bob. Here’s how it works—first of all, the matching fund is $1.25 million. When listeners make a donation in December, their donation is actually going to be tripled by money drawn from this matching-gift fund. 

4:00

Let’s say somebody gives $50. Well, we’re able to draw $100 from the matching fund so that the total gift becomes $150. I’ll keep tabs on how things are going throughout the month; and of course, keep you up to date!

Bob:  Well, we will check in with you regularly throughout the month. We’d love to have you join us in the work of FamilyLife. Go to FamilyLifeToday.com—make a donation online; or call 1-800-FL-TODAY to make a yearend donation. Or you can mail your donation to FamilyLife Today at PO Box 7111, Little Rock, AR; our zip code is 72223. We hope to hear from you, here, between now and the end of the year.

Dennis:  We sure do. I just want to remind you: “Christmas is about family. It’s about love; and it’s about giving, because ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’” 

5:00

Early in our marriage—I’ll never forget—Barbara came to me and she said: “You know, I am just kind of sick and tired of the messages of the culture. How can we train our children to be more about gift giving than gift receiving?” We put our heads together—we started asking people. I don’t know who shared it with us, but somebody—it wasn’t us—originated the idea that, instead of lining up all your presents that you’re going to open for yourself / instead, line up all your presents that you want to give to others.

In fact, I’m looking out to the audience that’s out there listening to us tape this pr...

Click Here to Listen to the other parts in the series
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 1) - A Call to Advent
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 2) - Being Still
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 3) - Introducing Your Kids to the Savior
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 4) - His Savior Names
Celebrating Advent with Laura Rainey Dries (Part 5) - Remembering Christ at Christmas

FamilyLife Today® Radio Transcript  

References to conferences, resources, or other special promotions may be obsolete.

Remembering Christ at Christmas

Guests:                      Dennis and Barbara Rainey and Laura Rainey Dries    

From the series:       Celebrating Advent (Day 5 of 5)

Air date:                     December 2, 2016

Bob: The season of Advent is a time for us to be thinking about when Jesus came and about the fact that He is coming again. Here’s Barbara Rainey. 

Barbara: We know that when He came—His first advent—when He came and was born as a baby in a manger, He came to serve us, He came to redeem us, and He came to deliver us. He was still King in all eternity, but He didn’t walk on earth as the King. He walked on earth as a Servant and as a Savior; but someday, He will come back. There will be a second advent of Jesus Christ. And when He comes back again, He will come back as King of kings and Lord of lords. 

Bob: This is FamilyLife Today for Friday, December 2nd. Our host is the President of FamilyLife®, Dennis Rainey. I’m Bob Lepine. In the songs we sing during this part of the year, in our traditions, and even in how we decorate our homes, there’s an opportunity for us to be making spiritual statements and reminding ourselves and others of the reason for this season. We’ll explore that more today. Stay with us. 

1:00

And welcome to FamilyLife Today. Thanks for joining us on the Friday edition. Here it is December. I always think of December as a good time just for reflection—although, typically, not the first part of December. Usually, it’s the end of December when you have a few minutes to catch your breath and kind of reflect on what the year has been. Usually, the first part of the month, you’ve got—

Dennis: It’s a sprint. 

Bob: —you’ve just got so much going on. But this has been a great year for us, at FamilyLife. We’ve been celebrating our 40th anniversary as a ministry this year. It has been fun for us to take some time and just look back on how we’ve seen God at work in this ministry for four decades. 

 Dennis: And I was recently looking back on how God worked in the past 12 months. 

2.00

Bob, you know, we impacted a record number of people—18.8 million visited our website; listened to FamilyLife Today / Real FamilyLife®; have been to an Art of Marriage® / a Weekend to Remember® event; bought Passport2Purity®. We’re making an impact in the most important institution in our country. I believe that mission is the mission of the hour. 

If you believe it as well, could I challenge you, here at yearend, to stand with us with a generous gift to keep FamilyLife Today coming on strong on this station to make a difference in the marriages and families in your community?  You may be investing in another family who is raising the son or daughter who marries your son or daughter. So, why don’t you participate with us in this mission of strengthening the most basic unit of our nation, the family?—and doing it—listen to me—

3.00

—doing it around the person of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Bible. I believe this is needed, now, as never before. 

Bob: You can make a donation by going, online, at FamilyLifeToday.com; or call us to make a donation at 1-800-FL-TODAY; or you can mail your donation to FamilyLife Today. Our address is PO Box 7111, Little Rock, AR; and our zip code is 72223. 

Now, this Sunday is going to be—actually, it’s going to be the first Sunday in December, but it’s the second Sunday in the Advent season. You know, Christmas is on a Sunday this year. 

 Dennis: That’s right. 

Bob: Will your church cancel, or will they have services?  Do you know?  

Dennis: That’s a good question!  

 Barbara: I don’t know. 

Bob: It’s always hard to know what to do, because Christmas morning is such a family time. There are so many traditions that to try to say, “Okay; we want to go to church too,” just feels out of the normal rhythm—I mean, I get that. 

4.00

Dennis: Yes; and I’m thinking of one child in our family who—if I would have said, “You know, we’re all just going to get cleaned up and go to church first before we get about celebrating Christmas,”—

Bob: Yes?  

Dennis: —I think this child—she might have completely split in half. [Laughter]  

 Bob: Disinherited herself from the family—

Barbara: Yes; she would have. 

Bob: —and said, “I’m joining somebody else’s family for this Christmas.”  

Dennis: In fact, she’s out in the production area of our studio here—Laura. We’ve asked Laura to come in here, recently, a couple of times. So, Laura, would you come into the studio and just explain how difficult it was for you to wait—the concept of waiting?  

Bob: And while you’re coming in—and Laura, welcome, by the way—welcome back into the studio. While you are coming in, can we just acknowledge that there might be a heredity link to Laura’s impatience that, maybe, somebody—[Laughter]

Dennis: Now, why would we want to meddle in that stuff?  

5.00

Bob: Barbara, would you like to explain why there might have been a heredity link to this?  [Laughter] Do you know anybody else who might h...