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Focus on the Family Broadcast

Finding Strength in God’s Blessings (Part 1 of 2)

Finding Strength in God’s Blessings (Part 1 of 2)

Jase and Missy Robertson, stars of the reality TV series Duck Dynasty, discuss their faith and family, with a focus on the medical journey of their daughter, Mia, who was born with a cleft palate, a serious condition requiring multiple cranial and facial surgeries. (Part 1 of 2)

Opening:

Excerpt:

Jase Robertson: I mean, here’s me. I consider myself one of the toughest people on the planet whether that was in my mind or not. Seeing my daughter go through that, I was like putty.

End of Excerpt

John Fuller: That’s Jase Robertson of the super popular TV series on A&E,Duck Dynasty. And Jase and his wife Missy join us today on Focus on the Family. Your host is Focus president and author Jim Daly. And I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: John there is a confession here, uh. Trent, Troy and I – my two boys – we foundDuck Dynasty. We did it through the series. You know, you can go to Walmart or some other store and buy the DVDs. And my boys bought two or three of the seasons. And we started watching this, and we fell in love with the show.

John: Couldn’t stop.

Jim: Couldn’t stop, yeah. You talk about binge watching. You know, Saturday – hey, should we stop for lunch now, or what do we do?

(LAUGHTER)

Jim: It was just so funny. And we loved it and the shenanigans. And, you know, just the character of the family comes through loud and clear. So, uh, it was a real pleasure to fall in love with the show, and we still watch. And our boys love it. And today, the message here is we want to encourage you, because the Robertson family – these are people of faith – faith in Christ – and they wear it on their sleeves, and I’m glad they do because we need more people in the culture who, uh, have notoriety to be able to say, yeah, I believe in Jesus. Get over it. It’s OK. It’s a good thing. And I am so proud of them and the way that they handle it. And we want to encourage you today through their story. We’re going to talk about their book,Blessed, Blessed… Blessed!, and I think you get the idea of what they see in their life and how God is taking care of them. It’s gonna be fun. It’s gonna be enlightening. And it’s gonna touch your heart.

John: It will, especially if you’re a parent dealing with a child’s medical medical struggles because there’s a walk of faith that really reflects a trust in God that you’re gonna hear here in just a moment. Uh, Jim, it is Sanctity of Human Life Week, which is a big deal here for us at Focus on the Family. That’s one of our core, founding pillars of the ministry.

Jim: It is, John. It’s not too late if you want to register for the Evangelicals for Life Conferenceand you can participate via livestream.

John: That’s right. We have some great speakers. And, uh, you’ll find the link at our website, and you’ll – you’ll get the tools you need to be able to stand up and – and speak on behalf of life when you join us by watching that stream.

Body:

Jim: Yeah. Hey, Jase and Missy, welcome to Focus on the Family.

Missy Robertson: Thank you.

Jase: Good to be here.

Jim: We are blessed to have you. Your book,Blessed, Blessed… Blessed!– we’re blessed to have you guys here. What fun you put on television through the series. And how many seasons have you done this now, Jase?

Jase: Uh, let’s see. Five years – how many seasons?

Missy: Eleven seasons and 130 episodes.

Jase: Yeah, I lost track.

Jim: I am so glad to see you guys are just like Jean and me. So you’ve got to correct Jase occasionally, is that right?

(LAUGHTER)

Jim: Which is normal for husbands and wives.

Jase: This is normal.

Jim: We have loose facts. Wives have the facts.

Missy: Yeah, that’s right.

Jim: (Laughter).

Jase: It’s just, after a while, it just all got into a montage of…

Missy: Well, you know, that’s why we’re created as a help-mate. So I’ll just wait and see if he gets it right, and when he doesn’t, I’ll correct him.

Jase: Yup, that’s…

Missy: So that’s it.

Jim: That’s how it works. Off-mic, you’re correcting, you were a little loose on the age of your kids (laughter).

Jase: Yeah, I was close though.

Missy: You were close.

Jim: You were close. You were within a year or two.

Jase: Our oldest is 22.

Missy: Correct.

Jase: And then Cole is 19. And then, I forgot she just had a birthday.

Missy: A couple of months ago, but yeah.

John: That’s why you forgot, right? It was a couple months ago, so…

Missy: It happens every year. Mhm, yeah.

Jim: You two have been married 25 years roughly. I – I won’t ask specifically. I don’t want the date, Jase. Is 25 close?

Jase: Yeah, it’s – it’s north of 25. It’s 27.

Jim: (Laughter). OK, is that right?

Missy: Are you serious? Thank you, but are you seriously gonna say that you don’t know?

Jase: I had to do the math.

John: Help him out here.

Jim: Welcome to Focus on the Family. Today we’re counseling Jase and Missy.

John: Live-counseling.

(LAUGHTER)

Jim: I love it. But, you know, I related to part of the story that I read in your book about wanting to go through life single. ‘Cause I went through that phase – and it was about a two-year phase for me where I said, OK, Lord, I’m not dating. I’m done with that, um. I want to be true to you. I was probably 22. So that was a tough time to have that mentality. And I remember I was sold out. This is what I’m gonna be – I’m gonna be Paul. That’s who I wanted to be. And shortly thereafter, about two years later, some guy came up to me and he said, you know – the pastor actually said, God has your mate – your wife picked out for you, and she’s gonna have a heart for the things of God. And I thought, this guy is wacko. He doesn’t even know I’m going through life single. That was Wednesday night. I met my wife, Jean, Saturday. Is an amazing thing? And you said the same thing.

Jase: The same thing happened to me. I, you know, of course, I made a decision, you know, to follow Christ when I was 14. And, uh, you know, in my book, I wrote about that my dad – here’s my dad, who had all these – this bitterness towards – because when I was a kid, he wasn’t a Christian, but I got to see God’s evidence right in front of my eyes with him being transformed. And, uh…

Jim: How big was that change? I mean, paint that picture.

Jase: Oh, it was – it was huge. I mean, he went from one of the worst people on the planet…

Jim: Just the way he treated people – anger all of that stuff?

Jase: Oh, anger. Well, you know, he was just drunk every night, fistfights, you know, beat on my mom, us, he cheated on my mom, he was in trouble with the law every night.

Jim: Wow. And you saw that change.

Jase: Every night. And then all of a sudden – you know, which led to a separation. And so I didn’t see him for months. And then the next time I saw him, I knew something was different. You know, we were – had moved to West Monroe, which is, you know…

Jim: With your mom.

Jase: …Where we’re at now, right. He basically kicked us out, and – which is kind of laughable. You know, we should’ve just left.

Jim: (Laughter) Right.

Jase: And, you know, then he transforms. And – but, you know, as a kid, you get better. And I just, you know, I was scared of him. And when I heard the story of Jesus, you know, his death on the cross and the resurrection, it hit me that – I thought, you know, if I’m gonna embrace Jesus’ grace and his forgiveness, I’m gonna have to forgive my dad. And he had proven it, really. It had been years, you know, since he had turned around, but I – you know, I was just still bitter about it. But – so that day, you know, where we – where they still live, you know, the Ouachita River backs up to his back yard. You know, I made that decision to follow Christ, and through that, to forgive my dad. And, uh, – and then, you know, so here I am as a teenager trying to live a Christian life, which I think is the most difficult thing to do on the planet.

Jim: Mhm.

Jase: And I dated a few girls and I told them, you know, where I stood because I wanted to wait till I got married. I wanted to do it God’s way, you know. I would tell these girls when I went out on a date – first thing I’d do – I’d have my Bible, I’d say, look, I’m a follower of Jesus. I believe he’s coming back.

(LAUGHTER)

Jase: And that usually ended the date. Well…

Jim: That was one hot date, huh (laughter)?

Jase: And most of it just – it was – I was getting frustrated, and I said, that’s it. I’m done. And as soon as I said, I’m done, it wasn’t a week later and Missy and I had a conversation at a, uh – we were at some kind of a team devotional or something. And I had dated a girl who was not a spiritual girl at all. We had just broken up, and she was friends with that girl. And we decided to go out on a date at the school where they went together, just to kinda make her jealous.

Jim: (Laughter) That’s good motivation.

Missy: Now remember – now remember, I was 16 and he was 18. So we weren’t the most mature.

Jase: Yeah, we were being juvenile about it.

Jim: Your brains weren’t fully developed yet.

Missy: Yeah, right.

Jase: And so then, we – but we actually had, you know, we had a good time. And then I gave her the speech. Then, we actually went out on a date and I gave her the speech. You know, I’m a follower of Jesus. I wanna help people get to heaven. And she’s like, I’m in. And that literally is how I was like – she was the first girl I ever took out that when I gave them the I’m following Jesus speech, she was like, sounds great to me.

Jim: But you know what’s awesome about that, being a father of two teenage boys right now – 17 and 15, my boys, um – that’s the kind of character you want to see in a young man. You know?

Missy: Absolutely.

Jim: And certainly a young lady. But, Missy, you’re coming from a family that’s – the way I read it, I mean, more of your typical middle class family, you know, godliness – cleanliness is next to godliness, I think is what you said.

Missy: Oh, that’s one of my dad’s favorite sayings.

Jim: Talk about that. Of course, it’s not in the scripture, for those that don’t know that. (Laughter) It’s actually not in the scripture.

John: It’s extra-biblical.

Missy: That’s true. Well…

Jim: But that was what your family’s creed was.

Missy: Yes, well, I’m not even sure if we would – we were considered middle class because my dad was a preacher and got all of his income by, basically, donations because he has a program called We Care Ministries, and so he just – we lived on people donating to that. And he traveled all across the country preaching. And my mom – bless her heart – has a master’s education in vocal training and choral direction, but chose to not have a paycheck to help start our Christian school.

Jim: Sure.

Missy: So she chose to volunteer her time up until I was in middle school. And so when I found that out when I was – I think I was 30 when I found that out – and I was like, you mean we were poor on purpose?

Jim: (Laughter).

Missy: Like, you said, no, thank you to the paycheck and, you know, you’re trained. And so to me that showed that they had such a servant heart, and wanted our – their children to have that Christian background. And so they sacrificed a lot to help start our Christian school.

Jim: Do they have any – I mean, I’m probing into this, so if I’m beyond the boundary here…

Jase: Feel free, probe.

Jim: But when you’re now dating Jase, were they going, honey, do you know these people? Do you know his family?

Jase: Oh.

Missy: They – OK, let me… not.

Jase: Thumbs down.

Missy: They were not thumbs down on the dating part. They loved Jase. They knew Phil was preaching all the time at his house and sharing the gospel, which he – if you look at my dad and you look at Phil, they look like total opposite ends of the spectrum.

Jim: OK.

Missy: Dad is clean-shaven, does not – he’s not an outdoorsman, he’s not into sports, he’s not into hunting, he is preacher.

Jim: Right.

Missy: Then, you look at Phil, you know, OK. We know what Phil looks like. OK.

Jim: (Laughter).

Jase: But they did the same thing, yeah.

Missy: But they preached. They both stand and are passionate on sharing the gospel of Jesus. So when my dad realized that that’s what was happening here, he was all for us dating. Now, being engaged at 17 was not something my dad was ready for.

Jim: That was a little more difficult.

Jase: That’s where it all took a turn.

Jim: What did he say to you, Jase?

Jase: Well, you know, I didn’t know – look, I was raised on the river, and we didn’t have a lot of the social etiquette rules that most people have. And so Missy said, look, you need to ask my dad’s blessing if you want to ask, you know, for my hand in marriage. And my thinking is we’ll be engaged, like, a year and a half. It wasn’t like we were gonna be married instantly, and she’s like, well, you’ve gotta talk to my dad. So I was like, OK.

Jim: (Laughter) What are you gonna talk about?

Jase: So I thought it’d just be a formality. So I go to him. I was over at her house, and I was, like, I want to ask your, you know, your blessing in marrying your daughter. And he said, absolutely not.

John: Whoops.

Jim: (Laughter) Not the way you planned for that conversation to go.

Jase: And so, since, you know, my maturity level was not where it needed to be…

Jim: How old were you at this point?

Jase: How old was I when I asked…

Missy: You were, like, 19.

Jase: I was 19, and you were 17.

Missy: I was 17.

Jase: She was 17. And I said, I don’t mean right now, but just, like, in a year and a half. He was like, no. And I said, well, you’ll be – you being a preacher, you’ll appreciate what I’m gonna say. I said, I have not laid a hand on your daughter in any kind of any inappropriate way. And I said, I want to quote a verse to you. I said, it is better to marry than to burn with passion. That was the worst.

(LAUGHTER)

Jase: And I just saw his eyes get red. Oh.

Missy: Did not go over well. No.

Jim: He didn’t find that the motivation for teen marriage…

John: Dads with teen girls would not respond well to that.

Missy: No.

John: Yeah.

Jase: So we left.

Jim: There’s a lot of truth in that, let me say. I mean…

Jase: Well..

Jim: There’s truth in that in that we tend to want our kids to marry later, and they are burning in their passion. And as Christian parents, we got to think about that, don’t we?

Jase: Yeah, and you know what’s weird is we really never resolved that conversation.

Jim: Well, I think you did.

Jase: Well…

(LAUGHTER)

Jim: I’m just sayin’.

Jase: We just – we just went on like – because I thought, I’m doing this whether you do it or not. And I gave her the ring, and I figured, you know, wedding day, if they showed up, then we were all good. And they showed up with smiles.

Jim: Jase, we have Missy’s father on the phone.

Missy: Ah!

Jim: No, I’m kidding. I’m just kidding. Wouldn’t that be funny? You know, we haven’t resolved this yet.

Jase: You know, it hit me how he was feeling when my sons got that age, and they were like, you know, like, Reed – he was like, you know, I’m thinkin’ about getting married. And I was like, you need to wait a little bit there.

Jim: (Laughter) Wait till you’re 40.

Jase: So that was – yeah, that was my first reaction. And, you know, my daughter I don’t even want to talk about.

Jim: Well, let’s – we’re going to get into that because that’s the bulk of the storyBlessed, Blessed… Blessed!But that early marital stage where you were at, was everything pretty reasonable? You’re both coming from Christian homes now, did you have it all buttoned down and wired, Missy?

Missy: Heck, no.

Jim: Did Jase, after a big hunt, come in and say, Missy, I just want tell you how much I love you?

Missy: Yeah, no. No, no. The hunting days were hard. And they’re still hard after 27 years. Hunting season is hard.

Jim: Don’t they call you hunting widows?

Missy: Hunting widows. Yes, I call it – I don’t even call it hunting season. I call it the ordeal.

Jim: (Laughter).

Jase: I think we need to start though, by saying we did agree going in.

Missy: We did. We did. And that’s why – I mean, if you’re going to ask me about it, I feel free to talk about it. But I agreed 30 years ago – when we started dating and all that he said, there’s one thing you need to know about me, I hunt every day of hunting season. So if we’re gonna go any farther, you need to know that.

Jim: And you thought that might be a week (laughter)?

Missy: I had no clue. He – he told me. He, like, he explained it all.

Jase: I told her. First date, I – I said…

Missy: Not first date. We didn’t go over everything on the first date.

Jase: The first date, I told you that I love Jesus and I’m gonna follow him.

Missy: Yes.

Jase: Are you in? Yes. About the third or fourth date, I said, if this goes any further, I need you to know I’m going to duck hunt every day of the season. Remember I said, have you got a problem with that?

Missy: Babe, I remember that. I also-

Jase: And you said, yes, and you said, if we ever get married and have kids, I want them to go to the same Christian school that you went to. And I was like, deal. So…

Missy: I said, it’s not free.

(LAUGHTER)

Jase: And so we had an agreement.

Missy: We had an agreement that I would not complain about him going hunting every day…

Jase: And she hasn’t.

Missy: …And he would not complain about how much money it was going to take to send them to our Christian school.

Jase: And the drive.

Missy: And the drive.

Jim: And it worked out so far? Almost 30 years.

Jase: I mean, you’ve got to remember when our kids got old enough to go to this school, we had no money. And so I was like, I know we made this agreement, but how are we gonna pay for this?

Missy: We’ve gotta figure it out.

Jase: It’s really amazing, you know. Just, we found a way to do it.

Missy: And basically, I went to work. So I worked, and almost all of my paycheck would go to sending them to that Christian school.

Jim: Yeah.

Missy: That’s what it amounted to.

Jim: You know, Missy and Jase, the question I have to make this tangible for the listeners – fill in the blank is what I’m hearing. You know, there’s always going to be these disagreements within marriage. It could be I get to hunt every day. I could hear guys going, I wish I would have made that deal. I didn’t make that deal. Jase was smarter than me. Or the wife is saying, you know what, there are things that I thought we had agreed to that aren’t happening. What kind of – just give me a little marital advice.

Missy: Well, there’s always unmet expectations – always. And so whether it’s sin, or whether it’s not sin, you know, it can be either or both. But with – with me – with – with all of that, I would always remember, I agreed to this. I mean, I can’t go back and say, this is terrible. My life is horrible. And people would even come up to me – women over the years would say, I don’t know how you do it.

Jim: (Laughter).

Missy: And especially when he would be gone because, you know, if the ducks weren’t in West Monroe, because our lifestyle relied on the selling of that hunting video or hunting DVD, they had to make those hunting DVDs for us to continue living and providing food for our families basically. So I always lived out of gratefulness because, yes, it’s hard. Yes, it’s difficult. And, yes, sometimes I felt like a single parent.

Jim: Well, and I love that example. That’s the right way to – you said not – it doesn’t deal with sin.

Missy: No.

Jim: And now it’s just choices of life and what you want to do – to do entertainment and other things and feel fulfilled. And so many couples need that piece to say, this is OK. It’ll be OK. It’s not the biggest, uh, mountain in my life. And I appreciate that and what you expressed.

Jase: But I’ve figured out, too, I mean, I need to provide for my family, but I also wanted to do what I love to do – to make a living, because then I could feel like in my mind, OK, I’m working here, you know?

Jim: (Laughter) At least in your mind.

Jase: Well, yeah. I mean…

Jim: It’s true.

Missy: But he did. It’s been years since he’s had to do this, but he would go hunting, sometimes all day – might take all day to bring in the ducks, but that doesn’t mean that the duck call – someone else was in there making them. That was still his job. So he would bring them and make them till 10 – 11:00 in the living room with baby sleeping. Our baby slept through the duck call making noise because it was – put them together, blow it a couple of times and throw it in the box. And that’s what I would hear. I would hear the silence, you know, then the call and then plop in the box. And that’s what our babies went to sleep to every night.

Jase: Even inDuck Dynasty, what people don’t realize – the first year of that, we were filming eight to 10 hours a day.

Missy: Six days a week.

Jase: Then, I was going to Duck Commander and building these duck calls.

Jim: Right.

Jase: I did not sleep that whole year…

(LAUGHTER)

Jase: And I finally told Willie, I was like, look, you either gonna have to give me a raise or we gotta train some people because…

Jim: Was he going home after the filming?

Jase: Oh, yeah.

Jim: He’s not showing up at the office?

Jase: Nah. And so we would be filming in there, but then everybody would leave. The cameras would leave. And I’d still have to- I mean, we had orders to get out, and I was the only one at the time, you know, with our crew doing that. So – ‘cause it takes some skill to put them together.

Jim: That – that is what makes you guys so real. I mean, you’re still, you know, normal folk, even though the Lord has opened up an amazing opportunity to touch millions of people.

Jase: No doubt.

Jim: And that’s what I love about – you guys have remained who you are. And I love that.

John: And we’re visiting today on Focus on the Family with Jase and Missy Robertson, and it’s a privilege to themin the studio with us. Blessed, Blessed… Blessed!–we’llencourage you to get a copy at focusonthefamily.com/radio.

Jim: Let’s move to the kids. You mentioned one of your sons. Give us a picture of the kids. There’s three children, right?

Missy: Yes, three completely different children.

Jim: Oh, wait – I know that tune.

Missy: A mom or dad of any number of children know that they’re all different. But, um, Reed is our oldest. He’s 22, and he was married last year – October of ‘16 – and, um, they live in Nashville, and he is a music writer and music performer. So – and Brighton – his wife there, she’s in nursing school and in her last year. So I’m like, ah, good. They’re gonna be able to make it.

Jim: They’re getting there.

Missy: Yeah, they’re gonna have something to make them some money, for a while at least while Reed’s getting his music career going.Well, Cole is 19. He is studying overseas in Argentina with Pepperdine. So he’s a student with Pepperdine and absolutely loves it and called the other night and said, can I stay for another semester in Argentina? I was like, OK, I can’t imagine your dad saying, no, you have to come home and go to Malibu.

(LAUGHTER)

Jim: Yeah, right.

Jase: He’s really mission-minded. He’s off – when he’s a teenager, he’s been on more mission trips than me and her combined. He’s been all over the world. And that’s just what he loves to do, and I can’t be more proud. I mean, you know, when my son came to me and said, I just – I want to go to this country or that country and help other people. I’m just like, OK. I mean, I’m really proud of him. He’s really doing good.

Missy: And that is a blessing from the show – that we’re able to financially do that and allow that to happen. So we feel very grateful. And he does, too. He says, thank you, Mom. Thank you for letting me be here. So he feels that way, too.

Jim: So he appreciates it.

Missy: Yes, and he’s having a great time. And then Mia is 14, and she’s in middle school. So this is a new phase. Well, I say new. It’s eighth grade, but it just seems like eighth grade has been a big – a big year for her. And I think, not just her age, but because her brothers left home at the same time. The cameras pulled out at the same time. So this busy street is now pretty quiet. And she’s kind of had to find herself of where does she fit in now, you know, with the busyness. So…

Jase: Then, she’s a teenager.

Missy: And she’s a teenager.

Jase: I mean, she’s, you know, she’s just at that age where you’re trying to find yourself or whatever.

Jim: Oh, man. I know that. You know that, too, John.

John: Well, yeah. One of my daughters – when she was about that age – called it horror-mones. My horror-mones are happening. And I’m just like, yes.

(LAUGHTER)

Missy: That’s such a good phrase.

Jase: And she’s been through so much. She’s been through 10, 11 surgeries, depending on your definition of surgery, I guess. But…

Missy: Procedures. Lots of procedures.

Jase: Many more procedures, and she’s always, you know, having to go to Dallas, which is her hospital, ‘cause she was born with a cleft lip and palate.

Jim: And we want to get into that. So tell us quickly at the end of today, and then we’ll pick it up next time for day two. But what happened?

Missy: (Laughter).

Jase: I mean…

Jim: That’s a big story.

Jase: It’s a big story, and that’s what the book is about.

Missy: We’ll ask God when we get there – to heaven – what happened. But because it happened, we had to figure out a way to deal with it.And so when I was 31 weeks gestation is when we found out that she was going to be born with at least a cleft lip – we couldn’t tell anything inside the mouth at that time – and we were shocked. So first we had to deal with the initial shock of the situation because we knew nothing about it. We knew nothing about this condition. And, of course, the first question is – why? Why did this happen?

Jim: How did you…

Missy: We were doing everything we thought right.

Jim: Correct. Kind of transactional with the Lord, right? If-then.

Missy: Oh, yeah.

Jim: If I do all these things, everything will be blessed.

Missy:But then I felt guilty at first for asking why. Because growing up in a very conservative Christian, I won’t just say home, it wasn’t just my parents, but just church and school and all this – you’re kind of told not to ask why. Because then you’re questioning God. So you don’t need to – you don’t need to question. You just need to accept and trust that this was his will. And that’s great on paper, but when that actually happens in life, that’s the first question that comes to mind is why. And I thought, you know, if I don’t ask the question, I’m not gonna get the answer. So I’m gonna ask, and I just started praying, like, why did this happen? I think that has a whole lot of soul-searching involved as well.

Jase: Which kinda led to about three months of us – she did the research and I was doing more biblical research, thinking, how am I gonna handle this? And I think we both came to each other because we were, you know, when you – when all you do is ask why, and we didn’t realize it, I think consciously, but we were kind of having our own pity parties.

Missy: Oh, yeah.

Jase: And we reached that same conclusion. And we thought, you know, we’re blessed with this girl being born. And why ruin the moment, you know, with all this pity? And – because it, you know, it did have a different feel when we were in, you know, when it was time for her to come out, I guess. There wasn’t as much excitement as it was curiosity. How severe is this gonna be?

Missy: And apprehension – a lot of apprehension.

Jim: How does this impact us? How does it impact her? What are we gonna do? I can imagine.

Jase: Yeah, and in my mind, you know, I thought, it’s probably not as bad as we’re thinking. Well, when she came out, you know, my initial thought was, oh, my. This is way worse than I thought it was gonna be.

Jim: It was devastating.

Jase: Yeah, and Missy – she couldn’t see her, and she was like, what? I could – I could read her mind saying…

Missy: Well, I needed that first, initial report.

Jase: How bad is this? And I gave a good, godly lie. I said, oh, it’s not that bad. It’s great.

Missy: He did. Yeah, he did.

Jase: ‘Cause I didn’t wanna, you know, send her into trauma here after this. But, uh, I knew it was gonna be tough then. And that’s the deal with her condition, you know. A lip, they can go in and correct in surgery. But when you get into the palate–

Missy: And bones.

Jase: And the severe nature, and bone, this is not something you can fix, and a lot of people don’t realize that you manage it as they grow. ‘Cause nothing ever grows right since it wasn’t there to start with. And so – and that was a lot of frustration for us – and trying to talk to people, because they were like, why don’t you just go get it fixed? And they’re like, it don’t really work that way.

John: It’s a process.

Jim: Right, it’s a process. And we’ve gotta come back next time. And I want to ask those questions, ‘cause many parents are living that right now. They’re in that place where you were back when Mia was born. And you’re thinking, wow, OK, I’m going through something like that. It may not be cleft palate and cleft lip and those things–

Missy: And that’s the main thing is to understand that you’re going – don’t have that guilt because you want answers.

Jim: Well, and we want to get into that.

Missy: You just need to find the answers.

Jase: And – and what’s great about it, and what we’ll get into next time, is for a lot of this process, we got to turn around and learn instead of trying to always try to teach our kids something.

Jim: Right.

Jase: We learn because our kid taught us so much about endurance and perseverance.

Jim: Well, that’s the beauty of it. And, Jase and Missy, it’s been fun day one here to get to know you better and how you got married and the background and all that. And let’s come back next time and really dig into the spiritual value of what you learn through hardship. And here, you know, especially in the United States, but Western culture, we run from that hardshipwhen I think the Lord is saying, I’m gonna teach you something through it. So stick with me, and trust me. It’s what he’s saying to us. And so often, we want a clean life. We want a easy life. We want a simple life.

Folks, that’s usually not the walk for the Christian. It’s about learning to be more like him, which usually comes through pain ‘cause he suffered for us. So let’s come back next time and do that. Your great resource,Blessed, Blessed… Blessed!– it’s a wonderful encouragement for moms and dads, husbands and wives, even singles, to say, OK, what does that road ahead look like? And, John, folks can get this. Let’s put it in their hands. I mean, if you can’t afford it, we’ll get it into your hands. Just call us here at Focus on the Family. Uh, for those that can afford it, give us a gift of any amount to help the ministry here do what it needs to do on behalf of the Lord by saving marriages, touching people and helping people.

John: Yeah, get this book and, uh, donate to Focus on the Family at focusonthefamily.com/radio. Or call, as Jim said. Our number is 800-232-6459. And, Jim, I do so appreciate the, uh, byline on the book,Keep The Faith When Life Can’t Be Fixed.

Jim: That’s so good.

John: And, uh, we’ll you, hear more about that next time.

Jim: Yeah, we will. Thanks again for being with us

Missy: Thank you.

Jase: Thanks for having us.

Closing:

John: And I hope you’ll join us again next time on Focus on the Family as we continue this conversation with Jase and Missy Robertson and once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.

Today's Guests

Blessed, Blessed, Blessed

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