Candace Nassar (00:00)
Becca, welcome to Mom Q. I am so excited to have you on our podcast today. I’ve been really looking forward to this conversation. I know you’re going to share so much great testimony and stories with our listeners. So before we get started though, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are, your family, and of course, Thistle Farms.
Becca Stevens (00:22)
Sure. Thank you so much for having me. I’ve been looking forward to the conversation myself. My name is Becca Stevens. I am an ordained pastor in the Episcopal Church for the last 34 years. This month is my 34th year anniversary, which is super fun. I got ordained pregnant, so I always think of it’s easy to remember how long I’ve been ordained because I got ordained eight and a half months pregnant.
Candace Nassar (00:40)
Congrats.
Becca Stevens (00:47)
So, I have three sons and I’m married to a beautiful songwriter here in Nashville, Tennessee, named Marcus Human, who he’s part of the Hall of Fame. He’s this beautiful writer. I am the founder and president of Thistle Farms, which I think we’ll probably talk about a lot today. So I’ll focus on that organization. It started in 1997.
With just one house in Nashville, Tennessee, and it’s grown to a global movement for women’s freedom. We have more than 72 communities that are sister programs around the US offering long-term free beds for survivors. And we have 46 global partners in 21 countries now. So it’s been this journey of motherhood and pastoring and justice work have all blended together into this sweet life where I feel like every day I wake up and just am so grateful.
Candace Nassar (01:42)
God is clearly blessing this ministry in huge ways. And thank you for saying yes because I know that’s not easy. And all that you’ve done over the years. So you’re a mom of three sons, Becca, in addition to all the other stuff you’re doing. you have Levi and Moses, and is it Candy? Cany.
Becca Stevens (01:57)
Yes.
Becca Stevens (02:04)
Caney. He’s named after the Caney Fork River in Tennessee. It’s a beautiful river that you cross like five times between Nashville and Knoxville. And so my husband says he writes country music so he can fish. So we have a little cabin and we’ve spent decades up on that Caney Fork River.
Candace Nassar (02:21)
Okay, I have to know like country is my genre. So I know there’s some listeners out there going, no, but I mean today country is it’s crossover. So what give me the favorite song you’ve ever written, real quick, of his.
Becca Stevens (02:36)
Well have his I didn’t write any of but he wrote Bless the Broken Road, do you know that song? Rascal Flats. Yeah. He wrote that song. He wrote Cowboy Take Me Away by the Chicks. He wrote he was written a lot. He’s written number ones for Winona, Tim McGraw, Sarah Evans, Brian White. I can’t even think. Yes.
Candace Nassar (02:41)
by Rascal Flats?
Candace Nassar (032:54)
my goodness.
Candace Nassar (02:57)
I know them all. I know them all. That is so cool. Well, I could get hijacked by that, but we’ve got a lot to talk about. My gosh. What a life you guys have had. That’s incredible. Okay, so was there a moment in your motherhood that shaped the work you do?
Becca Stevens (03:04)
Welcome to. I love talking about my husband.
Becca Stevens (03:17)
Yes, there definitely was. But I just want to say that it was my childhood that made this an easy yes for me to open up a house for women survivors that my dad had been killed when I was little and I went through several years of abuse, sexual abuse, starting in the church, by the way, at six years old. So that was the beginning of in my desire to serve God is to offer safe houses for women.
Candace Nassar (03:33)
Yeah.
Becca Stevens (03:43)
But it was my four year old son, he was my oldest son at the time.
I was almost ready to have my second son and we were pulling up at this place to feed people who were unhoused at the time and it happened to be across the street from this strip club and he says to me while I’m trying to put him in a car seat and he’s doing that back arch thing that kids do that make it super hard to get him in a car seat, he looks up and he goes, Mama, why is that lady smiling? And I realized
Candace Nassar (04:08)
Mm-hmm.
Becca Stevens (04:15)
that in front of the strip club there was a woman that basically had on the memory of a cat suit. I mean, and she was just standing there and she was smiling. And I thought, Wow, someday my son is not gonna ask that question. It’s gonna seem super normal to him that you strip women down and then stick up and make smile.
And I had had the idea in my head, like I said, from my own history of wanting to open a house and it was when he said that I thought, I want him to know really what it means to love women. I’m open it tomorrow.
Candace Nassar (04:46)
Mm. Mm. Wow. That’s incredible. So yeah, that I mean, I can’t imagine what it was like to experience that abuse that you experienced and then become a mom yourself. I mean, that must have been, there must have been a lot of work in that process.
Becca Stevens (05:03)
Yeah.
There was a lot of work and also I married the right person by accident. Like I didn’t even know what all that was gonna mean. But I married this gentle, kind soul that has walked through all of those phases with me. Like for example, like I didn’t realize when my son went to kindergarten, that was when my dad was killed by a drunk driver. That’s when like all the craziness happened. So I was like so full of anxiety and I was like, my god, I can’t send him to kindergarten and my husband was like
Candace Nassar (05:28)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (05:28)
You know, kindergarten’s fun. And I was like, what? Kindergarten is not fun. And then it was like, my gosh, I need to go back to therapy, not about myself, but about my motherhood. I’m reliving this through my kids.
And I think that’s true for anybody listening that’s gone through it. It’s like you do the work on you, and then you get to do it again for your children. And I imagine I’m having a grandbaby, like we talked about before this started. I’m having a grandbaby in September.
And I wonder what it’ll be like to walk through it with her when she’s five or six.
Candace Nassar (06:03)
Yeah, that’s a good point. Yeah, so you had already said yes to opening the house before you walked through that with your son.
Becca Stevens (06:12)
Mm-hmm. I mean I had, the idea was there, but I you know, we’re busy people, moms, work people who work, life, you know, you’re already busy. So the I d I think the idea had been there for a long time about we can really do this better, we can treat women better, we can offer sanctuary better and so that women never have to go back to the streets, they never have to go back to an abusive man, they never have to go back to prison. But you have to have housing and jobs and
Candace Nassar (06:37)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (06:40)
and counseling, it needs to be a safe, holistic approach. It’s not where you warehouse homeless people and think, you know, that’ll change anything.
Candace Nassar (06:50)
Right, that’s right. So you’ve written and spoken about the power of redefining old lies and stories, and I know that comes from your own life. And so what were those lies that you were believing about yourself that after everything you went through as a child?
Becca Stevens (07:09)
So I think for me, and sometimes I think lie is a is a strange word because maybe it’s just misconceptions, like I didn’t you know, I just didn’t understand what was happening or maybe it was
You know, I could see clear I couldn’t see clearly, I was seeing dimly in the mirror. So that in a way is a lie when you see so dimly that you have a misconception of yourself or what you’re capable of. And I think that was the hardest part for me, is like, you know, I’m poor or I’m damaged or I’m this and it’s like I’m not worthy. And that’s I think that is the lie, is those misconceptions and that
blindness makes us believe the lie that we’re not worthy. And so I love the idea like, actually the stuff I went through made me better.
Candace Nassar (07:56)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (07:57)
It made me strong, it made me compassionate, it made me, I can read a room, I can go tell a story and have some credibility with women when I go visit in prison. Like it was part of a healing process, not just for me, but for the communities that I serve. So
The lie is almost like, well, this has done me so much damage that I’m not worthy instead of thinking like, my gosh, in as I transform this from brokenness into powerful ministry, this ends up being used for the good.
Candace Nassar (08:30)
You know, I know that’s gonna land for someone in a very real way today. So I’m so glad that you said that. And I know you have a book called Love Heals, and I know that’s about where you come from with overcoming all those misconceptions as you put them. So can you tell us a little bit about that and how where that book came from and how that applies to to life?
Becca Stevens (08:58)
Absolutely I can. I loved that book. It was a, it was an what is it called? A labor of love, is that what they call Books.
Candace Nassar (09:05)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (09:05)
Do you know I was gonna write a murder mystery? I had this idea. It was like gonna be a justice mystery where this young woman is out seeking this thing but somebody gets killed. I thought it’d really fun to have that genre. And I worked on it for like eight months. It was not a labor of love. It’s like this this isn’t going nowhere. This is like so hokey. Nobody’s gonna read it. Anyway, this was a labor of love. It was it’s all about this journey of creating community for women where it’s safe and they find their
Candace Nassar (09:19)
Okay.
Becca Stevens (09:32)
Hearts and they make restitution with their families and how does love heal is the question and then
Candace Nassar (09:38)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (09:39)
That changes for all of us. Like in different parts of our life love looks different. It’s the same story but different chapters of love. And so how love heals looks really different. And so it’s an exploration into what that means. But it’s it’s written in a way where there’s some scripture, where there’s meditations, where there’s lots of images, where there’s some poetry.
So that it’s a great book to have by your bedside and read it before you go to bed and use it as like this is how I’m going to bed is thinking about love working on my heart. I’ve put down my phone, I’ve put down all the stress, and now I’m ready to get back to the heart of who I am, which is, you know, God’s child.
Candace Nassar (10:21)
Mm-hmm. And that’s the key, right? That we are his children and we are loved unconditionally and unfailingly. And I know for me, I also I grew up in some pretty heavy dysfunction. And I at the core, when I started counseling, I didn’t believe that I deserved love. Even though I was a believer in Christ, I found out that I didn’t believe I deserved love. And that is that’s a lie, right? That’s a yeah, it’s a misconception.
Becca Stevens (10:47)
It is a lot, yes.
Candace Nassar (10:57)
because, God loves us regardless of what we do, right? And when we’re in Christ, we have that freedom of knowing that there is nothing that, we can do to make him love us less. So
Becca Stevens (11:03)
There’s, I mean, there’s a million scriptures that are coming to mind, but I’m thinking of Psalm one thirty nine where it’s like you can dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea and there’s God. Like we don’t bring Christ somewhere. We, you know, we meet this presence that is everywhere in this world where we go and we get to experience love, which has been the biggest joy around my journey. But then the other thing that has struck me this year more than any other year about what love looks like is this passage from John where
Candace Nassar (11:18)
Mm-hmm.
Becca Stevens (11:34)
Jesus is doing the fi farewell discourse and trying to tell the disciples, you know, what does love look like? How are you supposed to love the world? And he basically says, you know, look
You know where I’m going and you know the way. All you gotta do is ask. And it’s like that’s the other lies, like we have no idea. And it’s like you do have an idea. We do know where we come from and where we’re headed. And for some reason this year when I read it, it was like, You know where you’re going. You know, there I’m you know, you know the way. Just ask. And it’s like, I can do that, I can ask.
Candace Nassar (11:47)
Mm.
Candace Nassar (12:04)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Becca Stevens (12:07)
And trust that I know the way. Because that’s, that’s the other thing. When you have all that brokenness, you think like I’m so lost, I’m never gonna ever get out of it. And it’s like you know the way, just love. Love yourself, love your neighbor, and love God. And easier said
Candace Nassar (12:16)
Mm.
But it’s it’s not yeah, it’s hard to do, as we know. and it takes it takes a lot of learning to trust and surrender. And that’s so for nearly 30 years, you’ve watched women walk from the darkest places into real freedom. You shared that story, just what your imp you know, the what the impetus was for you starting thistle farms.
I want to stay here for a while and talk. I want you to tell us some of the stories that you’ve witnessed because I know our listeners need to hear that there is victory in Christ and that there is an opportunity to change our image of ourself and have our identity in Christ. So, can you tell us about a woman without portraying her privacy whose story stays with you?
Becca Stevens (12:43)
Yeah.
Becca Stevens (13:09)
Sure, and I will say that there’s of course, as you can imagine, hundreds of these stories. And there’s stories where love has taught me in failure as much as success, where things haven’t gone as well. But it was a powerful lesson about surrendering, or a lesson about not being abandoned in the hardest times, all of that. But I will say
You know, this is nothing that I have done for women survivors. This is something I do alongside women. And I really mean that when we started the company and when we started building the housing, the women got trained, educated, the women that were coming through so that they could lead the program. So the director of the national network, Kim Stevens, is a graduate of the program.
The director of all the manufacturing, so we manufacture bath and body care products, oversees sales of more than five million a year, is a graduate of the program, and she came from that prison system and she directs the entire manufacturing operation, oversees a hundred women.
Becca Stevens (14:12)
Ty Johnson, the woman who runs all of the residential programs, all of them, and oversees the medical director and all of those things, is a graduate of the program and her name is Sheila, and she tells her story publicly about her journey that started when she was a little kid and finally in West Virginia she ran away at 14 and was trafficked around the country.
But when she came to Thistle Farms, she came before she was married, before she had any children, she was young and she got breast cancer, survived that, went through the program, got married, had two children, went and got her GED, then an undergraduate degree, then she got her master’s in social work.
And she got her master’s in social work at the University of Tennessee. And now her son is just finishing his freshman year at University of Tennessee. So many of the women I’ve been with for twenty years. And so it’s a journey we take together. My executive assistant that you talked to many times, Kristen,
Candace Nassar (14:56)
Mm.
Wow.
Becca Stevens (15:13)
She’s the most organized people in the entire world that I’ve met. She can organize all the calendars, raise her three children, you know, drives the mom van, does the whole thing. You know, I mean, there’s it’s what it turns into for me, there i there are single stories, and I get why we want to do that. But what I hope it looks like for people that are listening is it feels like more of a tapestry where the each woman is this thread of hope and you look at it and it just looks like sunshine.
Candace Nassar (15:44)
That’s a beautiful image. So what does the moment of freedom actually look like for these women? I mean, is it sudden or slow? How does that come about?
Becca Stevens (15:56)
I can’t really speak for anybody about what freedom looks like for me. I realized in my own journey that forgiveness wasn’t an event, it was a choice. And it was a practice. You know how like you practice like you practice running or you practice law, you practice medicine, you practice forgiveness. And It wasn’t a moment for me and it was like moments where you felt something, but then it was like, I really still have all this and then you go back and you go back and then you look behind you and you’re like, my gosh, I have forgiven. I have crossed that river and I don’t know exactly
Candace Nassar (16:29)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (16:34)
If there was a moment or I just went through so many tributaries and creeks that I made it through and looking back there was a rushing river down down that I couldn’t I couldn’t do that. But I could meander through the creeks and then look back and see that I passed it.
Candace Nassar (16:38)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (16:48)
Wow. How did you, what changed your heart to begin that posture of forgiveness from holding on to bitterness?
Becca Stevens (16:55)
My heart was never bitter. I am not that created that way. I never had issues around how could God let this happen? Like I understood it was a drunk driver that killed my father, not God. I understood it was a sick man that abused me, not God. And I always felt like God was love and God, you know, God never faltered in God’s love for me.
And I felt like I wanted to worship and serve my Lord. And so I had to just keep figuring out, well, what does it look like to do that well? And how can I do it better? And how can I do it authentically? And how can I do it with some humor so I don’t go under? Or how can I do it,
Candace Nassar (17:23)
Amen.
Becca Stevens (17:39)
with righteous anger to get things going. Like you know how it requires different things at different times, like, you know, you wanna you wanna be the same person in jail that you are at the White House, but you also want to speak a language where people can understand. So it has to be authentic and beautiful. But
Candace Nassar (18:00)
Is that something that you try to lead the women in, is there like a course or something? that you take them through as they start to understand how to transition from all of that life of just oppression and lies of the enemy to understanding that love heals?
Becca Stevens (18:17)
Again, we do more of a practice than a course. So women do take all kinds of courses over the two year period and they don’t pay anything to live there, but that’s very rigorous. And whether it’s a parenting class, a finance class, a class on why was it why were you prostituting your body? Like what does that mean and how do you heal from that? There are courses, but really it’s a practice and so, one of the simple practices is every Wednesday morning we gather in a circle and we light one of the candles we make. So we’ve been lighting candles. Where I’m sitting right now is this little A frame chapel on the Vanderbilt campus, and that’s where we started. That’s where I’ve always pastored. We started making candles and we light the candle and so we put it in the middle of the circle and we say, We light this candle for the woman on the street and the woman trying to find her way home.
And so we remember while we’re there. We’re there to welcome the next woman. We’re not there just for ourselves. And if everybody can remember, like why are you and I talking? We’re talking so that there’s somebody that hears this that can find their way home. If we can remember that, then it’s we’re gonna be okay. So it’s again it’s a practice. And so we practice that. Or we practice by you know, we have we write on these twenty
principles that kind of mirrored the twelve step program in a lot of ways, about the idea of like how do we keep practicing so we’re healthy with each other. So that’s what I would say. I’d say there are some courses, but mostly there’s ritual and practice to keep us centered and trying to say, I see you and I remember who I am and why I’m here.
Candace Nassar (19:34)
Mm.
Candace Nassar (19:43)
You know, I’m hearing that community is so much part of it, right? And just understanding that they’re not alone and that they do they have each other, they have a purpose. Lighting that candle. Right. Exact. Exactly. Yep. And have
Becca Stevens (19:54)
That we we aren’t alone and we have a purpose. It’s all of us that want that. Every single person. Volunteers that come in that circle, women just coming out of ten years of prison, women who are donors. It’s so wild, like we long for the same knowledge.
Candace Nassar (20:12)
Mm. Yeah. It the the effects of it looks different for everyone, right?
Becca Stevens (20:21)
Yes, yes.
Candace Nassar (20:21)
But because my damage on the outside, I seemed fine, but on the inside, I was completely lost. And it was a Bible study in Dallas, Texas, that I joined that brought me to the Lord for moms with childcare. And that, those women discipled me. And that is what changed my life. Jesus and the community and all of that. And that’s what we all need is we need to understand that we’re created for a higher purpose.
that we need each other, that we we don’t have to live isolated or in shame and all those things. And I think that’s a lot of what those women are learning when they’re with you guys in Thistle Farms, wouldn’t you say?
Becca Stevens (21:02)
I hope so. I really do. That would be a beautiful answer to a prayer that, you know and and also
Candace Nassar (21:07)
Yeah.
Becca Stevens (21:11)
that they have actual skills and economics to go along with that so they’re not in that violence and vulnerability of poverty. ‘Cause sometimes you can have all that knowledge but like, my gosh, I still have to get a car so I need a man to help me get this car ’cause I’ve never had a legitimate job. So even if you’ve gotten all this knowledge if it’s like, No, no, no.
Candace Nassar (21:18)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (21:28)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (21:32)
We’re gonna help you get economically sound too. I always think, like, along with the spiritual practice, along with the trauma-informed care practice, we need trauma-informed economics. That we remember that part of how women get so tangled up is about money. And
Candace Nassar (21:50)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (21:52)
You know, no, you don’t have to go back to an old John and ask if they’ll help you just get first month’s rent. You’re already back in the game if you’re doing that. Or in the life as people call it. And so it’s like how do you say, like, I’m gonna make look, we’re gonna raise the money and we’re all gonna give in gratitude for the mercy we’ve known so that you don’t have to do that again.
Candace Nassar (22:02)
Mm.
Candace Nassar (22:15)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s super powerful.
I know that so many women feel trapped because of finances. That’s what you’re saying. And when you have that, when you are feeling trapped, you can make bad decisions and decisions that are harmful for yourself. But and your children. That’s right. Yeah. we we deal so much, we as and with mom queue, we constantly come across mom guilt and the comparison. those are the two biggest lies probably that that moms are dealing with.
Becca Stevens (22:30)
And your children.
Candace Nassar (22:45)
And I mean whether like we said, whether that we’re in a life of being trapped in stories like your thistle farms ladies to just the suburban housewife who’s trapped in drinking or pills or whatever it is. And even if it’s not that, it’s just anxiety and not having peace. What is the deeper lie that they’re actually believing, do you think?
Becca Stevens (23:10)
I couldn’t say what anybody else’s deeper lie was off the top of my head, I don’t know that. But here’s what I really do know is that at least in my own life, like my mom was working, you know, twelve, thirteen hour days after my dad was killed when we were little. She had five kids. She was thirty five years old, a single mom. And she went to work at this daycare slash community center and she worked all kinds of hours.
And in some ways we were kinda raised feral and we were kinda plunged into some hardships. But there was never a doubt in my mind that my mom didn’t love me. And on like weekends we would make crafts or we would
make bread. Like she would always do something. And I just wanna say, like, it’s like those simple things and this deep seated love of God expressed through your love of children that I think translates more powerful than anything. So whatever else is going on, it’s like if if women could just trust that
the outward and visible signs of how they love reflects that deep, deep love and your kids feel it that you could just breathe and relax. Somebody told me if you can just read a book to your kid at night, it sets you up for a whole good day. The child sleeps better, you sleep better. So what do we have to do to help moms just read a book at night to their babies? That’s it. That’s the question. And I was like, you’re brilliant.
Candace Nassar (24:32)
Mm.
Becca Stevens (24:36)
You’re brilliant because that’s so beautiful, like we’ll have a good day tomorrow if I can just put everything aside and read my sweet baby a book.
Candace Nassar (24:36)
Hush.
Candace Nassar (24:45)
Yeah.
I used to read the Rhyme Bible to my kids when they were little. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of that one, but it is the sweetest stories for toddlers and preschoolers that they remember. And it always and it set my heart right too, right? When I was reading it, it always changes your perspective. And and I think that’s one of the things that you have said today that resonates so much with me, and I know it will with our moms, is just how you never saw the struggles that you went through as something that
Becca Stevens (24:49)
Mm-hmm.
Becca Stevens (24:56)
Yes.
Right.
Candace Nassar (25:15)
God did to you or didn’t it didn’t make you angry with God. And I think that’s amazing because so many people do get angry with God and struggle with that. But you saw, you had enough insight as a young child really to understand that God was going to work good in that.
Becca Stevens (25:33 )
And I also think I had this woman tell me, this is years ago, and I won’t say anything else about her, but she went back to the site where one of her first rapes happened and it was in this horrible abandoned alley and we wanted to go pray over that site and remember it and kind of lay it to rest as part of her journey into forgiveness. It was, it was very, very, very violent and bad.
And we got out there and she was praying and she said that she had this image in her prayer that God never abandoned her, but God turned his head so that she wasn’t shamed.
And that she could still be in relationship afterwards and I was like, That is a powerful image to have of God with you but like I am not gonna shame you in this. I’m gonna stay with you and then I will turn my gaze back so that you can behold me again.
Candace Nassar (26:24)
That is so beautiful. And I’m sure, so incredibly freeing for her because I do think we carry a lot. We carry that shame when things when we do when we sin or do things that we know in that s situation, obviously it wasn’t her fault, but it can still we can still carry that, right? Somehow it is our fault. So
Becca Stevens (26:41)
Yes.
Absolutely. And that was ten years after. That’s what kills me. Is like, my God, that takes it takes a long time to for for a lot of us, and I’m not going to say for you or for anybody else, but for a lot of us, it takes a long time to get to a place where we can say, What is the good in this? Or how can I use this to reflect love and healing that I want in this world and in my heart so that as I journey back to God, I’m becoming
what I long to be.
Candace Nassar (27:13)
How has this thistle farms changed you?
Becca Stevens (27:16)
Ugh. Biggest gift of my life. Biggest gift of my life. Thistle Farms. Do you know as a as a pastor, like you know, like you’ve met some old pastors and they kinda get resentful or cynical or whatever. And I’m I definitely can lean towards that part, like in politics or in whatever, music business, whatever I can get like
But I’m telling you, the lens that I get to read the gospels through from the work at Thistle Farms, the lens that I use to understand some of the most, the hardest scriptures for me, through the lives of the women I’ve served for 30 years. I am just free of all that. I just read it and want to weep. I’m so believe it just in such a grateful way.
Like this is a great example is that Jesus says right after he washes the disciples’ feet to Judas, when Judas says, why is that woman wasting that really good oil on you? And he looks at Jesus and says, Leave her alone
Becca Stevens (28:16)
And I went, that may be the most loving thing a man, our Lord, has ever said. Just how about not don’t help somebody if they’re in trouble or you know, don’t intervene if something bad’s happening, but when somebody’s trying to do a woman is trying to do something good, leave her alone.
And I was like, or leave the little girls alone so they can grow into their bodies and their full spirit, or leave the women artisans that we work with around the world alone enough to preserve their communities and their crafts. And it’s like it just makes you fall in love with Jesus all over again. It’s like, did you just say that to a group of men, leave her alone? Isn’t that great? mean, that’s a great statement.
Candace Nassar (28:32)
Mm.
Candace Nassar (28:48)
Mm-hmm.
Candace Nassar (28:55)
Yes.
It is, it is, because so often we just get beaten up and beaten down, right? Mm-hmm.
Becca Stevens (29:04)
Yes. And especially like you’re saying in motherhood. People use that as an opportunity to criticize and you can just re repeat the mantra of Jesus saying to those who are doing that to you, leave her alone.
Candace Nassar (29:13)
That’s good.
Becca Stevens (29:13)
Like there’s a place for her. She’s doing the best she can, just leave her alone. Anyway.
Candace Nassar (29:18)
Mm. So good. So as we begin to wrap up, I’ve loved our conversation and I thank you so much for what you’ve shared. If the mom walking away from this today takes one thing, what do you want her most to know about herself and what is possible for her?
Becca Stevens (29:34)
I would say to her first, be nice to your mother in law.
‘Cause I’m gonna be the mother in law of all my grandbabies from sons and I’m scared of my daughters in laws. I keep saying, like, you know, what do I what do I have to do to make sure we stay in good space? Like I wanna be friends with my daughters in laws and their babies so much. And so I just wanna if there’s any advice out there for that, I that’s where I am in motherhood is I’m a mother in law for my grandbabies. That’s kind of tenuous because you love already and you just want it to work.
Candace Nassar (29:38)
Ha ha
Becca Stevens (30:06)
And so that’s where I am, and I want to be, I’m open to any advice you have or anybody. But the other thing for young moms is I just want to say, you know, thank you for being love in this world, for loving the next generation. I’ve always heard it said, if you want to save the wilderness, teach a child to love it. If you want to save our faith, teach a child to pray.
Candace Nassar (30:07)
Yes.
Becca Stevens (30:29)
That’s one of the nicest, kindest things we can do for our world and for your baby.
Candace Nassar (30:38)
You know, I think I needed to hear that too. So just because of the moms that I’m constantly talking to, that’s a really beautiful statement and great reminder. So where can our listeners find out about thistle farms or support thistle farms?
Becca Stevens (30:51)
To all the moms out there, we make all natural bath and body care products, and we make a mosquito repellent that’s all natural that are good for babies. It’s geranium oil. It is so effective. I was with my sons in laws this weekend in Texas where there were so many mosquitoes and we were in the hot tub, and both the parents of my daughter-in-law are doctors, by the way, so this is not just some slack people.
And there were mosquitoes and I sprayed the geranium oil and they all went away and they were like, I cannot believe it. I’m saying and I’m like, it’s it’s the most amazing. But if you are gonna go out this summer, use it on your babies. We have cute baby stuff. We have cute mom stuff, but go to thistlefarms.org and you’ll see our whole line of product. It helps heal you, it helps heal the people you give it to, and it helps heal the women who create the products.
And we would be super grateful if you would be thoughtful enough to order some lavender products that are amazing for your babies from us.
Candace Nassar (31:52)
I’m in. I’ve got a grandbaby. Summer’s coming. So summer’s here.
Becca Stevens (31:55)
I’m telling you, you’re gonna you are gonna it’s you know, It is so good. It tests out at ninety nine point seven percent. Like I take it to Ecuador, I mean, I’ll be taking it to Kenya in about three weeks and I won’t get bit. Zero.
Candace Nassar (32:09)
I love I love how it supports the women of Thistle Farms because I know that your ministry is vital and you have to have funds to continue. So I’m in support of that 100% and just your ministry, what you’re doing, helping women find freedom from all the oppression that they’ve seen and live victorious lives to the point where they’re working for you and all the things that you’ve shared. just
Becca Stevens (32:16)
Yes.
Yes, yes. Thank you.
Candace Nassar (32:37)
Beautiful stories. So I appreciate
Becca Stevens (32:39)
I can’t tell you how grateful I am that you’ve asked me on here and I hope I’m making some new friends and happy for anybody to reach out. You can see everything on our website and how to get a hold of me if there’s anything I can do.
Candace Nassar (32:51)
Right. Thank you so much, Becca. God bless.
Becca Stevens (32:54)
Thank you, thank you. God bless you.
