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Rebecca St. James
I think for much of my life I thought that pain and joy were mutually exclusive, that you couldn't hold both in your heart at the same time. But as I've gotten older, I've noticed that there's something beautiful about the highs and the lows. Intertwining and Cubby and I sought God and each other and found comfort right there in the messy middle.
Jim Daly
That's Rebecca St. James describing how she's learned to trust God with her dreams, her future, her presentation. Welcome to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Rebecca and her husband Covey have joined us in the studio and they're going to share their journey with God and as a couple with us. Your host is Focus president and author Jim Daly and I'm John Foetler.
John Fuller
John, I think trusting God in the messy middle is life, right? If we attach our emotional wellness to highs and lows, we're in trouble. I mean, God's present with us always in the highs and in the lows. And I think the irony is we learn more about ourselves in the lows, like what we're deficient at, where we need help. Have you had that experience just recently, like today? So that's why this is such a great story with Rebecca and her husband Cubby and we're going to cover their love story, which is always good. So this is nice to kick back, get a cup of tea, cup of coffee, sit and listen together because it, I think will rekindle even your own journey in marriage.
Jim Daly
Yeah, there's something here for all of us no matter where you are with regard to marriage. Maybe you haven't even gotten married yet or maybe it's been decades. You're going to learn from Rebecca and Cubby. Rebecca is an award winning singer, songwriter and actress, author of more than a dozen books. We're pleased to have her here, Jim, because she's here to do some work on Practice Makes Parent a Focus on the family podcast with Dr. Danny Huerta. I think it's a great podcast. I hope our listeners really dial in and enjoy it as well. Cubby Fink is a successful film director and producer. He was in a Grammy nominated pop music band. And together Cubby and Rebecca have written a terrific book capturing their story and offering some really good life lessons. It's called Lasting Faith, Music, Family and Being Found by True Love. And of course we have details about our guests and their book. We've got the details in the show notes.
John Fuller
Rebecca, it's so good to have you back at Focus.
Rebecca St. James
Jim, such a joy.
John Fuller
I don't know how many times, but it's been a number of times going back to the early 2000s.
Rebecca St. James
This building has so much nostalgia for me and this room, too.
John Fuller
Yeah. We're gonna have to get you a parking place out there.
Rebecca St. James
Yeah, I think I deserve my own security, you know? Badge. Yes.
John Fuller
And Cubby, welcome into the big family.
Rebecca St. James
I'm here.
Cubby Fink
Yeah.
John Fuller
First time I call him Cubby. The hubby.
Rebecca St. James
I like that.
John Fuller
How many years did you and I talk about your future husband?
Rebecca St. James
I mean, a long time.
Cubby Fink
Yeah.
John Fuller
Which was awesome. You had such a heart to be married. I mean, that's whenever we met. It wasn't about your career. It wasn't about singing. That was not what you really talked about. You talked about, is there a man out there for me? Does the Lord have somebody? And I just remember, man, there's gotta be some good guy out there, because who wouldn't want to marry Rebecca? I mean, she's beautiful inside, beautiful outside.
Rebecca St. James
Thank you, Jim.
John Fuller
And it sounds like God's answered your prayer.
Rebecca St. James
He sure did. He sure did.
John Fuller
Well, let's unravel this a little bit. Go back, you know, the movie, obviously, about your family.
Rebecca St. James
Unsung hero.
John Fuller
Unsung hero. And just recap that journey coming out of Australia, which, of course, everybody loves. Your accent, by the way.
Rebecca St. James
Good. I hope it's still there. I've tried to keep it.
John Fuller
Yeah, that's so good. But you moved to the States as a family. A lot of turmoil. But describe what was taking place. Place. And how old you were.
Rebecca St. James
Yeah, so it was 91. I was 14. Six kids in our family. My mom very pregnant with my sister, and we moved to the other side of the world from Australia because my dad got offered a job in Nashville. And then a couple months after that big move, that job was no longer. And so we were now plunged into a lot of uncertainty. And no car, no furniture. And, I mean, they show it in the movie, but there literally was sheets that were wrapped around winter clothes as our beds for a little while. And, you know, very, very close to the poverty line and overdue in our rent, you know, months. Just the grace of God that we weren't kicked out of that rental place, but we prayed for money and food and a car and all the things and just saw it happen and saw miracles happen. Saw groceries on the doorstep and checks in the mail that would just cover bills. And, you know, somebody paid for my sister to be born in a hospital. We didn't have insurance. I mean, just amazing things. A car given to us out of The Blue by a homeschool family. And that gave me a story that gave me something to sing about. It gave me a testimony. When I started full time at 16 in music.
John Fuller
Hero was such a good testament to God's faithfulness in your family. And if folks have not seen it, they should get a copy. I'm not sure how you do that nowadays. Is it DVD or you stream it? Right? Are we up to streaming now? Okay, good. So stream it, look for it. Unsung Hero. But they depicted it so well. And your mom and dad. Okay, so here's the thing cubby, I'll turn your way. You're both creative people. That right there is usually a red flag for marriage. Two creative people coming together. I mean speak to your creative bent cubby. Where you were coming from. Music was something you enjoyed. What was your background?
Rebecca St. James
Yeah, he helped direct adsang here at church. Yeah, that's right.
John Fuller
That was a bold move to get into the family and say let me help direct it. And that's an in law move. I didn't try that in my marriage but go ahead.
Cubby Fink
Well, luckily I was invited in so that was good.
John Fuller
That helps.
Cubby Fink
Yes it does. But yeah. I grew up in a really creative family. My dad was a drummer, my mom was an artist. Grew up with some form of an art project or music rendition pretty much on a daily basis. My mom would spread out big rolls of butcher paper across the counter and my sister and I would draw and paint and then my dad would have his drums set up in the garage and I'd go out and mess around on those. And when I was about 8 or 9 I discovered kind of music for myself. I stumbled across my parents old record collection, happened to stumble across Rubber Soul, the Beatles record, and was able to figure out the record player and put that on and that kind of changed the trajectory of my life in regards to just a passion and love for. Started playing guitar in junior high and then in high school I was in a band and we lost our bass player and said hey, I'll fill in until we find somebody new. And. And little did I know I was the new guy and, and ended up falling in love with the bass at that point and really became kind of the, the instrument that just really resonated with me as, as a person and just my, in my makeup. It just felt right on every level and, and so yeah, that just kind of began the process of just a creative journey and thought I was headed towards LA after high school but got out of the plans and ended up on the mission field for a little while.
John Fuller
So cool. We're going to catch up with that and get more into it. But there's at least one person out there going, cubby, where do you get the name Cubby?
Cubby Fink
Yes.
Rebecca St. James
Gets asked a lot.
Cubby Fink
It is a common question. And the irony is a lot of people think it comes from my real name, which is Jacob, Jacob Cubby. But the truth is it came from birth. My dad thought I looked like a bear cub when I was born because I had a full head of hair, apparently came out. I love growling.
John Fuller
You weren't calling for salmon. I doubt at that age, but you were not quite give me salmon. Right, right. It's not what you're doing. Rebecca, let me go back to your story a bit. Just to paint the picture. During that time in the movie again, unsung hero, you kind of. You depicted that where you were not the one knocking down doors. I mean, you sang somewhere somebody heard you and went, wow, she's really good. And said something to your dad about it, like she could be something big. That's really interesting. But when you got into it, I mean, you had some vocal strain. You had issues down the track. Yeah, yeah. Speak to that. You know, Lord, I thought you called me into this and now I got all these physical things going on.
Rebecca St. James
Yeah. I mean, really, the, you know, I talk about it in the book, but there was a form of losing my voice that came from stress. It wasn't anything physical. I'd done vocal training and all of that. But I think after nearly 20 years of music and starting so young, like starting at such a vulnerable age, you know, my first tour at 13 in Australia with Carmen and then full time at 16. I think what I didn't understand at that point that really every balanced adult human being needs to learn is how to guard your heart. Like the Bible talks about, guard your heart because out of it flow the wellsprings of life. And I didn't know at that point how to make a call for healthy no's. I think sometimes there's healthy nos and there's healthy yeses. And I needed to protect my own heart. And so I was really burning out. And so my body was fighting back and saying, well, if you're not going to kind of bring some more balance into the schedule, you know, I'm gonna shut down on you just out of stress. I think our bodies show these signs of warning, warning, red light. You know, you've got to change some things. And if you don't listen, if you override that Long enough, our bodies shut down on us and that's what was happening. So I was struggling to sing and to breathe. Kind of a form of a panic attack on stage. Honestly.
John Fuller
No, that's amazing. You know, let me ask, as a general application, you know, someone doesn't have to be in the music business to experience these things. But I think particularly I'd say Jean, my wife, you know, early in her teen and 20 somethings, very much a people pleaser.
Rebecca St. James
Me too.
John Fuller
And I was going to ask that question. Is that kind of common in the industry? I mean, you're trying to, you know, get a gig and you got to kind of, you know, make exceptions and do things and not do things you want to do in order to get the jobs you need. So I would think that would be part of it. Crowd pleasing, if I could say it that way. It's got to be part of what kind of turns your crank, so to speak, because, you know, that's just part of the makeup. You're in front, you're on stage. Cubby, you experienced that too in your band. Speak to that issue as a Christian then, you know, not living for that, but living for something different. And what is that? Something different?
Rebecca St. James
Yeah, I think the people pleasing thing, you just hit the nail on the head. My personality type is more of a helper and so, and I like to encourage and so into people and serve and give. Like Mother Teresa was my hero, which.
Jim Daly
Is like Billy Graham.
Rebecca St. James
Yeah, yeah. And. And I saw, you know, these heroes of the faith that would just like serve and give and pour themselves out. And I was like, that's how I want to be. But what I didn't see is the dark side of that. If you, if you pour yourself out too much without refilling, then you're not going to be filled up enough to continue to give. And even as a mom, I'm learning that in a fresh way too. I want to be the best version of myself for my kids. Like Danny and I in our show Practice Makes Parent. We talk about that. We want to, as parents, we want to be the best version of ourselves for our kids. So what does that look like to where we're filling up so that we can be our best for them? So I didn't know how to do that in those years. I think I'm still learning in a different way now as a mom and. But I think it's a call to all of us because all of us are dealing with stress and anxiety in some level. You know, it plays out somewhere because our lives are just crazy, right in the modern world, the Western world that we live in. So we have to know how to guard our hearts.
John Fuller
Yeah. For the parents listening. I didn't set that up. Your kids are how old? You want the test cubby, or you want me to have Rebecca answer that question?
Cubby Fink
So we've got 10. Our oldest is 10, Gemma, and then Imogen. Our middle is 6. And then our youngest boy is 4, and his name is River.
John Fuller
That's great. I love that. So you guys are right in the thick of it. It's so good you're doing that podcast with Dr. Robert. I love it on parenting, and people could look that up on the website.
Jim Daly
I'll link over to it.
John Fuller
Let me ask you this. In your book Lasting Ever, you talk about God seeing us and that desire us to know and be known. And in that context, you point to Psalm 139. What's the connection with Psalm 139?
Rebecca St. James
It's one of my favorite psalms. Probably my favorite psalm, actually. Even when I sign autographs, I sign Psalm 139 a lot because it just. It says to every single one of us that belongs to Jesus and every single one of his children, we. He searches us. He knows us. He sees every move. He is so for us and with us and has seen us before we were born. And I just love that sense of, like, God sees these parts of my heart that no one else sees, and he loves me anyway. And I wrote a song actually called Psalm139 on my second album, My God album. It's the hidden track. Do you remember when hidden tracks were kind of a thing? So it's on that album, and it just sounds. It pretty much just says a good part of the psalm in the song. But I think even at that age, at 17, when I wrote that song, I needed to know that. That God sees me in those quiet places. I don't need to be seen by all these thousands of people all around the world to feel affirmed. He sees me and loves me and receives me.
John Fuller
Yeah.
Jim Daly
Okay. True love, if I may, let's fast forward to this season where you're both kind of waiting for God to show you the spouse. And Rebecca, you'd been very clear about this, very public about. And Covey, I think you had some observations. You were committed in your heart, but observed some things in the Christian community. It was hard for both of you. What carried you through that? Because I have kids that are in their 30s and thinking when. So there's a commitment There to be made and a trust in God. But how do you walk that through?
Rebecca St. James
It was a painful reality for me that I found myself in my early 30s, living in LA, unmarried. And really the whole dream of my life had been to be a wife and mom. Like music was a tide me over till that. And yet it had not happened yet. And I'd been so public all around the world saying, you know, got this song wait for me about my future husband. And honestly, I think even my vocal issues that I had in large part were because when I would sing Wait for Me, it was hope deferred, making the heart sick. Like, I struggled to even breathe through that song sometimes because it was so vulnerable. What if this doesn't happen? What if there is no guy? And that dream of my heart, you know, what if it didn't come true? And I remember being in my early 30s there in LA and just wrestling with God about it and really him calling me to this place of, even if this doesn't happen, Lord, give me the strength to still trust you and trust your goodness and stay true to you, even if this dream doesn't happen for me. And I remember coming to that place of surrender. I even have a song about it called I can trust you. But it's a painful surrender. Right when we kind of lay down these. These big dreams of our heart. But it was soon after that that we met, and I do think that that was part of the place of freedom that God wanted to bring me and maybe laying in some ways something down that could have been an idol. So there's freedom in that.
Jim Daly
Paul's verse in Philippians where he talked about being content in all things. Yeah. And maybe, maybe sometimes God wants us to be content right where we are, even though our heart yearns for something else.
Cubby Fink
Yeah. That's actually been. Probably my favorite verse through my journey with faith is Paul saying that I've been content, found a way to be content in all things. And in my journey towards marriage and Rebecca, there was a point where, and I think it was something I learned in a sermon, but essentially, if you can't be content unmarried, you're never going to be content married. If you can't be content without money, you're never going to be content with money. So all these things that we strive towards that we think are going to make us happy or bring us fulfillment, if we can't be content without them, when we actually get them, we're not going to be able to be content because it's really finding contentment. In our. Where we are in our position with the Holy Spirit, in our sonship or daughtership, in our identity in Christ, that's where we find contentment. It's not in the physical things or in the marriage, but if we can be content here, we can bring that contentment into marriage, and it just makes it all the more fulfilling.
John Fuller
That's really. That's the gold nugget of the program so far, is just that idea that be content where God has you. And I think when you can turn to him, when you can smile, when you can be okay on the mountaintop or down in the valley, then he's got your heart and he knows it. And I think that's what puts a smile on his face, because you are His. When you can be content in all things, and if you're not, it would indicate that you need a deeper relationship with the Lord. Let's get to a lighter side. I want to turn the corner on your courtship, if I could call it that. So I was talking to Jean about this this morning. I'll get your answer, and I'll tell you what she said. So you guys, I think you met, and then, you know, it was kind of like, when are we going to get together? And, well, I'm heading to the airport. Do you want to give me a ride? What happened in that moment, Cubby? This is not good. We're going right to your Achilles heel.
Cubby Fink
Oh, man. Yes. Yeah. There was multiple points in our early dating saga that I thought I had completely blown it, but that one specifically. That one specifically. So this was after the kind of.
Rebecca St. James
Our.
Cubby Fink
Kind of. Our first date. We had met and she had come to one of my shows in la, and we ended up kind of spending the evening after my show together, and we played pool and got good food. And then somewhere along the lines, she said, oh, I've got an early flight tomorrow morning. I probably need to turn in. And I volunteered to take her to the airport.
John Fuller
That was very nice of you.
Rebecca St. James
Very chivalrous.
John Fuller
Yes, yes.
Cubby Fink
Very nice.
John Fuller
And what happened?
Cubby Fink
Not necessarily the wisest offering of service, because it turned out I lived about 45 minutes to an hour from the airport. She lived about five minutes from the airport, so it made no sense at all.
Rebecca St. James
I tried to shut it down, but she was like, no, let me do it.
John Fuller
That was kind of nice.
Jim Daly
Yeah.
Rebecca St. James
Wow.
Cubby Fink
I was absolutely set on making this commitment a reality. So I said, no, I'm going to do it. I go home, I set my alarm to wake up to be able to get to her House on time, fall asleep. I'm dead tired. Only to wake up to my alarm, to look at my clock and realize that I'd set my alarm for when I needed to be at her front door, not when I needed to leave. So I immediately jump out of bed, rush down in my truck, and start flying down the freeway. And she eventually calls and says, hey, I need to leave here pretty soon. Are you getting close? And I was still quite a ways away. And I said, I'm coming, but I'm a bit away.
John Fuller
Honk, honk. Lots of traffic, lots of traffic. It was terrible.
Cubby Fink
Just hold tight. And eventually she got to the point where she's like, you know what? I'm gonna have to get a cab. And my heart is sinking. And I basically said, okay, if you have to get a cab, fine, but I'm still gonna come meet you at the airport.
John Fuller
Bingo. Okay. So it all worked out. And to the curb, and there she was. That was your saving grace? According to my wife. She said, oh, man, if he had not done that, I don't think I'd keep dating him.
Jim Daly
Yeah.
Rebecca St. James
Wow, Jean.
Cubby Fink
Well, I followed through at least to be able to see her. And the fun thing is when I pulled into the airport, a cab pulled right in front of me, and the silhouette in the window looked a little like hers. And I ended up calling her. And I said, hey, I think I just pulled up right behind your cab. And sure enough, she turned around and waved.
Rebecca St. James
And we had a moment.
Cubby Fink
We definitely had a moment check in.
Rebecca St. James
And took my bags in. And so him fighting for me, I think that really did like to go that extra mile, literally, you know, I.
John Fuller
Think it was like 45 miles, if I heard the story right.
Rebecca St. James
I think so. But he did pursue me. And I think I had had guys in the past that were somewhat intimidated by my platform and, you know, what had happened already in my life at that point and the notoriety of it, and didn't really pursue me that well. Were just kind of insecure and kind of played it safe. And he wasn't playing it safe. He going after me and my heart in this really impressive way. So I think it really did stand out to me.
Jim Daly
So it was one of your better.
Cubby Fink
Moments in the end. In the end, it was a great.
John Fuller
Trade off, great decision. Let's cover the proposal. Everybody loves that. So how did you do this, cubby? I mean, what were you thinking?
Cubby Fink
It was a bit of an undertaking. So the funny thing is, whenever I felt peace about buying the ring and moving towards engagement, and I had this image of Rebecca and I in the snow on a moonlit evening, me getting down on a knee with candles surrounding this scene and me proposing, and that was kind of the scene I had in my head. She ended up inviting me to join her for Christmas in Nashville. So it was my first time doing a smallbone family Christmas. And the thing about Nashville is it doesn't snow very much. Hardly ever. Maybe once or twice a year, you'll get a little dusting, but that's about it.
Rebecca St. James
And generally never on Christmas. Right.
Cubby Fink
And so I went out to Nashville about a week before Christmas and had a few things to do. One of those things was ask her dad for permission to marry his daughter.
John Fuller
Oh, so you had that planned?
Cubby Fink
Had that planned. And then once I got the go ahead from him, it was all guns blazing to get this plan kind of sorted. So I identified this spot. They've got some acreage there at the family farm. And identified a spot for the proposal and went to the store and bought a bunch of candles and set up a little Christmas tree with a fire ring and a log that we could sit on. And I'd kind of been checking the weather pretty religiously leading up to Christmas Eve because it was showing rain on Christmas Eve, which was a little devastating. And I was like, man, am I gonna have to go to plan B if it's raining? None of this is gonna work. And then about a day before Christmas Eve, the forecast changed from rain to snow. And sure enough, we all pile in the van to go to Christmas Eve service, and it starts snowing. And by the time we get home, there's a blanket of 2 or 3 inches on the ground.
John Fuller
Perfect.
Cubby Fink
And we have our Christmas Eve dinner, and we watch a movie, and I ended up falling asleep.
Rebecca St. James
Falling asleep. And it's a Wonderful Life. Right before he's about to propose to me. And let me say this, he did not know I was gonna say yes. At that point, we had not said I loved you to each other. We hadn't talked marriage. We were nine months into dating, and I loved him. I knew I wanted him to be the one, but I didn't know this was coming. So. Yeah, right on.
John Fuller
Gutsier.
Cubby Fink
There was a lot riding on it. I know there was a lot riding on it, but. Woke up from. From my little nap during the movie, and everybody started going to bed, and I said, hey, Rebecca, do you want to take a walk in the snow? It's such a beautiful evening. And sure enough, the moon had come out. And just this beautiful, moonlit, perfect.
Rebecca St. James
It Was like Hallmark movie.
Cubby Fink
Yeah, it really was. So I ran up and got all the candles lit and the fire going and came back and had a little thermos of tea, and we made our way up the hill and eventually saw this glowing pathway to the scene.
Rebecca St. James
And this vision worked out.
Cubby Fink
Yeah.
Rebecca St. James
Like, what you had pictured actually worked out. And I said, yes.
John Fuller
Nobody fell.
Rebecca St. James
No.
John Fuller
Everything worked.
Jim Daly
Did you even hesitate, Rebecca?
John Fuller
Yeah.
Cubby Fink
How did that hit you?
Rebecca St. James
I was so in shock. I was so in shock. Like, all these presents that he had orchestrated. I had a frog in my apartment back in LA that said, waiting on the bench. And the frog was just sitting there, you know, waiting for his frog princess. And so he'd noticed that, so he found a little frog and put a little note around it that said, wait no more. He'd written out a scrol of all these things he loved about me, and he said, I love you at the end. And I thought, this is huge. But it wasn't until he actually got the ring out that I was like, this is happening. This is actually happening. I just thought he was being super nice for Christmas. I mean, I was like, just. My mind was just going, this is the moment that I've been waiting for my whole entire life. And I said, yes. I mean, it was like, this is it. But I was just like, I'm in a movie right now. This is actually happening. And so it was just glorious and amazing, and I'm so thankful that God brought me this prince of a man and that we get to live life together and that my dreams came true. But it was. It was amazing. That pivot point of, like, you see your whole future differently in those seconds, your whole life changes.
John Fuller
Man, what a story. Everybody's out there going, perfect. That was perfect. Way to go, cubby. And then we're getting some elbows from some of the wives to the husband's ribs. Like, why didn't you do it that way? But you know, Rebecca, what's so impressive is, again, you and I talking over the years and knowing your heart and your desire to be married. I mean, you have this incredible, successful music career, and you're going, what I really want, Lord, is to be married and have children. That's so beautiful. And what I'd love to do is keep our conversation going. I want to talk about purity because I know both of you. That was important to you before you got married. It's kind of a wobbly concept in the modern culture, the Christian culture. So let's continue our discussion, and folks can go and hear more about that. But it is so good to meet you, Covey, and to hear your story. And what a great book. Lasting Faith, Music, Family and Being Found by True Love. I mean that's the love story. You did it. The Lord created it for you. He was faith. I just want to encourage folks if you'd like to, you know, think about maybe you're going to get married or maybe you've been married just recently or maybe you've been married a while. There are some wonderful things to learn from this great book from Rebecca and Covey. So get ahold of us. If you can make a gift on a monthly basis, that's great. Be part of the ministry. Let's save marriages together. Let's save babies lives. Let's do all the work that is being done here on a monthly basis. And if you can do that, we'll send you a copy of the book as our way of saying thank you for being part of the ministry. A one time gift helps as well.
Jim Daly
Yeah, we'd love to hear from you. Our number is 800, the letter A in the word family, 800-232-6459. And then we've got details to donate and get a copy of this book in the show notes. And as we referenced, we're going to link over to the podcast that Rebecca and Dr. Danny Huerta host for us called Practice Makes Parent. It's a great show, updated weekly and I know you'll enjoy that. And then we have another podcast series called Loving well. We refresh that every year and with Valentine's Day coming up, it's a great time to get some ideas and to talk about stories and how God has been part of your love story. So check out Loving well. On behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I'm John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.
John Fuller
Hey there. Listen to my latest podcast on Refocus with Jim Daly. Author Tim Gegline shares his optimistic views on how America can experience renewal by turning back to God. Listen at refocuswithjimdaly.com.
Podcast Summary: Focus on the Family with Jim Daly – Finding God’s Love in Marriage and Life
Release Date: February 4, 2025
In this heartfelt episode of Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, hosts Jim Daly and John Fuller welcome renowned Christian artist Rebecca St. James and her husband, Cubby Fink, to share their inspiring journey of faith, marriage, and family. Rebecca, an award-winning singer, songwriter, and author of over a dozen books, teams up with Cubby, a successful film director and producer with a background in a Grammy-nominated pop music band. Together, they have authored the insightful book, Lasting Faith, Music, Family and Being Found by True Love.
Rebecca opens up about her early life challenges, particularly the tumultuous period when her family moved from Australia to Nashville in 1991. At just 14 years old, Rebecca experienced significant hardship, including financial instability and uncertainty after her father's job fell through.
Rebecca St. James (00:04:50):
"We were plunged into a lot of uncertainty. No car, no furniture... but we prayed for money and food and a car and all the things and just saw it happen and saw miracles happen."
Despite these challenges, Rebecca emphasizes the profound impact of faith and divine intervention, which sustained her family through difficult times. This period not only shaped her resilience but also provided rich material for her music and testimony.
A central theme of the episode is the concept of trusting God amidst life's highs and lows—the "messy middle." John Fuller articulates this beautifully:
John Fuller (00:02:18):
"If we attach our emotional wellness to highs and lows, we're in trouble. God’s present with us always in the highs and in the lows." (00:02:18)
Rebecca concurs, sharing her journey of learning to balance her career aspirations with her personal desires for marriage and family. She discusses the importance of contentment and relying on God's plan, even when it deviates from one's own expectations.
Rebecca delves into her extensive music career, which began at a tender age. Despite her success, she faced significant burnout and vocal strain due to relentless stress and an inability to set healthy boundaries.
Rebecca St. James (00:09:44):
"I didn’t know how to make a call for healthy no's. I was really burning out... my body was fighting back." (00:09:44)
She explains how this period of struggle was a crucial lesson in guarding her heart and prioritizing her well-being, ultimately leading her to a more balanced and fulfilling life.
Both Rebecca and Cubby emphasize the importance of contentment as foundational to a healthy marriage. Cubby references a favorite scripture from Philippians:
Cubby Fink (00:16:25):
"If you can’t be content unmarried, you’re never going to be content married... finding contentment in our identity in Christ is where we find true fulfillment." (00:16:25)
This perspective highlights that true contentment stems from one's relationship with God, rather than external circumstances or possessions, fostering a more resilient and joyful marital bond.
One of the episode's most touching segments recounts Rebecca and Cubby's courtship and engagement story. Cubby narrates the pivotal moment when he almost missed Rebecca at the airport:
Cubby Fink (00:17:15):
"I was absolutely set on making this commitment a reality... I was dead tired... I jumped out of bed and rushed down in my truck, but I realized I was far away." (00:17:15)
Despite the mishap, Cubby's unwavering commitment led to a serendipitous reunion at the airport, culminating in a picturesque proposal amidst a snowfall—fulfilling Cubby's heartfelt vision.
Rebecca St. James (00:23:19):
"I thought, this is the moment that I’ve been waiting for my whole entire life. This is actually happening." (00:23:19)
This story exemplifies perseverance, divine timing, and the beauty of trusting God's plan in relationships.
Transitioning to family life, Rebecca and Cubby discuss their experience as parents to four children: Gemma (10), Imogen (6), and River (4). They share insights from their podcast, Practice Makes Parent, which offers practical parenting advice grounded in Christian faith.
Rebecca St. James (00:10:37):
"We want to be the best version of ourselves for our kids... guarding our hearts to manage stress and anxiety effectively." (00:10:37)
Their approach emphasizes modeling healthy behavior, maintaining personal well-being, and fostering a nurturing environment for their children.
In wrapping up, Jim Daly and John Fuller commend Rebecca and Cubby for their authentic and inspiring dialogue. They highlight the valuable lessons listeners can glean about faith, marriage, contentment, and parenting.
Jim Daly (00:26:19):
"If you’d like to think about maybe you’re going to get married or maybe you’ve been married just recently or maybe you’ve been married a while, there are some wonderful things to learn from this great book from Rebecca and Covey." (00:26:19)
Listeners are encouraged to engage with Rebecca and Cubby's book and podcast, fostering a community of support and growth within Christian families.
Rebecca St. James (00:00:00):
"There's something beautiful about the highs and the lows. Intertwining and Cubby and I sought God and each other and found comfort right there in the messy middle."
John Fuller (00:02:18):
"If we attach our emotional wellness to highs and lows, we're in trouble."
Rebecca St. James (00:09:44):
"I was struggling to sing and to breathe. Kind of a form of a panic attack on stage. Honestly."
Cubby Fink (00:16:25):
"If you can’t be content unmarried, you’re never going to be content married."
Rebecca St. James (00:23:19):
"This is the moment that I’ve been waiting for my whole entire life. This is actually happening."
Resources Mentioned:
For more inspiring stories and practical advice on faith and family, visit Focus on the Family and explore their extensive range of resources.