Duck Dynasty's Leading Ladies Tell All in New Book, 'The Women of Duck Commander' (Interview)
We wanted to make sure he wasn't believing all of the lies that Satan was throwing at him. Communication and prayer is how we got through that.
CP: Before you became pregnant with Mia, you suffered through a tubal pregnancy. Then while you were pregnant with Mia, you and Jase learned that she was going to be born with a cleft palate and would face many challenges because of that. You write that you and Jase prayed for God to heal Mia in the womb but He didn't. Yet, you didn't reject God or lose your faith in Him because of it. In fact, your faith grew stronger. Why is that?
Missy: Growing up in a Christian home and a Christian environment, I knew God cared for me. I knew He was out there and He wanted the best for me. He was not against me, He was for me. I knew that this was not something that God was doing to us. God does not bring sickness, trials, tribulation and challenges — that's the devil doing that.
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Now, God allowed it. For some reason for His kingdom, for God's greater good, He wants this to happen. He wants to allow this and to allow us and our family to go through this. I didn't know why, at the time, of course. But I had enough trust and faith in God that He loved us and saw that we could handle it, and that we could also influence other people through what we were about to go through.
Mia's 10 years old now and looking back, especially over the last couple of years, we definitely see reasons for Him allowing us to go through this, and allowing Mia to go through the pain and the challenges that she has in her life.
When I see her onstage in front of thousands of people at one time sharing her story, I think, I would've never done this as a 10-year-old child. Being on a stage in front of 10,000 women talking about my faults and how I trust in God to help me through things. I would've been too nervous and self-conscious.
But even with a facial impairment, Mia is up there in front of thousands of women who are taking pictures of her and putting them all over the Internet, and she's perfectly fine with that. She is great about it. She wants to help other people.
To me, that speaks not only about a greatness about her, as an individual, but about the greatness of our God to see something in a child, long before she was born, that could help influence people and to bring them closer to Him. Who am I to question that about Him?
CP: What tips do you have for wives and mothers on how they can strengthen their relationships with their husbands and children?
Missy: First of all, I say communication is important, but I would say that faith has got to be the No. 1 thing in your marriage. If you don't have that, then you will always question whether the decision the spouse is making is for their own benefit and not for the benefit of the entire family.
I know, without a doubt, that the decisions that Jase makes — even though they're not always perfect — he is really looking out for the benefit of our family and not just him, personally. I have that trust and that faith in him, as he does in me.
Without faith as the No. 1 core of our marriage, then there would always be that question of selfishness. And I think it's the same with our kids. My kids know that I'm not perfect but I want what's best for my kids and the entire family in order to get them all to heaven.
They know that I love God more than anything else in the world and I think that's an appreciation that they have. I hope that they will see it in our marriage and they will take that into their own marriages when they get older, and with their own children — that they will keep their priorities set in stone, with God being first, and their spouse being second.
Listen to Korie talk about the first time she met Willie in her interview with publisher Simon and Schuster here.
Listen to Missy talk about the first time she met Jase in her interview with publisher Simon and Schuster here.
