Bachmann, Diana Hagee Open Up to TheBlaze About Women of Faith and Purpose

Glenn Beck’s Restoring Love rally has gotten off to a tremendous start with FreePAC, “One Nation Under God,” and a day dedicated to community service. On the last day of the festivities, accomplished women of faith gathered at the Highpoint Church in Arlington, Texas for the “Open Your Heart: Faith, Character, Purpose” Women’s Conference.

Special guests will include Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Tania Beck, wife of Glenn Beck, and Diana Hagee, wife of Pastor John Hagee, and TheBlaze’s Betsy Morgan to name a few. TheBlaze caught up with Representative Bachmann and Ms. Hagee to discuss what it means to have character and purpose.

Michele Bachmann 

When asked why she got involved with Restoring Love’s Women's Conference, Bachmann said that the topic of faith and character is of great import to her.

“This is really the heartbeat of the home,” she told TheBlaze. “As a mom to over 28 [children and foster children] kids for 30 years, faith, character and purpose really is the big thing. It’s about who we are as a person. When we look back over our life, it won’t have been about what we accomplished in terms of money or position and power, it will be about our faith and who were we as a person.”

“Our life isn’t a dress rehearsal, our life is a main event.”

Bachman stressed the importance of women opening their hearts to faith and believes Glenn Beck is making great strides in pointing women in the right direction.

“In my life it began with opening my heart to faith -- what is my essence and what will my purpose be?"

Bachmann told me that when she answered that one critical question of herself, it helped her as a wife and mother – a role she says is the most important one in her life. She also said that the real legacy one leaves behind is their children.

The Minnesota congresswoman then shared her advice for young women trying to find their way on life’s path. She asked that each one understand and embrace her faith in order to become fearless. Fearlessness, for Bachmann, allows a person to tell the truth and live fully.

The Tea Party leader also had words of encouragement for women who may be facing adversity. Bachmann, who experienced “extremely challenging circumstances” growing up, said her character, purpose and faith was formed in the process of prevailing against all odds.

“Women really can have it all,” she told me during the interview, qualifying that their priorities must first be “in order” though.

“My priority was to be faithful and walk before the Lord, to be married and walk with my husband. To grow with my husband and with our kids.”

The former tax lawyer and Tea Party advocate also spoke extensively about her role as a foster mother, a role she and her husband took on with an “open heart.”

She believes God lays out many different paths before a person in the course of his or her lifetime, and said that her own political path did not reveal itself until “farther down the line.” Her desire to enter the political arena was catalyzed by witnessing the dysfunction of the public school system and its detrimental effects on the children she had fostered. To this end, Bachmann took the reins, advocating for academic excellence to give foster children a “leg up.”

“I didn’t need politics to be a somebody – I already was somebody in terms of my relationship with God, and as a wife and mom.”

Bachmann said her presidential run, as well as her Congressional career was born out of a desire to serve and stressed the importance of humility.

“It wasn’t about me. It was about turning our country around.”

During the gathering, Bachmann will talk about her time as a foster mom, her relationship with God and offer other women, particularly those from the younger generation, advice on how to find their purpose.

“I always tell them -- God first. God will help you find your path.”

Invoking the biblical heroines Deborah and Esther, Bachmann said that women have played a critical role in the world from time immemorial. In fact, they can even “save an entire nation.”

Diana Hagee

TheBlaze also caught up with Diana Hagee, wife of Dr. John Hagee, founder of Cornerstone Church and the

pro-Israel organization, Christians United for Israel (CUFI).  She is chief of staff for John Hagee Ministries television ministry, as well as special events coordinator and leader of Women's Ministries at Cornerstone Church.

Ms. Hagee’s speech will focus on the importance and need for acts of mercy and why we must constantly “show love” – even to strangers – through charity, service and compassion. These “deposits” are then stored in what she dubs “the mercy bank.” The idea is simple: the more love and charity one invests, the more one receives in return.

No matter what the state society is in, according to Ms. Hagee, “a single person can start a movement.” She invoked women’s liberation to illustrate her point. What began as the simple frustration of a disgruntled homemaker who rallied her friends and neighbors to “action,” blossomed into an entire movement that changed the course of American society.

“When you come together – either for good or bad – it will make an impact,” she explained. “If you can change the [heart and mind] of even one individual, then that person can go home and impact their church, workplace and community.”  This ripple effect is what Ms. Hagee believes will take America back to its founding principles and embrace of the Judeo-Christian ethic upon which it was founded.

During the course of our conversation, Ms. Hagee also touched on the importance of standing up for faith.

Referring to the increasing secularism of America, Hagee explained how it is difficult to find people in everyday society who still attend church.  “We, Christians are doing nothing. Christians have been afraid to stand up for their faith.”

"If we do not use our freedom we will lose our freedoms"