Ann Voskamp defines lament as, "a cry of belief in a good God, a God who has His ear to our hearts, a God who transfigures the ugly into beauty." Throughout the scriptures, God invites His people to bring their complaints, grief, and deepest hurts to Him.
In this episode, we'll look at how lament draws on what we know to be true of God, allows for raw honesty, and encourages us to to petition Him in a way that is unapologetically bold.
As we look at Psalm 44, we'll make some key observations and even connect the writers of this communal lament back to a pivotal story in the Old Testament.
Scriptures:
In today's episode, we begin by asking the question -- "What do I believe about God, and what does that have to do with my life?"
By laying out some simple but profound theological truths, we build a foundation that affects how we approach God and our understanding of how He engages with us. Using the steps Pray, Read, Observe, Interpret, and Apply, we work through Psalm 34:1-10, a passage that speaks to God's active relationship with us.
Scriptures:
In this episode, we’ll focus on Psalms 22 through 24—three powerful chapters that capture the depth of David’s emotions and experiences. These psalms not only reflect his personal journey but also point forward to Christ as the fulfillment of his every prayer and longing. We'll see Jesus foreshadowed as the Righteous Sufferer, the Good Shepherd, and the King of Glory.
To deepen our understanding of these well-known scriptures, we’ll explore related passages throughout the Bible. Along the way, we’ll highlight the all-sufficiency of Christ as we consider the humanity and brokenness of biblical voices—people whose struggles and hopes we can likely relate to.
Scriptures:
We begin this episode by looking outside of Psalms to the New Testament. Paul writes from prison in Colossians 3:16, encouraging new believers to grow in spiritual maturity and let the word of Christ dwell in them richly. It's in this plea, as well as multiple other passages across scripture, that we see a collective urgency to treasure the scriptures in our hearts.
Studies show that Christians in North America have more access to the Bible than ever before and yet we know less about God’s Word than we ever have. In this brief episode, we'll look at why it's so crucial to get God's Word into us. We'll also examine the science of our brains and offer practical steps forward. We hope you leave this episode both encouraged and challenged!
Scriptures:
The Psalms teach us that the people of God are called to corporate worship.
In this episode, we'll gain some insights by looking at the original language of the text. We'll draw specifically from chapters 1-7 to understand what worshiping God looks like in our daily lives. We'll read other parts of the Old Testament to understand the back story behind what compelled David to write such raw and heavy prayers.
Scriptures:
Psalms 1-7
Psalm 3:4
Psalm 4:1
Psalm 4:7
Psalm 5:2-3
Psalm 6:9
Psalm 7:1
2 Samuel 13-19
Join us as we work through the 150 chapters of Psalms over the course of this year! This mini-series will include brief episodes that line up with our in-person Bible study.
In today's episode, we look at how the Psalms have acted as the songbook of the people of God for centuries. They were written by multiple authors over a tumultuous period of Israel's history. We can think of this book as the fusion between a hymnal of worship songs and a refreshingly vulnerable journal. The Psalms teach us that we matter a great deal to God, and also, it's not about us. Both can be true. He's the only One truly worthy of our worship, and yet He proves His intentional love and care for us time and again.
For the full experience, consider purchasing the resource workbook here.
Well, friends, this is bittersweet, because today we wrap up Season 5 of Whit’s End. In this episode, I interview Sarah Thomas, who joins us on sabbatical from across the Atlantic Ocean at a place called Capernwray Hall north of London.
I had the privilege of crossing paths with Sarah recently when I was invited to participate in a retreat she was leading in Colorado, a retreat that ended up being just what I most needed, a couple days of very vulnerable conversation with other women and long stretches of alone time with Jesus. In this episode, we talk about the importance of solitude - what it is, why it’s such a worthwhile spiritual discipline, and how we can practically pursue it. Sarah briefly shares her testimony and gives the back story of all that led her to start this ministry called Breathe that aims to help you carve out spaces for solitude right where you are. Let’s dive in!
IG: @dstforhim, @ministries.breathe
Show Notes:
breathe-ministries.com
https://torchbearers.org/
Quotes:
“I came into Bible school thinking I knew everything about Christianity, and I left four years later realizing just how little I understood and with a much better understanding of the actual gospel, which has a lot more to do with Jesus living the Christian life than Sarah living the Christian life. And that was important for me because I was putting a lot of stock into my own successful living of the Christian life.”
“Wow, I am tired, and I am 20+ years into ministry now, and I don’t want to just struggle, and fade, and not end well. And I don’t want that for my friends.”
“In my heart and mind, I felt there was a need for leaders to get together, to have a little more freedom in their time at a retreat, to be pushed into a little more solitude, and then to be around other like-minded leaders where they could really be real.”
“I think our greatest need is actually to meet with Jesus…The amazing thing is that he is fully available to us.”
“I believe solitude is a bit of a lost art, and it’s something that is not rocket science, and that I’ve begun to practice in my own personal journey not because I thought it was right and I must do this to be a good Christian, but because I recognize that I need Jesus to help me right now and I don’t know the next right thing.”
“Our God is a living God, and you know if we were just following a set of principles, we could just study. And there’s a lot of great quotes out there…but the reality is that you don’t know how God is always going to answer. And I think He’s a living God who loves us and He has His own plans, and believe it or not they aren’t always our plans.”
“We know from scripture, he’s after faith…He’s after your heart trusting Him…”
“Seeking the Lord in solitude is a posture of trust.”
“I have found more and more the Lord desires so much for me to just lean in, knowing my need for Him, trusting Him, knowing my brokenness and His ability.”
“Solitude is a beautiful way of expressing knowing our need for Him, our understanding of our need for Him. Then He surprises us.”
Verses
Psalm 73
James 4:8
Psalm 73:28
Psalm 91:1
Every year, Woven highlights a ministry that we want to come alongside, encourage, and support in whatever way possible. That’s why we’ve chosen to spotlight Sparrow Collective based in Lewisville, Texas. Today I get to sit down with their founder and CEO, Rachel Joy. She shares some pretty incredible stories, some timeworn nuggets of wisdom, as well as her own journey of God birthing this multifaceted ministry. She opens up about God chasing her when her walls were up, healing some deep wounds, and calling her to step out in great faith. Today we start the conversation with Rachel giving us an overview of who Sparrow is and what they do.
Social media handle: @rachelrjoy, @sparrowcollective
Website: sparrowandco.com
Show Notes/Quotes:
“I’d been a believer for quite some time but I mean the Lord, He was after me, and he stared down and broke down all these walls that I had put up.”
“Truth, freedom, identity, purpose. Truth, freedom, identity, purpose.”
“Comparison is a real thing. Competition is a real thing. We think that our Christianity needs to look like everyone around us, and we don’t actually ask the Lord, ‘Who have you created me to be? And what have you created me to do?’”
“Instead of competing with you and comparing myself to you, I get to celebrate you.”
“I think if you go to the scriptures you’ll see that there are a lot of leaders that are not ideal in the mind’s eye, yet God uses the least of these.”
“A leader is someone who listens to the Lord and steps out in faith and they don’t necessarily have the full picture but they trust the God who does. That’s who a leader is.”
“A leader is not the loudest person in the room. A leader is actually one who listens first.”
“My allegiance has to be to King Jesus. Period, end of story…what sits on the throne of your heart?”
“A leader always prays and leads with prayer.”
“Sometimes leaders can build little kingdoms, instead of building THE kingdom. Two very different things.”
“Not every opportunity is obedience.”
“Am I about results, or am I about God being glorified? Those are two very different things.”
“God uses the lowest points to show you who He is and then you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s Him that’s doing the work and it’s not you.”
“I feel very much caught up in something that is totally the mark of the Lord and has very little to do with me.”
“Stepping out in faith, you do look a little crazy, and that’s ok.”
“Be curious. Be curious…no sphere of influence is too small, too big, God has placed you exactly where He wants you. Be curious about what He’s doing, and join Him in what He’s doing.”
Verses:
1 Corinthians 13:12
Tim and I sit down with our friend Jeremy Janda and invite him to share his heart in this episode. As a husband and father, leader in his church, and 5th generation resident of Fayette County, Jeremy has sought to use his time, energy and resources to serve and invest in our local community. Over the past few years, he’s become increasingly more aware of the books that are lining the shelves of our children’s public libraries, of the resources our kids readily have at their fingertips.
We pick up the conversation with Jeremy sharing a little about his growing up years and how his past has compelled him to actively engage in this controversial topic. My hope is that this discussion empowers parents to have more intentional conversations with their kids about what they’re consuming, raises awareness among adults about the content children are exposed to, and encourages communities to resist convenience in favor of pursuing what’s truly best for our children.
Jeremy invites further conversation and questions on this topic. If you'd like to connect with him, email: checkplusstorage@gmail.com
Show Notes/Quotes:
The Culture Translator Newsletter
“Kids are not mature enough to handle these topics, children that are sexualized at young ages - there are plenty of studies that show it is not healthy, it leads to so many different problems in the future.”
“The problem I have with the language is if it can’t be used freely in school then why is it ok to hand out literature that has that language in it?”
“It’s going into libraries before it’s sat in the hands of parents or people…books that were put into print very quickly…there haven’t been many adult eyes that have been able to look at this and go - ‘Is this good for our children’s minds? Is this good for our children’s hearts?’”
“I think it’s important if anything comes out of this podcast that parents realize this is not a big city problem, this is not another state’s problem, this is in Texas, this is in every school district.”
“If we promote or lead children down a path of sinfulness, I think that’s the worst form of hate you could give to anybody.”
“That’s what this argument is about - what’s appropriate for children and what’s not.”
“I do know that us not pouring into our children in this short time period that we have to do that, they are kids for such a short period of time…and our influence during that period of time is so crucial.”
“Parents have to stand up and say we’re not going to be complacent, we’re not going to be that generation of tolerating it.”
“After 2 decades studying the religious, spiritual lives of American adolescents the evidence is clear, no other institution or program comes close to shaping youth religiously as their parents do.” -Dr. Christian Smith
“The influence that you have as a parent is from age 0 to 18. From 0 to 18 you would have already spent 85% of the time that you’ll ever spend with your child, has already been spent. And you will spend the rest of your life, however many years that might be, with that credit of 15%. That’s always resonated with me. As inconvenient sometimes as it can be to be a parent, I have to recognize that this is where my time needs to be spent right now.”
Jeremy invites any further discussion and questions on this topic! If you’d like to learn more or connect with him in more depth, email him at checkplusstorage@gmail.com
Verses:
Matthew 18:5-9
Romans 12
James 4
In this episode, Whitney teaches through Luke 7:36-50 about a nameless woman who responds to Jesus in an awkward but beautiful display of affection.
We see a great contrast between the host, Simon the Pharisee, who demonstrates cynicism, doubt, and judgment, and the woman who pours out sacrificially at the feet of Jesus, a woman known in town only as a sinner.
This brief episode touches on the ways that we attempt to make ourselves look better than we are, while challenging us to live a version of faith that expresses itself in sincere action. It offers a fresh look at repentance and pushes us to ask how our faith is known beyond the words that we speak.
Social media: IG - wlscarborough
Show Notes/Quotes:
“Is Whitney even your real name?”
“We have a tendency to make ourselves look better than we are.”
“Genuine faith reveals itself in sincere action.”
“I believe that repetition as we study God’s Word is one of the most helpful and important things we can do.”
“Eugene Peterson, the author of the Message version of the Bible, writes, ‘the NO we say to the world’s lies and the YES we say to God’s truth is repentance. It is always and everywhere the first word in the Christian life.’”
“I think repentance is very hard for us, because we have a tendency to make ourselves look better than we are.”
“My faith and your faith will look different, but our faith needs to visibly look like something. And I believe that it probably ought to look more like a messy, awkward display of abundant gratitude to our Savior and less like a crossed arm, judgmental view of our neighbor.”
“Dane Ortlund is the author of a book called Gentle and Lowly, and he writes, ‘It’s the most counterintuitive aspect of Christianity, that we are declared right with God not once we begin to get our act together but once we collapse into honest acknowledgement that we never will.’”
Verses:
Luke 7:36-50
1 Samuel 16:7
James 2:26
2 Chronicles 7:14
My husband Tim joins me for this candid, refreshing, and hope-filled conversation with Brian and Emilie McCormack. Together they lead Breakaway Ministries with their family in College Station, TX. What started as a small gathering of college kids hungry for God's Word has grown into a Bible study of several thousand students that meets weekly in Reed Arena.
Whether you’re an Aggie, a former participant of Breakaway, or just want to hear some incredible updates from one of the biggest college campuses in the US, the McCormacks offer a unique perspective of revival and discipleship taking place at Texas A&M.
This one hits close to home for us, and today you’ll hear a little about how this ministry has had a direct impact on our family. We pick up the episode with Brian sharing the history and timeline of how Breakaway got started.
Social media: @brianmccormack, @emiliemccormack, @breakawaymin
Show Notes/Quotes:
“When we’re asked, 'What do we see?' The answer’s always the same, it’s just that we see hunger. There’s a wild hunger among this generation and among college students right now.”
“The opportunity is incredible, but the need and the urgency is just as big.”
“And she said - ‘I don’t know what happened, but I encountered God, and something in me changed.’”
“It’s God who’s doing the heavy lifting, we just get to plant the seeds and then, man, sometimes we get to see the fruit.”
“Statistically most people are deciding are they in or are they out when it comes to following Jesus in this 18-24 year-old range.”
“When I tell a couple thousand 20-year-olds, 'You are God’s primary delivery mechanism for the grace and hope and healing of God in this day and age and there is no plan B,' they kinda straighten up and are like, ‘Ok, what are we gonna do about that?’”
“Two words come to mind - questions, and confession.”
“I think the best thing a man can do is give his son a category for a man who is fully known by a few other men, and who are seeking God together.”
Reflections on seminary, “I feel more certain that Jesus is the hope of the world, and I feel like I know less than I started.”
“You have to have the living Word pouring into you.”
“It’s not just about information, but rather about transformation, and that transformation happens in God’s nearness…proximity is the remedy.”
Dee Jordy is a hometown hero of mine! As a friend here in La Grange, Dee is one of those dear souls who has demonstrated a raw, genuine, hungry faith. If you know Dee, you’ve likely experienced how deeply she loves the Lord, that He has redeemed her life in unbelievable ways and she never tires from sharing about that. Dee is married to her husband Adam and together they have 4 kids.
As a cardiovascular sonographer, a mentor teacher, a children’s volunteer at church, and a caretaker for her mom, Dee has more than a full load. Thankfully she sits down with me today to tell her story. Dee is such an expressive person that you might even hear her hand gestures as she taps the table throughout our conversation…regardless, I pray you are as deeply blessed by her story as I have been.
*Before we get started, I do want to include a disclaimer that this episode includes raw details relating to abuse, suicide, and abortion and may be inappropriate or disturbing for some listeners.*
Quotes:
“I think for people maybe who have walked in faith for a large part of their life it can look like people who don’t have that get to kind of live free and clear without that stuff before, right, without all these rules that religion imposes but I don’t think that that’s what faith looks like. I feel like in these times when it looked like I was living free I was so afraid, and it was so scary.”
“I was an angry, probably very scary person to be around a lot. I wasn’t physically abusive but I was harsh, ya know and afraid and broken and did not know the Lord at all and had zero peace and all of my worth was tied up in the relationships in my family, and I feel like I did a lot of damage to my relationship with our girls.”
“One day I remember sitting and just being like, alright, Lord, if you’re real, and if all this is legit, and you seriously expect me to believe all of this, and buy into any of this and this is real, I’m open. Show me. I’m listening.”
“[These relationships] have been such a well of hope to be able to be immature in my faith and walk with ladies who had been doing it for longer or could do it with a purer heart that was more all in.”
“I was still working in my own brain and in my own strength and trying to figure out if this faith was legit and if I was going to go down this path. I was in Romans, and it says, ‘I’m speaking to you in human terms because of your natural limitations’ and it was like God was like, ‘Hey Dee, your brain could not possibly hold it all. I’m telling you this as simply as I can and I’m showing it to you and you’re just going to have to take what I can give you and take it and accept that you’re not going to know everything, and you’re just going to have to have faith.’”
“I love the moment by moment, very gradual nature of your story. And I think it’s one of the things that makes it so relatable.”
“I can see that the Lord would have used that life to bring life.”
“The Lord can use every single experience I’ve been through to make somebody feel safer.”
“Shining that light of Jesus into those dark places and being like - man, it really doesn’t matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done.”
“All of it is still being funneled toward God, even all of the ugly, which we think we only can bring our praise and our worship, but God He wants all the rest of it.”
“It’s impossible to do that without that light shining on that. You can’t fix your thinking from inside the broken thinking without the Lord in there with you and literally nobody else can stand in there with you. Counselors are great, friends are great, but nobody can be with you in those moments of struggle like the Lord.”
Verse
Romans 6:19
A few years ago, Tim and I recorded a couple conversations on marriage and parenting. Today, we sit down to revisit the concept of how we create culture in our homes. We touch on training our kids up into increasing responsibilities, choosing travel and experiences over stuff, building Sabbath rhythms into our weekend routine, and lingering dinners that create the space for deeper conversations. We honestly share some of our cyclical struggles and weak spots that we continue to hit heads on (feel free to send your advice!), including busy-ness, finances, and communication. We pass on some wisdom that has impacted us in the recent past, from podcasts to counseling and mentors.
IG: @wlscarborough, @tim_scar
Show Notes/Quotes:
Tim Keller Marriage podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cultivating-a-healthy-marriage-with-tim-keller/id1752020494
“Our goal each week, and this is hard, is to have half the week or more where we are sitting down eating together…what I’ve seen with our kids is that it grounds them.”
“I feel like your desire for verbal affirmation is literally insatiable. No matter how much I did it, you would always want a little bit more.”
“I remember Opie saying a couple years ago that to him one of his favorite things was a meal that we could just sit and enjoy and didn’t have a stopping point to it.”
“Inevitably, in those times, we end up talking about a lot of things that we believe in.”
“The concept of Sabbath as a centering day for the people of God to reorient themselves around the person of God as their provider is still needed. It hasn’t gone away.”
“The busy-ness does damage to our souls, and it causes us sometimes to feel so at odds with each other when really we just haven’t spent time together. There’s really no substitute for quality time. If we are running too fast, filling our schedules too full, we cannot also feel deeply connected to each other.”
“Spending some time with younger couples too has sharpened us in some really cool ways.”
“There may be some validity here to my frustration, but I need to do a better job of seeing the character of my husband and encouraging him in that, and not just jumping to, ‘Well you didn’t do this thing for me that I wanted you to.’”
“One thing that I think that has adjusted over 17 years of marriage, we would at the beginning of our marriage just jump right into an argument when something ticked us off, but now, you and I both, that’s tempered over the past decade and a half…I think what you’re really doing in that is giving me the benefit of the doubt…whenever we do that for each other, it allows us to perceive each other in a whole new light.”
“God, help me to better steward who I am, and to be the best that I can be in these roles that you’ve entrusted to me.”
In this episode, Tiffany Daniels joins us from Arlington, TX. She and her husband have been married for about 35 years and have three grown kids and almost 4 grandkids.
As the wife of a lead pastor, Tiffany has been in ministry for many years, but our conversation today focuses mainly on how God unexpectedly led her to start an organization called THERE{4} in 2015, a weekend conference for high school girls.
My daughter Charlotte recently got to participate in the middle school version and absolutely loved it. Today we dive in with Tiffany telling us more about the heart behind this ministry.
Social media handle: @tiffanydaniels, @there4gathering
Show Notes:
At Your Best by Carey Nieuwhof
Redeeming Your Time by Jordan Raynor
“The Lord birthed a passion in my heart to create a space for teens to come together and have the Word of God spoken over them in such a clear and powerful way but also make it relevant and fun for them.”
“At that moment, I said ‘Yes, Lord.’ And I had no idea what it was going to look like. I had no idea if it was even going to get off the ground. But I said Yes.”
“For us sometimes as women we can kind of stall out, and in those seasons I’ve encouraged those that are either in my circle or behind me that feel like they're stalling to ask the Lord. There’s a verse in Psalm 13 that says, ‘Lord brighten my eyes.’ Illuminate me, show me. God is so faithful to do that.”
“There’s a verse that hangs on my wall in my office from Zechariah 4:10, it says, ‘Do not despise the day of small beginnings because the Lord delights to see the work begin.’ And so many of the little ideas and dreams that I have had, have started very small.”
“You know what I am seeing overall is that [teenage girls] are hungry for truth.”
“I think as a leader too just trying to really be mindful of how I use my words with others, either with my team, on or off the grid, with people in my church community. I think words hold such power, and our words hold so much power.”
“I tend to run fast, that’s my DNA, my humanness. Lately, if I’m being really vulnerable, the word stroll has come front and center to me, and to me it’s like - slow down, take time to sit in it, don’t rush through it, pay attention, pray about it, get in the Word. What does the Lord say about it? And I think that’s been such a powerful discipline.”
“I think we should always have that posture, regardless of if we’re in a slump or not, to be teachable, and open to those safe people pointing out our blindspots. I ask my team a lot, I have to repeat to them, I want to be teachable. I always want to be teachable. Bring it on. And that can be scary!”
Verses:
Psalm 13:3
Zechariah 4:10
Psalm 145:4
I am so excited for you to get to know Ashleigh! She is one of those delightful humans you feel like you’ve known your whole life right off the bat. Warm, joyful, and welcoming, Ashleigh and her husband Daniel have 2 elementary age kids, one of whom is a classmate to my son Opie.
If you're local to La Grange, you may have seen her walking her GSP, which I learned is the insider term for German Short-haired Pointer. She grew up in a now large Austin suburb called Hutto when it was just a small country town, and first came to Woven when she was invited to our annual Advent gathering by a neighbor.
This conversation hits on everything from an unexpected pregnancy and shame, to seeking to fill a void and pursuing counseling, to the desperate prayers we pray when we don’t even know if anyone is listening. Today we pick up the conversation with Ashleigh sharing some of her first memories of how her faith was formed at an early age.
Memorable Quotes:
“Even though I’ve done all these things, and achieved all these things, in high school, in college, undergrad, masters, I just kinda felt like - Ok, so? This is great, this is a wonderful achievement, but I didn’t feel like it was enough. I was hungry for more and I didn’t know what that was.”
“I started noticing our marriage going down this road of not what I wanted and I knew it wasn’t something he wanted either, and I just didn’t know what to do about it. I had no idea what to do about it, and I knew something was missing, I knew that we could do better than this, we, as a team, as a marriage can do better than this.”
Reflections on desperate prayer: “Now that I think about it, I didn’t ask for a specific thing, I just asked for help.”
“I just felt like I wasn’t good enough, and I think we’ve all been in that place.”
“It wasn’t because of the people, it was just what I was creating in my mind.”
“In the Bible, the women do a lot, they do a lot that really shift the story and change the course.”
Andrew and Sara Knight join us today from Idaho where they work with Campus Outreach at Boise State, known for its infamous blue football field. They are passionate about pouring into college students, a ministry they’ve spent the past 20 years investing into. They have 4 kids and are originally from Atlanta, Georgia. Sara and I actually first met as freshman in our sorority at the University of Georgia, over half of our lifetimes ago, and I can’t wait for you to hear their insight on practical discipleship, the art of sharing our faith, and the incredible hunger for Christ they’re seeing in the up and coming generation. Today we pick up with Andrew telling his own story and why they have spent their lives being intentionally engaged on college campuses.
Campus Outreach started in Birmingham, AL in the late 70s when a local church wanted to have an expression of itself on a college campus. Since then, it has grown into an international ministry dedicated to helping university students follow Christ into lives of service and leadership. If you’d like to specifically engage with Campus Outreach in Boise, head to tablerock.church/college-ministry, where you can read more and make a donation to this incredible work.
Social media handle: @coboise, @saralknight
Link to give: https://www.tablerock.church/college-ministry
Show Notes/Quotes:
“The Lord impacted my life in such a deep way, I thought, I would like to be the same for someone else.”
“Somewhere around 85% of students coming into college, if they have a faith, 85% are going to leave their faith between the ages of 18 and 24. And if they don’t have a faith, they’re going to make their faith decision by the age of 24.”
“I read the Bible with people who don’t go to church. And he looks up and he says - ‘You know what? I’ve wanted to read the Bible my entire life. And I’ve never had anyone to read it with.’”
“I think the fact that the world is broken is very clear to everyone.”
“We so much talk about both evangelism and discipleship, and we just feel like you can’t have one without the other. As you’re building relationships with people, you’re discipling them to hear Jesus and have open ears so that they can know him.”
“Evangelism is a natural part of discipleship and discipleship is a natural part of evangelism, and it’s so relational.”
“When I think about how I would disciple someone, I just want to do my relationship with God, I want to do Christianity with someone else. I don’t just memorize a verse alone, I’m going to do it with someone else. I’m not just going to pray alone, I’m going to do it with someone else. I’m not just going to study my Bible alone, I’m going to do it with someone else…I’m going to invite them into my life.”
“I think maybe the hardest thing is that ministry is mainly time, it just is. I know for myself I’m a selfish person, and so I have to die to myself to give others my time.”
Verses:
1 Thessalonians 2:8
1 Corinthians 3:11
Each year, Woven’s leadership team reads through a book in order to challenge us in an area of our personal faith and development. Over the course of the 2024-2025 calendar year, we read through a profound resource called A Gentle Answer. I was honored to have the author, Scott Sauls, sit down for a behind the scenes interview.
He joins us from Nashville, TN, where he spends his days mentoring leaders and influencers. He has been married to his wife Patty for about 30 years. They have two adult daughters, Abby married to Jeff and Ellie married to Drew.
He and Patti are passionate about helping weary souls discover the abundant mercy of Jesus Christ. Let’s dive in with Scott sharing a little of what compelled him to write this book with the tag line “our secret weapon in an age of us against them."
IG: @scottsauls
Noteworthy Quotes:
“There’s no such thing as a fruit of the Spirit that is not born of strength.”
“Gentleness is a kind response to unkind behavior…have you ever tried to forgive somebody? What strength did that take? The strength of restraint.”
“On the one hand, Jesus gives total relief to the law when it comes to us in the burden of legalism but at the same time Jesus doesn’t lower the bar on the law, he raises it…Jesus says, there’s good news. That’s why I came.”
“If I find myself getting triggered by everything, it probably means that I’ve lost sight of how much I have been forgiven for. Our behavior always mirrors what we’re thinking and feeling and believing in our hearts.”
“The gospel has this effect when it’s working in our lives to humble us and also to lift us up at the same time.”
“Soul and character development is slow work, and a platform can be created in a day.”
“If we don’t build our lives around a character and a humility that flows from Christ now, there’s going to be a time in our lives that we wish that we did.”
Verses:
Proverbs 15:1
Jeremiah 17:9
Matthew 18:23-35
Romans 2:4
Luke 19:1-10
Romans 5:8
In this raw and honest conversation, you’ll get to meet Melinda Williams, my friend and co-worker. She has recently joined Woven staff as the ministry coordinator and brought a multitude of skills (I’m lacking) to this new position. We laugh about the quirks of working alongside each other, while seeking to create wise boundaries and talk through tensions.
Melinda shares about seasons of grief and loss throughout her life, and opens up about a particularly challenging season she walked through in her family over the past 5 years. This one is a tear-jerker, but it is oh-so-refreshing and important as we dig into questions like -
How do we experience God’s goodness even in tremendous pain? How can we think rightly about God’s sovereignty when our world seemingly falls apart? Can we work well as friends with vastly different gifts? What does it look like to honor God as we parent through unknown territory?
Social media handle: @melindawilliamstxco
Noteworthy Quotes:
“I think that when you’re close that way and any one of you is struggling, all the rest of you are not totally ok.”
“You can’t always get in front of everything. I think that as a parent, you think you can.”
“The fact of the matter is there’s no playbook on this stuff.”
“I don’t think this happened to us because we weren’t doing something right. I don’t think this happened to us because our child did something wrong. I think it was a perfect storm. I think the Lord allowed it to happen. And I think that He walked with us every step of the way, and we could have chosen to see that or not see that.”
“Sometimes, honestly, sometimes I would be too fraught to even pray. Knowing prayer is what we need the most, and I don’t even have the words.”
“I could sense myself honestly questioning, ‘Did I think God did this?’ and ultimately I kept coming back to, I think God allowed it. And that He’s sad like I’m sad.”
“If someone’s not letting you in, it’s not that you have to go barge the door down, but you also can’t turn a blind eye and put your head in the sand and not dig deeper with some people. Because when the struggle is happening, everybody needs community. We were created for community. And so, if you’re not getting that, it’s going to be ten times worse.”
“There is never a risk-free guarantee with anything when we are following the Lord. Really, He is the constant. He is the one who is going to be there after we’re dead. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Really, other than that, there is really not a lot guaranteed.”
Verses:
Psalm 34:17
Philippians 4:7
In this episode, we look at Jesus' response to his disciples' request to teach them how to pray in Luke 11. We consider the parallel between prayer and family dinner, and ask how our thinking surrounding prayer might be off.
In my observation, we pray small, we pray seldom, we pray safe, and we pray selfish. Small prayers reflect a small view of God. Seldomly praying says we don’t think prayer matters. Safe prayers show that we feel best in the security of money, a steady job, comfort. Selfish prayers tell the true state of our hearts. Our faith might even feel less threatened when we pray small, safe, infrequent prayers because then we can’t be disappointed.
What then is God's heart for prayer? How have we misunderstood the gift that prayer is? If Jesus' example prayer was only 36 words, why do we think we have to impress him and those around us?
My hope with this episode is that it would reclaim and redeem our understanding of prayer. Today, we're going to look at the childlike nature of prayer as Christ taught on several occasions. In both Matthew 6 and Luke 11, Jesus reveals that prayer is simple and rich.
References:
Show Notes:
Today I have the privilege of sitting down with a very special guest, my mom, Julie Brenton. For those of you who know my mom, she has a devoted faith in the Lord, she loves his Word, and because of this, she overflows with wisdom.
What led me to reach out to her was that I had been thinking recently about how many people in my world have dealt with the loss of a parent, including my husband. And truly as we grow up, we realize it’s one of those sobering things we will likely see happen in our lifetime.
One of the things I like to do with this podcast is to offer encouraging, practical, biblical wisdom as people are dealing with the hard, the painful, the nitty gritty details of life. So today, my mom and I talk about the death of both of her parents in different moments of her life story and in ways that have profoundly shaped her.
She lost her dad unexpectedly and tragically at a young age almost 40 years ago, and she lost her mom, my dear grandma Cuie, just a little over a year ago before recording this, and her decline and her death happened slowly over several years. But before we talk about her dad’s passing, we talk about who he was and who she remembers him to be.
Memorable Quotes:
“Don’t you ever forget, boys are a dime a dozen. Wait for a good one.”
“I was processing the reality of how much I loved my dad and the truth that someone you can love with what feels like all your heart and soul can actually make a decision to not be in your life any longer.”
“A lot of times things that are manifesting themselves in our children, especially very young children, really is…how they are breathing and reading and sensing what’s going on in the home.”
“I think God wants to give us His Word to meet us in those places.”
“When my dad took his life, fear entered into a lot of the ways I processed things.”
“I think I was learning to think rightly about the sovereignty of God.”
“I feel like God is wanting us to think true and right things about Him at all times, so He values getting us to those right places if we let Him.”
“I spent a lot of time looking for someone who could answer my why that would have happened to my dad, and it wasn’t until I realized that’s the wrong question. I need to lay that down. My answer is going to come in my who. Who am I trusting. That’s going to come in the sovereignty of God.”
“It was so much of an out of body experience to take this woman who has always meant strength, courage, wisdom, intelligence, beauty, who is nothing but a shell of that now and place her there…It was daunting to think how our lives get reduced from enormous quantities of stuff to just a room, and eventually nothing. Quite a visual reminder of how to live.”
“How pointless and utterly dark and depressing this life is without the indescribable hope of eternity with Jesus.”
“I feel like saying yes to caring for my mom was also saying no to my children and my grandchildren, for a season, and I didn’t know how long that season was going to be. Looking back, it was this profound opportunity that God gave me to honor my mother.”
“My mom died just the way she lived…mom was kind all the way to the bitter end.”
“Either God is sovereign in all, or He is not sovereign at all. And I have learned the truth of that through the loss of both of my parents.”
“God’s timing is His kindness.”
“I never heard my mother tell another person about something she had heard from someone else. I learned it is incredibly valued to be a trustworthy person.”
“There’s such joy in knowing in a mom that she’ll listen to you no matter what. And she wants to hear.”
Show Notes/References:
Psalm 56:3-4, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
Psalm 3:4-5, “I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.