Welcome to episode 1. I’m grateful you’ve joined me in this space. This is the very first episode of what I hope will be a joint exploration through God’s word as we seek to study and love the Bible!
In this first episode I want to:
- Introduce myself
- Share the inspiration behind this podcast &
- Tell you what to expect from our time together.
First, a little about me.
I guess I should start at the beginning:
I am a Christian. I was saved when I was 5 years old. I heard a song in church, and it was as if God pulled back the curtain on my little mind for a moment. I wanted to know who we were singing about, I didn’t understand. My parents explained this God we worshiped to me and I knew I wanted to know him. We prayed together on my little pink floral bedspread.
I started personally seeking the Lord in high school and college. In my adult life I spent my early 20s in a sort of apathetic state in my faith, purusing God intently at times and in other seasons feeling distant and undisciplined. In my mid 20s I struggled through a season of infertility that proved to be very transformative to my faith.
Simply put, I was mad at God. And that anger and questioning actually brought me closer to him. For nearly three years I sat in an uncomfortable place of accepting a God who is a problem solver and yet wasn’t solving my problem. I learned so much about the sovereignty of God, his goodness, and his character during that time. When I look back with the gift of hindsight, I know, he actually was solving my problem, it just wasn’t a problem I was aware of. I needed more of him more than I needed a child.
God graciously did grant me what I asked of him, like Hannah in 1 Samuel, and blessed me with a daughter, and then 2 more children. God has be kind and gracious to give me a testimony of his faithfulness to keep me close to him from an early age. It doesn’t make for a very exciting testimony, but truthfully, every salvation is a miracle
I am a wife to my husband, Eli. We’ve been married for 15 years and work together in full time ministry. We run a nonprofit outreach ministry called M25 Barbecue where we serve free meals to underserved communities and share the hope of Jesus. I’m also the mom to 3 amazing kids who are 10, 8, and 5. I’m in my 6th year of homeschooling them and spend much of my time during the week hanging out with them. It’s a place of sanctification in my life where I’m always learning how to love deeper, be more patient, be slow to anger, and did I mention, patience?
I’m also an author. My debut book, Overlooked: finding your worth when you feel all alone, released in April of 2023. In it, I share about my own experience of feeling overlooked as an introvert, through seasons of suffering, and as a person who struggled to feel seen and heard. IN a world that is bent on being seen, Overlooked invites readers to learn about the God Who Sees and discover how living in the light of his gaze can transform our lives. I highlight four areas of transformation including obedience, meekness, confidence, and a gospel perspective. This book was a labor of love. It took me a good 6 months to write the manuscript, another year to iron out all the details of design and editing with my publisher and another year of launching an dmarketing. Last year was a whirlwind of book launch and stewarding the message of the book. I’m so grateful for overlooked and the women it’s allowed me to connect with. If the themes of the book interest you too, you can find it anwyere books are sold online.
Here’s the last thing you need to know about me: I love books. Ever since I was 10 years old reading Anne of Green Gables, I’ve romanticized the idea of reading a classic novel on a window seat somewhere with a bunch of pillows, a cozy blanket, and a candle flickering in the background. I’ve gone on countless adventures through books. There are some books I wish I could read again for the first time ever just to feel the joy of unfolding the characters and themes. I love books so much that I majored in English and creative writing in college, which challenged me to read more books than should be humanly possible in the span of a few short years.
As a homeschool mom, one of my goals is to get my kids to love reading as well. I’m convinced that if they can find just one book that gives them that feeling of joy, that voracious appetite for more, that staying up till 1:00am feeling of not being able to put it down, then they’ll love reading forever.
But as many books as I’ve read from classic fiction as a teenager to an English major always lugging around 3 or 4 books in college to a non-fiction lover as an adult, there’s one book that stands alone.
Surely you’re not surprised to hear me say on this podcast that it’s God’s word. Let me tell you why I love it. I love the literary themes and intricate interwoven details. I love the language. I love the beauty and depth and style each writer shares. I love the exciting history of the Old Testament. I love the challenging words of the New Testament.
But here’s why this book is different than any book I’ve ever read.
It’s alive. Unlike much of what we hear today, this isn’t hyperbole. I’m not exaggerating. This is true. Hebrews 4: 12 tells us that God’s word alive an active. In the context of this scripture it’s the power of the word of God to get at the very heart of man, even to the thoughts and intentions, sharp enough to reveal and divide the inner working of a man, like a double edged sword.
Paul tells us in 2 Timothy that scripture is God breathed, and this breath of God throughout scripture is a picture of the Holy Spirit. This inspired word of God, through the active work of the Holy Spirit is brought to live in our own hearts and minds as we read. The Holy Spirit does, in a very real sense, breath life into us through God’s word. It’s why we can read it over and over and then suddenly, a verse we’ve read a hundred times feels new and exciting, like we’ve never read it before. It doesn’t loose its relevance. It has this palpable power to transform.
I’ve come to God’s word in drudgery, opening it’s pages out of discipline more than passion. I’ve come to God’s word indifferent, skeptical, tired, confused, hopeful, discouraged. And time an time again it has transformed me.
It can leave me raising my hands and whispering, “YES! That’s so good!” while my kids look on and wonder if mom has lost her mind.
It has been the landing place of slow, painful tears as I struggle to see the words through my sorrow.
It contains crinkled pages on the chapters, like Psalm 40 that I’ve clung to, repeating them incessantly in times of struggle. I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me up out the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock making my steps secure.
And more than once reading it has led me to close the pages, stand up from my chair, and lay myself prostrate before the Lord in worship.
It’s the book people have willingly been martyred for.
The book people have memorized just to have it with them at all times
It’s the book people still go to jail for having in other parts of the world.
It’s the only book that has inherent power.
There’s no other book like that.
In a world inundated with information, we can feel overwhelmed with where to start. But actually, it’s really simple. This is it. The Bible. There is no other book, resource, social media influencer, devotion, pastor, or podcast we should be starting with.
God’s word is something secure and unchanging. We don’t have to question the source. We don’t have figure out if it’s fake news. We won’t be disappointed one day by it’s author. It’s an unchanging foundation in a constantly changing world.
But, if we’re honest, this isn’t the place most of us start, is it?
That isn’t a statement of judgement. It’s a fact.
The state of the bible, a poll conducted in America in 2023 showed that the average number of adults who read their bible is down to 39% in 2023 from 50% in 2020. It’s a difference of about 28 million readers. This 39% finding represents the lowest number of bible readers since the State of the Bible began conducting surveys 13 years ago. And this number represents those who only pick up their Bible 3 or more times a year. Consistent Bible readers are much lower in number.
In the same report The top four challenges identified to reading the bible consistently were:
- Number 1 (and not surprisingly): Not enough time
- Readers didn’t know where to start
- Lack of excitement about reading it
- they had a difficulty relating to the language
That’s some dismal results for the book that is the very word of God.
As much as I value research, sometimes polls like this can feel impersonal. But I’ve heard these similar sentiments reflected in friends and fellow church members in the women’s bible studies I’ve led the last few years. Women show up invested to learn more about the Bible. They are interested, hopeful, and ready to understand and draw closer to God. This is the good news.
But there’s some obstacle in the way. There’s intimidation. Sometimes confusion. I think one of the ladies in my Wednesday night bible study summed it up best when she honestly shared one night:
I’m afraid to read my Bible because I think I’ll read it wrong.
My heart broke when she said that.
But at the same time, I understood exactly what she meant. How do we know we’re getting it right. What if we read it wrong? Is it better to not read it than to mess it up?
That woman’s statement has echoed in my mind for the last year, resonating deeply inside. And this podcast is an attempt to respond to the fear that isn’t unique to one woman in my Wednesday night bible study.
Because I believe with all my heart that it’s far better to open our Bibles than to leave them shut out of fear of getting it wrong. In fact, I think that’s exactly what the enemy would love every Christian to do. And from the polls, it seems like he’s doing a pretty good job.
Listen, I know the Bible is hard sometimes. It requires diligence and study. But I’m up for the challenge and I suspect you are too. And while we will try our best to get it right, I’ll be the first one to tell you, I’ve gotten it wrong.
I cringe sometimes to remember messages I’ve spoken in confidence only to realize I missed communicating the best part! I’ve put up social media posts I might argue with now, written blog posts that could do with a few edits, and had passionate conversations with friends about things I’m not as convinced about anymore. There will be, garunteed, episodes of this podcast that I”ll look back on and think, I would do that differently now.
And really, what a joy it is to think that. If I can look back and say, “I would do that differently now” it means I’ve grown, I’ve learned, I’m not the same, I’m not stagnant. So we’ll approach Bible study with a big dose of grace and humility, not afraid to get it wrong, but always seeking to rightly handle the word of truth.
I’m not seminary trained. I’m not a scholar. I’m just an average Christian seeking to know and love God’s word more. And I’m here to learn together with YOU so we don’t have to do it alone.
So if you find yourelsf here, on this little podcast among a million others, I’m glad you hit play. Because whether you’re a seasoned Bible reader or you feel a lot like that woman in my Bible study- a little nervous to open up the word – we’re going to open the Bible together and read, learn, and grow. Maybe, even change the course of those downward spiraling statistics. It starts with one person at a time.
So that brings me to what you can expect from our time together.
First, we’re going to read the Bible. On this season We’ll go through a book of the Bible together, reading through a portion of the text each episode.
We’ll talk through how to study well in the next episode, and well learn together how to implement tried and true bible study techniques. We’ll work together to understand the scripture in it’s context, genre, author, and audience. We’ll let scripture help us understand scripture. We’ll use outside sources when we need a little help, and we’ll get better at seeing how every story of the bible points us to Jesus.
We’ll approach the word humbly together in search of growing in our awe and wonder of God.
I’ll keep each episode short in hopes that this will make it accessible as you about your day. Sometimes we’ll dissect small pieces of scripture, sometimes we’ll do a big picture overview. Each week I’ll leave you to think of some important questions about the text.
I hope you’ll use this show as a supplement to your daily Bible study, but not a replacement for it. I’ll encourage you each episode to continue reading God’s word, even if you face those 4 obstacles we listed earlier in the episode. It’s possible to become a daily reader AND a confident reader of the Bible.
Ultimately, the goal of this show is simply to help us know God more. Because in knowing him more, in savoring in his word, in having a moment where the beauty of it all moves us to tears, something happens in our hearts. It’s sort of like reading that first book that catches your imagination and makes you fall in love with reading. Loving God’s word, leads us to loving God which leads us to true and lasting transformation.