How to Study the Bible

Kristen Wetherell

So our panel discussion how to study the Bible and nourish your hungry soul, we are grateful to crossway for sponsoring this breakout session. Crossway publishes gospel centered, Bible based content that aims to honor our Savior and serve His church. You can visit their booth in the exhibit hall to learn more Well, ladies, Psalm 119, verse 20, has been on my mind as we’ve prepared for our panel today. The psalmist writes this, my soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times consumed with longing. What would it look like to have that kind of hunger for God’s Word, to approach my Bible not just as a book of information or something to check off my reading plan, but as an encounter with a living person whose words impart life. And so that’s what we’re here to talk about today, cultivating a hunger for God’s word, as well as some practical strategies for studying the scriptures. If you’ve ever felt discouraged or guilty about your engagement with the Bible, if you’d like to grow in your desire for it and your pursuit of it, you’re in the right place. Well, my name is Kristen Weatherall, and I’ll be serving as your moderator today. My husband Brad, and I are members of the orchard in Arlington Heights, Illinois. I’m a mom of three, and I’ve written several books, including help for the hungry soul and hope when it hurts, and the board book series for little ones for the Bible tells me so. To my left are these lovely ladies, Rachel Myers and Amanda Bible Williams. They are the founders of she reads truth, a brand that creates beautiful, curated scripture forward reading plans and resources that help churches and individuals read God’s word every day. They’re also the host of the she reads truth podcast and general editors of the she reads truth Bible and the HE READS truth Bible and last but certainly not least, we have Elizabeth Woodson. She’s a Bible teacher and author who’s passionate about equipping believers to understand the rich theological truths of scripture. Elizabeth loves helping people internalize their faith and connect it to everyday life. She’s the author of embrace your life and the Bible study from beginning to forever. Elizabeth is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary with a master’s in Christian education, and she’s the host of the podcast starting place. And so our starting place is with you, Elizabeth. A recent article on American Bible reading says this, and I quote, relatively few Americans, including Christians, read the Bible often. End quote, so only one in six adults read the Bible most days of the week. Why is that? What obstacles often keep us from our Bibles? That’s

Elizabeth Woodson

a great question. You know, I think that there are a lot of different obstacles, some that range from different habits to seasons of life, and so I think about one that we would all be familiar with this is we’re just distracted, like our attention is on our phones. Our attention is with the things that are going on in our lives. I think even right now, you might not be able to engage because there’s something at your house that you’re thinking about that’s going on. And so we struggle in just finding the ability to stay put in the text, because our mind goes all the different places. I think for some it’s a perspective issue, that we just have misconceptions about the Bible. We don’t really understand the text entirely. And so I remember having a conversation with a young lady that I am discipling, and she was just like, I read the whole thing. Why do I need to go back through it? Like I just did it? And so the goal isn’t that we just check the box. The goal, like you said, Kristen, is it’s life for us, and so kind of this perspective shift that I’m reading it as a source of something, and not just for knowledge attainment. And I think the last one is we just have heart seasons, and sometimes it’s hard to go to texts. We’re sad, where we are struggling with depression, anxiety, we’re angry with God. And so it’s just like I just can’t be where he is found. And I think the Lord is present with us in all those places. When I think about why people struggle reading, those are the ones that come to mind

Kristen Wetherell

for me. Yes, I’m thinking about Vanessa’s keynote earlier today. The enemy loves to steal and to kill and to destroy. And so I also think about the deceit and the lies that we so often believe. About what God’s word is and how that can even affect us from opening it. Thanks, Elizabeth, well, sometimes we can miss the forest for the trees. Why would we even do this thing called Bible reading? What does the Bible itself have to say about nourishing our souls

Amanda Bible Williams

a lot? It says a lot. And you know, the thing that helps me to remember because all of us can miss the forest for the trees, the people on this stage can miss the forest for the trees. And the thing that helps me to remember is that Bible reading is a means to an end, and that end is knowing God and being known by God. And God has so graciously given us His Word, and it’s a gift, and we get to read it. And yes, there is a place for discipline, of course, but the thing that, the thing that stands out to me recently about what the Bible says about God’s word is that it is good. It is it is good. And God’s presence, you know, Psalm 73 says that God’s presence is our good and and so reading the Bible is about sitting in God’s presence. It’s His Word to us, and Jesus, the living word, teaches us that he is good, right, and that he is he came to give us life, and God abundant, flourishing life. And so that is when I remember that, and when I remember that the Bible is about a relationship with God. You know, I think that a temptation that we have is to forget what we know about relationships when it comes to our relationship with God, and yes, our relationship with God is unlike any other relationship, and also, we’re made in God’s image, and he created us to be connected emotional beings, and so like my relationship with my friends, it has seasons, And it’s not always about me. Just we’re gonna meet at this spot, and I want you to just download everything to me, and I’m gonna go about my day like, that’s not how it works, right? Like relationship is about being present with one another. It’s about conversation and listening. Sometimes it’s just about sitting those times of sadness, you know? It’s just about being in each other’s presence. And so, like, there are a lot of times in my How long have we been friends? 12 year friendship with Rachel, that what I need from her is to sit with me and to just just to be a friend, just to be near. And so I think it’s when we forget that that that our time in this book is about God, and in being known by him and knowing him, I think that the the danger comes when we make it about something else.

Kristen Wetherell

Yeah, it, you know, it reminds me of something that my mom has said to me about her time in the Word, because I would always catch her in the act when I was growing her Bible open on the table, and that really blessed me. But she would say, she would open her Bible, and she would say, thank you God for waiting for me. And I just love that picture we have. God’s very Word, His revelation, in the form of a book, and he’s waiting for you there. He’s waiting for you there. So what a privilege to take it up. Well, tell us about a time when reading God’s word felt difficult for you, because it does feel difficult. Every discipline is difficult. That’s why we call it a discipline. Talk to us about that, and then maybe also tell us what your devotional lives look like right now. So a difficult season, and then what it looks like for you right now. I

Raechel Myers

can go first on that about 2015 Amanda and I wrote a Bible study called appropriately Open your Bible with D and H and the opening story in that it just made me think of that is a story about when I was 26 years old and I was expecting my second child, and my husband and I went to our 20 week ultrasound, and we got some really terrible news. We learned at that 20 week ultrasound that our daughter was really sick and that she might not make it to term. And if she was born living, she might not live very long. And in that season, from really that 20 weeks for the three months that followed that I continued to carry her. I washed myself in the word, I white knuckled it. I just I lived and breathed the one thing that I knew I could count on, the one thing that I knew was true and permanent and wasn’t going to let me down and wasn’t going to change in a world that felt like nothing was certain. Now, after those three months, our daughter was still born, she went to Jesus. And the season that followed was a really sad season for me, and probably especially those first two months, somehow, like all of those muscles that had tensed around what I knew was true were so fatigued that they couldn’t hold on anymore. And I remember about two months after our daughter every grace went to Jesus, a friend in my neighborhood called, and they’d been doing a Bible study, and I hadn’t really been going, I hadn’t been opening my Bible. And she said, hey, it starts at 10am just walked down. I had a two year old, so I was just like, honestly, free childcare. I’ll take it like. So I walked down to my friend’s house, and as we sat in that living room, we went around the circle, and the opening question was like, What’s God teaching you in His word right now? And it came to me, and I said, I’m just going to be so honest with you guys, I’m not reading God’s word right now. I can’t. I’m I just can’t. And what happened next reminds me sort of what happened in the book of Mark with the friends lowering their sick friend through the roof to meet Jesus, because they dropped everything at that moment. They circled up right around me. They opened their Bibles, and it was like I was a starving person who was too weak to lift bread to my own mouth, and they lifted it for me. They opened their Bibles, and they read Scripture over me, to me, for me. And I think about a time when I couldn’t read God’s word for myself, but God gave me friends to feed me.

Amanda Bible Williams

You’re making I can go. I mean, it’s very similar. I mean, I agree with what Rachel said in my seasons like that have been again. The times when they’ve been really hard for me to intentionally just be a woman in the Word of God every day, which is what I aspire to be, are times of suffering. And for me, those times have looked like taking the it’s the gift of God’s word that returns back to you in the times that you need it. And it’s the part of I’m going to use the word payoff, because we’re among friends, and you know my heart. The payoff of being in Scripture, part of that is that God’s word begins to to reside in your heart and in your mind, and the Holy Spirit will bring it back to you when you need it, and you can hear the very Word of God with with your Bible is closed. And so for me, it has been in hospitals, and I usually when I’ve had long seasons with my son in the hospital. And I always have my Bible in some form with me, but I don’t always have the wherewithal to to open it. And what God so kindly does is he brings a verse or two or a story back to me, and it gives me something to hold on to. And so there are times when it’s like a it’ll be a tether. And it might be one verse when my when my dad passed away, it was, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and and with, lots of times with, with Toby, it has been a similar verse, a verse I know this minister to Rachel for years and years. It’s that in this heart, in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I’ve overcome the world. So in God’s presence, as for me, God’s presence is my good. And I know we don’t have a ton of time, but if I can read a little bit of that, I think it’s an illustration of what we’re talking about. You know, I mentioned the the verse already, but what’s interesting to me is this, that verse comes at the end of Psalm 73 if you back up in Psalm 73 the whole Psalm is just anguish and Asaph is just like, I don’t know what’s going on. This is awful. Being attacked from every side. Like, this is terrible. And in verse 16, he says, When I tried to understand all this, all the stuff he’d just been describing, right? He says, it seemed hopeless, until I entered God’s sanctuary. And that’s what God. Us with His Word is because it is living and active, because every single woman who believes that Jesus is the Son of God has the Holy Spirit living in her. He makes His word a sanctuary for us and like a safe place that we can just come and like crash land, and it doesn’t always feel that way, but it can, it can feel that way. And then, you know, you keep reading a few verses, and you’re going to recognize some of this. Yet I am always with you. You hold my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me up in glory. Who do I have in heaven, but you and I desire nothing on earth, but you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And a lot of times we stop right there, but if you keep going, there’s two verses later. But as for me, God’s presence is my good. I have made the LORD God my refuge so that I can tell about all that you do. And so I think that’s what we do, is God makes His word our refuge. And when we dwell there, he gets us through these seasons, and then we get to tell about it so that others can take refuge. Amen. Thank you.

Elizabeth Woodson

I think in coming to the text was during a season of ministry, as I think that many times the struggle in ministry is perseverance. Ministry is both beautiful and hard. And so in moments where it’s just really difficult for me to to be present with the text, what I will do is, I love the street lights Bible. It is an audio Bible with hip hop music as the instrumental track. It’s wonderful. It’ll change your life. And so I’ll just let the word just be read over me. And so that’s, I think, a place to still be present in a moment of difficulty. But there have been passages that the Lord has brought me to that says, This is my Elizabeth translation. Need to get your act together. And so I think about Paul’s words in second, first, Corinthians, 924, do you not know that in a race, all the runners run, but only one receives a prize, so run that you may obtain it. Right? This idea that God has called us to something, and you need to be living in a way so that you can persevere. And so sometimes the Lord is giving me hard words and saying you’re not showing up in a way that’s going to help you run the race. And so it’s those passages that have that have gathered me up in all the best ways and helped me do what God was calling me to. But it’s meditating on these few verses over and over again. I have this little plaque in, like this little picture frame in my office and says, Run in such a way to obtain the prize, it’s like, that’s what the goal is, and that’s what your mind needs to be focusing on beautiful

Kristen Wetherell

when. I love that example of being creative with your intake of God’s word. It doesn’t have to be sitting with your Bible in front of you. You’re listening to the Bible, right? You’re posting it around your office and your home. We can get creative with how we intake God’s word. So tell us a little bit about what your devotional lives look like right now. I found that to be so helpful in talking to other believers. What does it look like for you? How are you getting into God’s word right now? Rachel, I’m

Raechel Myers

curious if others can kind of connect with this, because when I started, she reads truth 12 years ago, it was the first time in my life that reading the Bible was a part of my job description, which is really good work, if you can get it. But I think that I spent really, like, kind of the first decade of that kind of struggling through the question of, well, if I’m reading the Bible at the office, what does it look like to read at home? Like, what’s it? What’s on the clock, what’s off the clock? You know, what does that look like? And it’s an important thing to to work through, I believe. But what I’ve learned in that season is that, well, the Holy Spirit is not bound by a time clock and and there’s a lot of freedom there. And it’s amazing, over the last decade, as the Bible being a part of my job, that the Lord has been so faithful to teach me and rebuke me and correct me and train me and reform me to him, make him me more like him at work and at home. And then in this last year, in this last in this current season, a lot of my work is around the Sheridan truth podcast, which means I am in the Bible a lot, like, a lot two quarters of the year, but the other two quarters of the year are non recording quarters and and so they always kind of catch me off guard, like, oh, Like, I don’t have this accountability. I don’t have this deadline of, like, being ready, because the mic is going to be hot tomorrow morning at nine, and I better be ready and in every quarter where we’re not recording, I remember that the that the intentionality has to be there, and it’s and it’s sweet, both. Seasons. I think that probably a lot of y’all can relate with you being in various ministries and a part of different things, or even starting a Bible study and completing it, and then maybe not having something that starts right after that. I just think that the thing that Melissa said so resonated with me last night, where she said, You have to have a plan of what you’re going to eat and when and where, and so that’s been huge for me.

Kristen Wetherell

Excellent. Thank you. Amanda,

Amanda Bible Williams

yeah, that does resonate with me. Rachel, and I’ll say too, because I’m also in, I’m in an academic season too right now. So I have been when I am sitting down to open my Bible for non work, non school purposes. I’ve had to make myself go really slow and meditate on God’s word, because in with the other two hats, I’m like, reading, studying, pushing through and so I’ve actually been trying the practice, sort of like my own version of Lectio Divina, where I’ve just been like reading slowly, reading out loud, reading it again, but taking smaller sections, and that’s been really helpful for me. Also. I don’t know if anyone else is quiet times or not quiet. There is no quiet place in my home zero, so I have a feeling I’m not the only one there. And so that kind of slowing down and reading and reading and reading again, reading it multiple times. I just lost my ear thing that’s fine, has been helpful for me, because if I don’t get it the first time, I’ll get it the fourth and so yeah, just that act of slowing down and really meditating on scripture in this season has been very helpful for me and freeing to know that it isn’t the box checking. It is sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Elizabeth Woodson

For me, it looks different depending upon the day. I do like to kind of sit in freedom and creativity. Okay, how am I going to connect with God’s Word today? And so whatever it is, biblical theology has just been super impactful in my own spiritual formation. And so approaching reading scripture as today, I’m rehearsing the story of what’s true about the world, what’s true about God, and what’s true about myself. And so it might be me listening to an audio Bible. It might be me reading through a book of the Bible. It might be what I’m working on. Sometimes it’s like, I’m just gonna be in this text. I’ve been working on a study of Galatians. I’m in Galatians. Let me just meditate on what I’m writing about. But I try to ask myself those questions every time, what does this tell me about God? What does this tell me about who I’m called to be as his image bearer, and how am I supposed to show up in his world, and so I’m just not I think the danger that those of us who love the more intellectual side of Bible study is we can just stay with the information and love all the deep things in the Greek and the Hebrew and do the deep dives, but it’s like, why does this matter on Tuesday when I’m going to Starbucks and they get my order wrong, and it’s like, how am I going to be different based upon what I’m learning? And so I try to challenge myself. Whether it’s a long session, is something short? Am I meditating on how this truth connects with the way I’m supposed to show up in light of

Amanda Bible Williams

it? That’s good if I can add, I love that you have these questions that you ask yourself, one that I maybe five years ago, started out of spirits kind of compelled me to start asking myself as I finished reading the Bible, was just a simple question. Asking myself, do you believe this is true? And it’s amazing, even in the different genres of Scripture? You know, maybe I’m just reading history, like, maybe I’m just like an early Old Testament, but like to read that story and go, Do you believe this is true? Yeah, I do. I believe this really happened, and I believe what the Bible says about God and His character. I believe that’s true. Or, let’s say I’m in the Psalms. Don’t say I’m in the Pauline epistles, whatever it is the Gospels. Do I believe what just happened is true? Or do I believe what God says about me is true, or what he says about the command to like, go low, just like Jesus went low, to the poor, to the needy. Don’t believe that’s true, and it’s just been repeatedly challenging to be kind of wherever I’m reading the

Kristen Wetherell

scripture that’s wonderful. I’ll just share one takeaway that our church has been so wonderful in teaching us from the preaching and teaching is, where do I see Christ in what I’m reading? And so that’s something that I ask myself every day, whether I have five minutes or longer span of time to read my Bible and study it, where do I see Christ in this passage? Because if we’re if we’re missing Jesus, we’re missing the whole point of what we’re reading, because the whole Bible points to Jesus Christ. So that’s something that I like to ask myself each day. Well, we have talked a little bit about quiet time, that phrase came up, and we all feel differently about that phrase, quiet time, but I think it’s important that we talk about it, because our Christian culture often thinks of Bible reading. As an individual action. Which it is? It is an individual action. We like to call this quiet time, but it’s also important to think of this corporately. So Elizabeth, what role does the local church play in nourishing our souls?

Elizabeth Woodson

Yeah, I think it, and I think I want to say this for those of you who struggle with a quiet time and struggle with kind of doing it individually. For most of church history, Christians have studied the Bible together, amen, and part of that’s dysfunctionally, they didn’t, everybody didn’t have a Bible. And so we’re very blessed so we can sit individually with the Lord. But it is, there is so much fruit in us coming together to study like I gather I meet with a friend on Zoom every other week, and we just walk through Matthew like we just come together. How was your week? Okay, let’s just talk about the text. And there’s so much I get from hearing what God has told her, what God is telling me in the Scriptures. And so I think the church has an ability to cultivate, create spaces for us to come together to study God’s Word outside of Sunday morning, like Sunday morning is beautiful, but it’s not just Sunday morning. It’s us being in the habit of gathering with other people, living life together and talking about the word. It doesn’t have to be complicated. It just needs to be a space and a time for us to say, oh, because it also helps keep us in the boundaries. Because sometimes it’s probably never, none of y’all, but I’ve seen stuff, and I’m like, I think that’s what the text means, and this is not what the text means. What the text means. And our good friends are like, sis, that’s not what the text means. They call you. And so studying the Bible and community just helps keep us in the lines of the box that are appropriate for us, and it just helps us realize I learned so much about God from my other sisters and brothers around me, and I won’t have a full picture of who he is unless I’m doing that. And the church, to me, is a driver for those type of communities. Yes,

Kristen Wetherell

that’s right. I loved it. You did bring up the worship gathering as well, because there, you know, your pastor is carefully preparing a meal, so to speak, to nourish your soul. They work really hard on this. And it’s for you know the growth of your walk with Christ and your sanctification. And when we think about what the Bible is in itself, it’s God’s word directed to God’s gathered people, right? So Moses gives the law in the presence of God’s gathered people, and Josiah discovers the law and reads it in the presence of God’s gathered people. So the Bible is for the people of God, and it’s also for individuals, right? Well, someone here might be thinking, I’m ready to go like I’m in, I’ve been in, but I just don’t know really where to start. So can you help this person? What are some practical ways to get started reading the Bible?

Amanda Bible Williams

I love this question because it’s the literal question that a couple of gals asked about 12 years ago, and out of it came she reads truth. I mean, just like a genuine like, I want to read the Bible me too, and start Me too, me too, me too. And it resonated around the world. And so I love thinking about that, because Sherry’s truth is a worldwide community of women in the Word of God every day. And I tell you that because that every day means that if you get back to your hotel room this afternoon, you’re like, I’m doing it. I’m reading the Bible. Well, the she reads truth. Community is reading Psalm 134 today. We’re at the tail end of reading the Psalms of Ascent. We would love for you to join us. And on Monday, as a community, we’re going to open up the books of first and second Corinthians, and we’re going to start reading those together. And if in October you decide I want to read my Bible, because we’re reading every day, we’re reading somewhere that day. And so that’s really what we did when we set up Sherry’s truth the way that we did. Because we want the girls who are lifers of women in the Word of God every day, and we want the girls who are like, I’m finally ready, and there’s a whole community waiting for them, and they want to talk about what they’re reading, and they want to be in community while they read. And I love that conversation about the local church, because that’s what our heart is for. Our heart is that biblical literacy between Sundays, it’s going like, hey, let’s have a meal every day. Let’s eat that bread every day so that when you get to church on Sunday, you’re ready to eat it in community, in your like, local church context.

Kristen Wetherell

So good. So the she reads, truth train is rolling, and you can hop on anytime.

the value, though, of having of having habits and having community, which Elizabeth, you touched on so beautifully, but I think those are two things that are huge, habits and community. Melissa talked about this beautifully last night, right? Like you have your plan, what’s your time, what’s your place? Who are your people who you’re going to talk to about? It so two things, habits and community, great to pursue when you’re ready to take those next steps. What about someone here who’s already reading the Bible habitually and in community, but they’re ready for more, they’re ready to go deeper. What would you say to help her take those next steps in studying God’s word.

Elizabeth Woodson

I mean, I think there are a lot of good resources, probably in the bookstore, maybe in your purse already, because you bought them that help us go to the next level in our understanding of the biblical text. I like to say that we are eavesdropping on someone else’s conversation. The Bible is written for us, but not to us, and so how can we better understand the people it was written to, the reasons the biblical authors are writing. And so questions about historical context, questions about things that are happening in that time in history, questions about even a genre, right? We do not read Proverbs The same way we read Genesis, the same way we read Philippians. And so being able to get resources that help us get some of this background information so we can have a better understanding of what the text means, especially when we get to those hard passages that we love to skip over. Leviticus is a beautiful book, but maybe I need somebody to help me understand why all these animals are dying and how that points to the Lord. And so I think it’s things like that of I think of Lifeway women academy that has courses on how to study the Bible. And so it’s going to take you up a level in your understanding of the text, and give you tools along the way to do that.

Amanda Bible Williams

Absolutely. I also would challenge you something that changed the game for me was to begin to read the Bible as one story. I it took a while for me to get to that point, and when you start to see the dot connections, like from Leviticus to Hebrews to the Gospels, and then your mind starts to, you know, blow a little bit. And then you just keep going. And then you start to dig into the places. You’re like, wait a minute, I read this here, but I read this here. How are those part of the same story? And then you get your excavation tools out, and you start digging. And you’re like, Well, this was Paul writing to Corinth, for example, and this was, you know, Moses talking to the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai. So you just start to, like, push in. And here’s what I’ve learned, don’t be afraid of digging in, because God’s word can take it. You’re not going to uncover, I believe it’s a personal belief. I don’t believe that you’re going to uncover a conspiracy that no one else has been we’re like, Wait a minute. You’re going to find God’s faithfulness, and you’re going to start seeing how all of the story is pointing to Jesus, and it’s going to make you fall more and more in love with this book. And you’re going to find that the deeper you dig, the deeper you can dig. And it’s super fun, and it takes some work, but it’s fun. And do it with a friend. If you start digging, don’t dig alone, right? Get you know your local church, some girlfriends, a text thread. It doesn’t have to be complicated or even like tidy,

Elizabeth Woodson

right? Yeah, yeah. And I think the story that we learn, and I love that thread of the one story, is a story we meant to share, and so that we become have a clear understanding, especially when we learn the meta narrative of the gospel, and that we’re able to communicate the truth of God’s saving work throughout history, through the personal work of Jesus Christ, to our neighbors, to our friends, to our family members. And the more we’re in the text, the more that we can share that,

Kristen Wetherell

yes, I have had a beautiful opportunity to use the Bible study behold and believe with a couple of my neighbors. And have seen that, have seen how I don’t really need to say anything. We just open God’s Word in the Gospel of John and read it, and God speaks. And it’s been amazing, the conversations that have opened up about the gospel and getting clear on who Jesus is. That’s that’s a wonderful encouragement. Well, sometimes we can read God’s word and it doesn’t feel like anything is happening. You ever feel that nothing is anything happening? What encouragement would you have for the person who’s feeling that way today? Okay, so I’m doing this, I’m in the word is anything. Is this doing anything?

Elizabeth Woodson

I think one encouragement I would have is that, and it’s something my mentor told me that one of the many reasons, there are many reasons, we talked about them here today, is that we read scriptures making deposits into the spiritual bank account, because one day you will need to make a withdrawal, and it is harder to hold to truth you do not know in seasons that you need it, versus holding to truth you’ve already memorized, internalized, and it’s coming out at the moment that you need that truth, or your friend or your family member needs it. And so sometimes it is I am storing up for the day the storm comes, and we all know. The storms come in, and so when it comes my house is going to be standing still because I’ve done the work of building a foundation. So one encouragement is just do the work for your future self, because your future self will need what you’re reading right now.

Kristen Wetherell

Yes, and what if it’s not just for you? What if it’s for the church? What if it’s for that person who needs a timely word? That’s wonderful encouragement. Thank you.

Amanda Bible Williams

I would also say Yes, man that. And I would say that you can trust God with this part of your story. It’s okay to take a deep breath and sit in Scripture and trust the God of Scripture that you can trust that he’s working even when you can’t see it, and that includes working through His Word in your heart and in your mind and in your life. It’s okay if every moment in Scripture is not an aha moment, it’s not fireworks and like warm fuzzies that that’s okay, and I think that’s probably appropriate, right? This is a relationship, and it is long term, and God is writing a story, and you can be patient with yourself. I think about this with my children, children who are 1716, oh gosh, I just aged them. No, 1714, 1410, and I think about that a lot, that I want them to get it all and get it now, and that’s not fair. That’s not fair to them. It’s not fair to God. God is it’s not I’m not trusting the Lord with their stories when I am feeling that anxiety, but when I breathe and I think about myself at that age, and I think there’s time. And when I look at my mom, whom I love, and who is modeled, I’ve caught her in the act of reading her Bible her whole life, my whole life, and I think, man, I want a faith like her. I can be patient and trust that God is building a faith in me, and that’s his job. My job is to open my Bible and to sit with him and to trust him.

You know, I think about, I’ve been thinking about something similar, Amanda, really that our relationship with God’s word is a journey. And when I say our relationship with God’s word, every person in this room and every person outside of this room has a relationship with God’s word, every person inside this room and outside this room has a relationship with God. And it’s going to look a lot of different ways for a lot of different people, but that’s just true. And so I think about my relationship with God’s word, and how I have erroneously looked back on younger seasons and maybe felt like ashamed of myself, or like not not given myself the grace of like you were just learning, and we were talking about this at breakfast this morning, how I’m learning in this journey of my relationship with the Lord through His Word, and in my journey of being a woman who loves her Bible and wants to read it when I open my Bible as A girl who has been in the word regularly for decades. When I open it to meet with the Lord in relationship, I know now that he just looks at me and he loves me, and I think about younger Rachel, who maybe hadn’t read her Bible for a month or two and wanted to re approach God’s word and to meet with him, but maybe felt some shame of just like I’m so sorry I’ve been busy I haven’t done a good job, whatever it is, what I know is that in that moment when I opened his word to meet with him is that he looked at me and he loved me. And I think about like middle school, high school, Rachel, who really saw the Bible as more of like a vending machine where I would go to a specific verse to look for a specific answer to a specific problem. And I really kind of engage with the Scripture outside of relationship, but I did know that this book holds the words to eternal life, but when I was looking at it as a transactional book. When I opened it, I now know that he looked at me and he loved me, and I think that that encouragement for me of don’t despise the small beginnings we all get to be on this journey of Bible reading. And so it’s no longer like, Oh, why did I read the Bible that way? Or why did I read the Bible this way when we open God’s word to meet with him, to seek Him, to learn his character, to find encouragement, to find counsel, you can know that you know that you know he looks at you. You, and he loves you. Amen.

Kristen Wetherell

You know it’s striking to me that we walk by faith and not by sight, and yet, until the day when we look Jesus in the eyes and see his face, he has so graciously given us something we can see. Isn’t that wonderful? We can touch it. We can see his words, and that is a precious gift. Well, in our final moments here, do you have any other encouragement that you want to offer these beautiful women on a soul nourished walk in God’s word?

Amanda Bible Williams

I want to kind of already said it, but I want you to be okay with being in process, because we all are and it doesn’t you know the stage is here for visual reasons and like so that you can see and hear us. It doesn’t mean that our journey is better than yours. Be okay with being in process, because we are all in the process of knowing who God is. We talk about that. I have a seminary cohort right now, and we sometimes can be afraid to say a thing that we think we’ve learned, because what if it’s wrong? And we’re like, no, wait, something else we’ve learned has is that we are in the process of knowing. And so like we know we we know God, but we’re also in the process of knowing God, and we may aspire to be women in the Word of God every day. It’s she reads truth. It’s our mission. It has been from day almost one and and sometimes that can feel intimidating, because it’s like, what if I miss a day? No, we just, you’re we’re in the process of becoming women in the Word of God every day and and so, and that’s okay, and we’re all there. We all need our Grace days, right? And so I just want to encourage you to keep going

Elizabeth Woodson

think, just to echo and to re emphasize what’s already been said. I think the journey, I love that, because it’s just, we just keep walking one foot in step from the other. We don’t do it alone. As I think, even in about the topic of our conversation, that the word will nourish your soul, because the Holy Spirit is going to do the work. And so to trust the Lord in this seasons where it’s difficult to show up to the text, to trust him in the seasons where it’s easy to show up there that he is doing something, and over time, we become different people, more like Christ, and the one who is invested in making sure that happens isn’t necessarily us, it’s the Lord, and he always does what he promises. And so to for me, it’s just, it’s the grace that the Lord will help me get to where I need to go, because that’s just who he is.

Amanda Bible Williams

I think my closing thought would be the fact that you are here at this conference. But specifically, even like, okay, out of all the breakouts that you could have chosen, you chose this one. It tells me that maybe you’re the friends also who are lowering their friend to meet Jesus, or who are circling around their friend who can’t lift bread to her own mouth, and you’re feeding her. And so I want to encourage you also in that that maybe your journey is strong and healthy, and your diet of daily bread is is good, and your habit is strong. And so I think I also see a lot of encouragers here, and I see a lot of inviters here. And so I think really, in closing, I just want to encourage you guys to keep going, and I want to thank you for the work that you’re already doing, first to seek God and His Word for yourself, but then to invite others. This matters to you. The fact that you’re here tells me that it matters to you is I just want to encourage you to

Kristen Wetherell

keep going Amen. And if you’re the person here who feels parched and you’re wondering, how could that be true for me, the Lord is in the business of giving what we don’t have. So you can ask him, and I have found Psalm 119 to be such a beautiful prayer guide, to give voice to that prayer. So just ask Him. Ask Him for what the desire that you do not have, and He will be faithful to give it. I’d like to close our time in prayer. So will you please bow your heads with me, Precious Lord Jesus, we need you as a deer pants for flowing streams. Lord, our souls long for you fill us with good things through your precious word. Thank you for waiting for us in our Bibles. Draw us there to receive from you, fill us with your Holy Spirit, Lord and help us. Show us fresh ways we can nourish our souls throughout the week and take. Us deep into your truth. You are so worth it, King Jesus, we long for the day when we will feast with you in glory. Make us ready. And Lord, use your word to do so. It’s in your name we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us.