True Woman '25 Panel Discussion: Behold the Word in Every Season

Dannah Gresh: So, our first our first conversation is going to be about, what do we do from here? How do we get started? Some of us need to push reset on our time in the Word, and some of us need to start time in the Word for the very first time. 

Rapid Round question that I want to hear an answer from each of you is this: what is your number one piece of advice for a thirty-day restart or start in spending time in God's Word? We'll start over here with Asheritah.

Asheritah Ciuciu: I love this question. I would say the number one thing is, look for Jesus in the text. If you feel pressed for time, if you get to day three or four, and you're like, “I don't know if I have time for this,” just read the text and ask yourself, "What's one thing I learned about Jesus?" 

Because, as we learned, when we behold Jesus here, it changes everything.Bible information that does not lead to heart adoration will not lead to life transformation. But when we learn to see Jesus in the pages of Scripture, and for me, this looks like when I read a few verses; I will write in the margins of the text just one thing I learned about Jesus. Then I pause and I thank Him for that aspect of who He is and how that shows up in my life—how He has been kind and good and generous and patient and a good shepherd. It becomes a journal of my relationship with Jesus.

Dannah: Love it! Thank you. So look for Jesus in the text. Katie, what's your advice?

Katie McCoy: My favorite thing to do is listen to Scripture. My all-time favorite app to do that with is the Dwell app. The Dwell app is amazing. You can have any version you want. You can have playlists of certain issues or certain topics. Or, you can say, "All right, I want to go through all of the Gospels in thirty days." They've got a playlist for that. 

You can even read along. So if you get distracted, you can read along. You're listening to the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word. So when we get into the habit of that, what I noticed, Dannah . . . 

I had a season where I realized I need more of the Word in my life. I can get into my morning routine, off to work, and I hit the end of the day, and it feels like I'm just kind of cramming it in. So what I started doing is, first thing when I wake up, I've got the Dwell app on my iPad. I pull it up. Before I have brushed my teeth, I am listening to the Word of God. It is setting the tone for the day. It is one of the best ways to just get myself in the rhythm of hearing God's Word, thinking, and meditating.

Dannah: Love it. So listen, you do observe different things when you hear it rather than read it. Great tip. All right, Kelly, thank you for that wonderful message last night. We loved it. I feel emboldened. You did step on my toes a little bit.

Kelly Needham: Sorry . . . not sorry. My favorite, most helpful thing to do when I'm trying to get started in any season is find a time and a place. This may sound very unspiritual, but for me, that is absolutely the biggest difference maker in getting into the Word. 

Usually when things get out of rhythm, it's because I don't know the time and place I'm meeting with God and opening His Word. As I have five kids, seasons are changing . . . a lot. Sleepless nights are happening. Sometimes early morning doesn't work for me. The first thing I ask myself is, "When is my time and place to meet with Him?" If it can't be morning, is it going to be nap time? Is it going to be after my kids go to bed? But solidifying that and making a decision. 

Dannah: Love it.

Kelly: Writing it down and showing up for that appointment with God has always been the most helpful thing to actually get me going.

Dannah: My place is in a chair where I can see my bird feeder. It's like, I can't wait to get there every day. All right, Shannon. 

Shannon Popkin: My favorite tip is, before you open your Bible. I think we know to say this little "Yes, Lord" surrender prayer after God shows us something in the Word. I think sometimes we aren't surrendered when we even approach God's Word. And so just having a heart of surrender opening God's Word. 

I look back at times in my life when I would open my Bible and it said nothing to me. I couldn't find God in the text. I couldn't hear Him talking to me. Those were the times when I was clutching onto control. I did not have a "yes, Lord" kind of heart, but there is a completely different receptivity to God's Word. I see things I never saw before when I approach the Word saying, "I will obey what You show me—the truth about You, the truth about me, the truth about my salvation. Yes, Lord."

Dannah: Love it, so beautiful. Kelly, you have a ministry called Teach Equipped, where you help women learn how to use an inductive method of Bible study. That might be a new name, a new word for some people today. So, could you give us maybe a mini-inductive skill that we can apply for when we're looking for Jesus or looking at the Word?

Kelly: Well, inductive Bible study starts in the most simple place, which is with something called observation. This is just noticing what the text says. It's such a simple skill that most of us skip it because we're so interested in getting deep meaning out of the text, which we should. But it starts with noticing things like the word. 

Even in the text, last night, when you heard me teaching there, Paul says, "The Greeks seek signs, Jews seek wisdom," all of that, “but . . .” So you notice the word “but,” what does "but" mean? It's a word of contrast. Okay, so there's a seeking after things, but the text says, "But in contrast . . .” God doesn't give answers. He does something else. So slowing down to just notice the words on the page and pay attention to them. Which ones are repeated a lot. Don't even worry about what that means yet. Just first notice it, pay attention to it, write it down, look up the words in a dictionary. It's a very simple Bible skill, but all great study starts with that simple act of just slowing down and noticing. 

Dannah: Love it. Shannon, I’ve got a question for you.I'm gonna throw you something that I don't know that you've studied for, but here I go. Are you ready? The title of this little panel is, “How to Get Started Getting More Out of the Word.” And last night, I was wondering, Getting more out of the Word, does it require reading more? Or can we become so obsessed with reading that we get in the way of actually spending time with Jesus? What are some things we need to do to avoid that trap?"

Shannon: I think the Pharisees scare me because they knew a lot. They read a lot. They memorized a lot more than I have. They approached that text knowing a lot of things, and yet they were there for the wrong reason. They were there looking at their Bibles trying to find, "Okay, where's the line between right and wrong? How can I get myself on the right side of every line so that I can be elevated?" And that's the whole wrong purpose of approaching the Word. 

The Word of God is meant to show us our inadequacy, our need, and show us where Jesus is, like Asheritah said. So I want to approach the Word not looking or trying to accomplish, like, "I'm going to read this book in this amount of time." The whole point is that my heart would be open to God in that text, Him showing me my need, Him showing me what Christ has done for me, His righteousness on my behalf, His death in my place. That's the point of the Bible. It’s not to lift myself up, but to humble myself before the Word. 

Dannah: Good word, “The Pharisees scare me.” I want to ask you a question, Katie. Might there be some Pharisees in the room? In the Bible was there a Pharisee that God got a hold of and used mightily?

Katie: Well, Dannah, with my Saturday morning one cup of coffee brain, that actually took me a couple seconds, but I think you're talking about the apostle Paul.

Dannah: Yes, I am. I just think there's hope for us if we've been stuck in that trap, right? There's hope for us, because He really can use us.

Dr. Katie McCoy, did you bring toys on stage?

Katie: You know, I did not bring my props.

Dannah: But you were gonna bring toys, and I was excited. I was gonna make fun of you, that you're the brainiac with the PhD. But do you have some visuals that will maybe help us put those in our minds.

Katie: Yes. So the first was those earbuds to listen to the Word. Second is a magnifying glass. And when you think of a magnifying glass, you're searching for something, you're looking something up. When we are studying Scripture, we have a little magnifying glass. That can be a concordance, that can be other apps and online tools—like e-Sword, Blue Letter Bible—where you can look up, "What does this word actually mean?" That's a fabulous way to do it. When I was a new Christian, my mom got me the New American Study Bible. It was like opening up a whole new world to go. These words actually have different definitions, and it depends on what, oh, just get ready. So if you're intimidated, start there. 

And then two words that'll change your Bible study world: colored pencils. Now tell me, who do you think of when you think Bible study and colored pencils?

Dannah: Kay Arthur. Yes, the giant matriarch of the inductive Bible study.

Katie: Colored pencils, down to just, okay, circle or draw a cross when you see Jesus in every part of the text. Circle this verb but with a different color. And I'm telling you, you can go through the same passage five times and observe different things with just seeing with different colors, different shapes. What the Holy Spirit does is beautiful with that. So those are some good places.

Dannah: Love that! We have permission to doodle in our Bibles from Dr. Katie McCoy.

All right, Asheritah, last question. You've written a book called Bible and Breakfast. I was thinking about that. How important is the morning for our time in the Word?

Asheritah: Oh, I'm not sure that I'm going to answer that the way you expect me to.

Dannah: Well, you can answer it any way you want.

Asheritah: I just wonder . . . I think when we look at Scripture, we see an invitation to approach God any time of day: day or night. And even in Psalm 119, you highlighted morning and nighttime and evening carpool line and lunchtime. For me as a new mom, in a season where I was wanting to do my inductive Bible study, and it had felt fallen apart, because the time that I had to myself, my little ones were coming in and interrupting my time. I was getting upset with them, like, “Give Momma time with Jesus!”

Dannah: Yeah.

Asheritah: And I thought, Wait! What if instead, I'm supposed to invite them to come with me and feast on the Word of God together? What if we open our Bibles together while we breakfast?

And so that became Bible and Breakfast—an invitation to gather my little ones around the living Bread of life; that we would feast on the Word and feed our souls while we feed our bodies.

So, whether you do it morning or evening, while the kids nap, while you're nursing the baby . . . The point: Jesus says, “Come.Iif you are hungry, come. If you are thirsty, come. Any time of day, come.”

Link it to something that you're doing, like breakfast. I'm never going to skip breakfast because I'm a foodie. If it's your coffee, if it's when you brush your teeth, or when you're putting on makeup; link your Bible time to something that you do every single day, and just be faithful to come to Jesus. And He promises that if you seek Him with all of your heart, He will be found by you.

Dannah: Beautiful, good advice. Thank you, ladies. I'm going to move over to this other group. Thank you for bringing up the littles, because we're going to talk about the littles in just a little bit.

But you guys, I’ve got to throw you a curveball, because I told them their Rapid Round question beforehand. I've just changed it, so we're going to see.

A question I have is this: digital Bible or pages? Each of you, I want to hear from you, starting with Emily. You have no time to think about this. I'm sorry.

Emily Jensen: Okay, I will say a paper Bible, because I think it's really good for your kids to see you with the Word out, although I am missing a page from the book of James still in my favorite Bible from a toddler who haphazardly tore it out. But I look at that fondly now, and I have tucked a little insert in its place.

Dannah: I have John 15 missing in my Bible because my baby goat ate it. Dear Amanda, digital or paper? 

Amanda Kassian: Paper.

Dannah: Why?

Amanda: I get too distracted on my phone.

Dannah: Me too, and I will be too tempted. I actually have to put my phone on “Do Not Disturb,” and put it out of reach in order to spend time.

Amanda: Yeah, I'm a little like that too. Things call my name.

Dannah: All right, over here, what do you think? Gretchen? 

Gretchen Saffles: Paper. And it's so important for me to have it right in front of my eyes. One thing that I also do is, I will write a date next to a verse whenever God has really spoken to me in that moment. I want to remember this day and this time. And what's amazing is, later on, years later, I'll be reading that same passage, and the Lord is revealing to me a truth about Him, and I see that date and go, Wow, the same Word is speaking a word to me today.

So, paper—but praise God for digital too. I don't want to throw that under the bus, because there are so many times where I don't have my physical Bible with me, but I need to be in the Word. I do love these Bible apps that you can pull up and just press play. Yeah, you can listen to it, and your kids can also hear that Word, and they're soaking it up, but they're also seeing that we delight in the Word too.

Dannah: Good. Before you hear from Jamie, I just want to say, the fact that we can have it on our phones is a beautiful thing. I'm pretty sure that when the printing press came out, there was a scandal: Don't read your Bible. You can only hear your Bible being read. Right?

And so we're kind of in that place too. We have to be careful not to throw it entirely under the bus, because there are digital language speakers who—instead of being on TikTok, they're in the Word when they're in their daily app. That's what we're hoping for, the Wonder app.

So, Jamie.

Jamie Adele Wood: Agreed. I think all of the teens and twenty-somethings I know, they use their digital Bible, and that's fantastic. I want to encourage that. I myself—I'm old school. I love my Bible. I love the worn pages. It feels like a friend that I've known for decades.

Also, I know we don't worship the Bible; we worship the God of the Bible. But sometimes, when I'm feeling like I just need something extra from God, I mean, it's kind of cheesy, but I feel like I can hug my Bible. I can feel close to the Lord because this is a physical gift that He's given us to feel connected to Him. I'm so thankful for it.

Dannah: That's beautiful.

All right, this panel discussion wasn't supposed to be about that. It was supposed to be about making time with life and littles. So, let's turn the corner a little bit.

I'm gonna start with you, Amanda. Talk to your younger self. You're busy; you're stressed out. You're in college; you're a single something. Why does it matter that you overcome the busyness to be in the Word, and how do you do it?

Amanda: You know, Dannah asked me this like two seconds before we came up here. So my mind has been swirling. I've been picturing twenty-something Amanda. What I would encourage twenty-something Amanda is just to remain consistent and congruent to what you believe. And if I know that God's Word is the bread of life, if I know that, if I seek Him with all of my heart, I will find Him. That is the source of life that I need to be clinging to.

Being close to forty now, I have seen the riches of my prayer time and my time with God, because I have a prayer journal. It was in my teens that I started. I've seen the faithfulness of God, and just—the fact that I was able, by God's grace, to continually meet with Him and prioritize that. That has been so sweet to read back on those pages and to see His faithfulness throughout.

Dannah: Beautiful. So journaling might be a really good tip to slow you down from your busyness.

Emily, let's talk about career women for a moment, because you've just made a pretty bold career move and said no or pushed pause on a very successful Risen Motherhood ministry. How does that enable you to maintain your time in the Word and shepherd your family?

Emily: I think for all of us, one of the hardest places to have character and reflect the person and work of Christ is at home. It doesn't sound like it, but it is easy to get up here and put on makeup, get your hair done, look and sound really holy and put together like we have all this great advice. 

But do you know where my character really comes out? It's at the dinner table with my kids. It's when we're running late and they can't find their football cleats, and I have a moment where I have to decide how I'm going to respond. It's how I'm training them, and it's my personal time with Jesus.

I know, Gretchen, over the years, you've reminded me that private devotion is more important, and that's what fuels any other ministry that we do. And so I think that keeping that time in the Word with the Lord is so important. It's so, so sweet and dear to me. Anything else that I hope to do in my home, in my church, in my community, and beyond is going to flow out of that authentic connection with Him in the Word.

Dannah: So is it fair to say that sometimes your no in your career is your yes to your family and the Word and the Lord?

Emily: Yeah.

Dannah: Let's talk about family. Those littles—they do sort of make it noisy. I don't know if you know this, but I'm a grandma: NanaDannah. Not two names, but one. NanaDannah, that's my name. I was Nanda for a while. I was a little afraid of that. But when they sleep over, there's no morning time in the Word that has to wait till they leave and I take a nap.

What would you, Gretchen, say is an important way to maintain your time in the Word in the chaos of the littles?

Gretchen: I will say that one thing I have to do is to redirect my gaze to Jesus first thing in the morning. Now, I had to let go of all my unrealistic expectations, because I have a lot of them. I have a lot of high ones on my children, myself, my husband, all the people. And Jesus has had to relinquish, or help me relinquish, all of those things.

Because as my kids grew, it seemed like even if I inched up the time I would wake up, they knew. They knew. It's like they're so far away. But do they hear my alarm or something? So I would wake up and open my Bible, and it's like pitter-patter, pitter-patter. And all of a sudden they're there: "Mom! Mom!" I would grumble and get so frustrated and wanted to just give up and go, “I'm not even going to do this today.” But the Lord has shown me that I can invite them in.

I want them to see a mom that delights in the Lord, that loves His Word, and even though, in that moment, I may not actually read anything. Maybe I can read aloud with them, but they're seeing that. It's also training my own heart. I still need to open God's Word.

But the beautiful thing is, like we've mentioned—morning, noon, night, carpool line—pulling it up to listen to it. And one thing that's been transformative to me is meditating on it and memorizing it. Because when you close your Bible, it's not like you're leaving Jesus. He goes with you. We have the Holy Spirit, and His Word is alive. So as we memorize it, we can bring it up to mind. The Holy Spirit brings it up to mind.

I'm also just reminded of Jesus. He was interrupted by His disciples in Mark 1:35. He's spending time alone with the Father, and then they come and they're like, "Jesus, where are you? We've been looking for you." 

Jesus isn't like, "Go back to bed, disciples. I am alone with the Father." 

No, instead He goes with them. He says, “This is where we're going next." And so that's what we want them to see.

Dannah: I love that you mentioned memorization. We have a True Girl podcast for seven- to twelve-year-old girls. At least once a year we do a mom-daughter memorization challenge. You just walk and memorize the Word with your daughter.

Jamie, Asheritah, and Gretchen have mentioned it: do it with them. What tips would you have? What are some practical ways you have done the Word with your littles, with our littles?

Jamie: So we've done a number of things. I think the message here is: try things. If something's not working for you, try something new.

When our kids were real little, we would do a Bible reading plan with them right before bed. We'd mentor them in how to pray. We'd all get on our knees. We'd all take our turns talking to Jesus.

As they've grown, my kids are in a program called Awana. Maybe some of you have heard of that. I love Awana. And so we as adults have been doing Awana with them.

My favorite story just happened two weeks ago. My son Daniel and I were memorizing a passage from 1 John 3. It talked about how if you come across people and you shut your heart up against them, is the love of God in you?

So Daniel and I had memorized this verse. My youngest, he's nine. We were walking through Walmart, and there were some homeless people asking us for money. I mean, like, I'm a busy mom. I had two minutes to get into Walmart, get the thing, and get out. And so I kind of just blew right past them.

And Daniel, I could see him turning and looking at them, because I know he's noodling this verse that we both have memorized. And so on our way out again, I beeline past them. We get in the car. And he's like, "Mom, you shut up your heart against them. Is the love of God in you?"

And I was like, “Oh, right. Conviction from the nine-year-old, but also, oh Spirit, thank You.” So not only did Daniel get to go out and give them $5 and have the joy of giving in that moment, but I got to show him what it looks like for Mama to feel convicted and say, "You know what? I need to stop, and I need to ask Jesus for forgiveness. And Daniel, I was not a good model to you. Will you forgive me?”

So it says: very practical. In the moment, as you're doing the thing, be looking for opportunities. And you know what? Even when you blow it, it's a mentoring moment. 

Dannah: Beautiful. I love it. I'm going to put my NanaDannah hat on and be a grandma for a minute. Okay? And that is this: I want to go back to what Emily said that we look polished and we have makeup and belts on today, right? We'll make sure we take those off later and put our pants on.

But you don't have to do it the way they do it. You have to do it the way the Holy Spirit leads you to do it. And so, follow Him in that.

Amanda, I want to throw an interesting question at you. It's going to help us kind of turn to our next panel.

In the middle of chaos, in the middle of littles, there can be sickness. There can be the whole family with flu buckets out. There can be things like postpartum depression. That's something that you've struggled with. What happens with your time in the Word when you hit those special bumps?

Amanda: So, I had postpartum depression with all three of my girls. I tell women all the time that I did not feel like opening God’s Word, but I did. And what I can say from that season of my life was that that was the sliver of hope that kept me just being a good mom, being a good wife.

Even though I didn’t feel like opening God’s Word in the morning, what I knew of God’s Word. and what it does, and how it accomplishes fruitfulness in my life, and how it sustains me through its power—that is what kept me going.

I always had this image of just this little cracked doorway, and in this little bit of light. I loved last night when we were singing about the darkness. What was the lyric? It was “when His mercy is more.” Anyway, I just thought of how His power is greater than darkness. The power of God’s Word is greater, and His mercy is greater than darkness.

Even in dark seasons of your life, God’s Word instills hope. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.

Dannah: A good reminder and a good transition for our next little panel here, because we’re going to transition over here to this powerhouse group of women to talk about how the Word intersects with our times of trauma and pain.

I think what I want to start with is—take us to a moment of your pain and how God used the Word to get you through—not the whole thing maybe, but that moment. Leslie?

Leslie Bennett: In the suffering that I’ve been going through right now, Dannah, I wake up in the morning and I know that I have to get to Jesus and stay with Jesus, because my life doesn’t make sense without this. In that pain, I can go to the Word, and He ministers to my heart.

Dannah: Yeah. Has there been a specific verse that’s been a balm there?

Leslie: There has. I would say just finding a promise from the Lord and flinging it back up to heaven, and asking Him to make it real in your life.

Psalm 84:11:

The LORD God is a sun and shield;
[He] bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those whose walk is blameless. (NIV)

And I look at my life and I say, “Lord, there’s nothing good. I look around—there’s nothing good. Are you really a good God?” And so here the Word tells me that God is good, and He does good. “It is good for me to be near the Lord,” the psalmist says.

And so I know through the Word that God does not withhold anything good from me. He has not withheld His Son. He has not withheld His love. He alone knows what is good for me. I don’t know what is good, because if I’m asking for all these things and He’s withholding—does He withhold? Yes, He does withhold. He withholds everything that is not good for me. And my Father only knows what that is.

Dannah: Thank you. Damaris, take us to a moment where Scripture came alive for you.

Damaris Carbaugh: The reason I try to encourage people to stay in the Word and live in the Word is because you are going to go through problems and really difficult times, and the Word will come back. But it can’t, God can’t bring back what you have not put in.

In 2021, my mom passed away at ninety-two, but she started to lose her memory at seventy—so it was twenty-two years. I got pretty desperate in the last few years. I would say, “Lord [you’re probably all going to hate me], when are You going to take her?”

I really meant it. I just said, “Lord, she’s like this . . .” My mom was the most powerful woman, so why is this taking so long? Why is it taking so long, Lord? I know You’re good, and I know You’re trying to—but You can’t be teaching her anything anymore. I know we’re the ones. I have to learn something. But what is it that You want me to learn? Because, can we just hurry this thing up?”

So, the night she died, my brother called me, and I went to see her in her room. I kissed her. And this first came to me from 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For your present troubles will not last very long.” I felt like the Lord said to me, “Was it too long?” That verse—not just her twenty-two years with memory loss, but her ninety-two years in that moment—they’re gone.

Because He says, “These present troubles will produce in us a glory that far outweighs everything.”

So that’s why the Bible is so wonderful, because I’ve read that verse many times with that tone: for your present trouble. And all of a sudden I’m in the thick of it, and the Lord is just so sweet to say, “Now you’re beginning to understand what that verse means.”

Dannah: Amen. Yeah, He does bring Scripture to life in our pain, doesn’t He?

Damaris: Absolutely. 

Dannah: I love what you said: He can’t bring out of you what you haven’t put in. Erin, that probably hits a little close to home.

Erin Davis: For sure. There’s a difference between suffering and longsuffering. I can identify the longsufferers in the church, because we talk about heaven all the time. We talk about the return of Christ like it’s real, and it’s at hand.

That’s not because we’re grasping for straws, or because we need some fairy tale to tuck us in at night. It’s because the return of Christ is real, and it is at hand, and heaven is our true home.

And so those of us who have lived long in the valley, we do not set up tents there or live there. We long, long for the day when Jesus makes all things new.

And so Revelation 21 is not a moment, it is the waypoint. It is what marks my life. It is the air that I breathe. It is: that a day is coming, and it won’t be long now, when there is no more crying and no more pain and no more death anymore. We will be with Jesus, and He says, “Behold, I’m making all things new.”

And so, we can look at our loved one who’s been suffering for two decades, or we can look at our child, or we can look at our broken bodies, and we know that they are a part of the all things that will be made new.

Dannah: Beautiful. Love it. Mary?

Mary Kassian: Well, last year was one of the most challenging years. My father died, and then six weeks later, my mother died . . . she went into hospice. The morning after they were both in the hospital together—they’d been married seventy-four years—one in a hospital bed this way and one that way, holding hands.

So I said goodbye to my dad, and Scripture was just part of their hearts as well. My dad in the end was quoting Scripture in German. But there’s one moment that I want to just mention, and that is when we had already said goodbye to my dad.

I had been in the throes of death watch for months—every day. They kept telling me my mom was going to die probably that night . . . and she didn’t.

It was like five sleepless nights at the hospital in a row on death watch. She couldn’t breathe anymore; she had the death rattle—you know, the horrible breathing and just laboring at the end.

And Scripture comes back to you—the ones you have hidden in your heart—but also the ones for your loved ones.

She wasn’t even talking anymore. They flipped her, and so it gave her a little bit of relief for her breathing. I just held her hand, and right by her ear I whispered, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

And I could see her lips moving. She couldn’t talk anymore, but the Word that she had hidden in her heart . . . She was trying to mouth the words: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.” I was able to say that psalm together with my mom in her final breaths.

She couldn’t even speak anymore, and yet she was able to hear the Word of God and have it minister to her as she walked through heaven’s door.

Dannah: Wow. That is the wonder of the Word. I want to be like your mom.

Mary: So do I. When there’s nothing left in me—when I can’t breathe—the Word is still there.

Dannah: There’s a lot of women here going home, going back to suffering, Mary. They’re going back to dying parents, sick children, financial problems, hard marriages. I wonder if you’d pray over them.

Mary: Oh God, You are near to the brokenhearted. I love that promise—that You are so near to us when life is hard. You are so near to us when we don’t have any gas left in the tank, when we’re running on fumes, when we can’t even remember the difference between night and day, when we’re facing difficulty with no end in sight.

You are near.

So, Father, I pray for every woman in this room. I pray for every woman who’s facing hardships, regardless of what that hardship is—whether it’s with illness, infirmity, struggling marriage, children, a disabled child, personal illness—whatever it is, Lord, You are near to those.

And Lord, be near with Your Spirit and help us run the race well. Help us rely on Your Word. And Lord, would You please bring to mind the Scriptures that we have heard—in Word or perhaps in song—and would You comfort those who are brokenhearted?

Lord, be near to them through Your Word, through the power of Your Word, and through the power of the Word—Jesus. And it’s in His name we pray, Amen.

Dannah: Amen. Amen. Thank you, ladies. Will you just put your hands together and tell them how grateful you are that they were here this weekend to minister?

Wow, so precious. So worth it. So many thoughts I have listening to those women in different seasons of life.

We’ve got the younger ones, the littles, some single, some married, the suffering women, the older women who have walked through a lifetime of some hard things and found His Word is reliable—it can be trusted. He can be trusted.

I’m so grateful for the wisdom of these words. I feel like I’d like to sit and listen to them for a very long time.

But you know what the goal is? That each of us becomes a woman of the Word. And that in your friend group, in your coffee times, your playdates—is that what you call it when you’re with your kids?—in your small group, with your work colleagues—that you become one of these wise women, overflowing Scripture, overflowing the ways of God, the Word of God, the love of Christ to those around you.

Like, don’t we aspire to be women who overflow this way? You can be one of those women.