Behold the Word in Every Season

Dannah Gresh: During a panel discussion at True Woman, we had such an honest conversation about our rhythms in the Word. Here’s Emily Jensen. 

Emily Jensen: 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 to decide how I'm going to respond. It's how I'm training them, and it's my personal time with Jesus. Private devotion is more important, and that’s what fuels any other ministry that we do.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free, for November 12, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh.

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: One of the most meaningful moments to me at True Woman '25 was the panel discussion on the final day that was facilitated by my dear friend and cohost Dannah Gresh. There were three groups of women sitting on the platform, and Dannah moved between them to ask practical questions about how to engage in the Word in different seasons of life. There was a sweet combination of older women and younger women—many of the teachers you know and love. I’m excited for you to hear part of that discussion that will air today and the rest will air in days ahead. Here’s Dannah.

Dannah: 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 . . . 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.

Kelly Needham: 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 "but." 

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? Who in the Bible was 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 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. If 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. Then 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, and 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: Yes.

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: That was such a fun time at True Woman, getting to share the stage with so many women I know, love, and admire as sisters in ministry. Their hearts for God’s Word was palpable in the room, and I hope you felt that today as well. If you want to hear more from these women, we've included their full names in the transcript of this program. From there, you can take some time to explore our program archives at ReviveOurHearts.com. 

Speaking of a heart for the Word, don’t forget that this month, for a donation of any amount, you can request your very own Revive Our Hearts calendar. Our team designed this resource to feature Scripture and quotes from Nancy’s book, A Place of Quiet Rest. And on top of that, it includes a daily Bible reading plan so you can follow along as we read through the Bible in 2026. To give and request this resource, visit ReviveOurHearts.com, or call us at 1-800-569-5959.

Well, tomorrow we’re sharing a moment from True Woman that I’m going to remember as pivotal in my walk with Jesus forever. It’s a message from Jackie Hill Perry that had a powerful impact on so many in the room that day . . . and since then so many online.

Jackie Hill Perry: When you believed in Christ, when you received Him by faith, it was not by way of reason. You did not think your way into salvation. 

When you believed in Christ, it wasn't because you were born of noble birth or because your parents were Christian. It is because God saw you swallowed up by darkness and decided to say, “Let there be light.” And then suddenly there was! You no longer looked at sex or your body or your job or your Bible or education or marriage the same because your eyes were open to the God who has always loved you. 

It is His divine initiative and salvation through the means of granting light that makes it possible for any of us to be called a child of God. Wherein now, now we see Him as good, as faithful, and as God.

Dannah: You won’t want to miss this! Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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