Walking in Wisdom with Liz Curtis Higgs
On this episode of the Journeywomen podcast I had the privilege of chatting with Liz Curtis Higgs. Liz has one goal: to help women embrace the grace of God with joy and abandon. Her messages are biblical, encouraging, down-to-earth, and profoundly funny, helping sisters and seekers experience the depth of God’s love. She is the author of 37 books with 4.6 million copies in print, including her nonfiction bestsellers Bad Girls of the Bible, The Girl’s Still Got It, The Women of Christmas and The Women of Easter. She has spoken at 1,700 women’s conferences in all 50 states and 14 countries. A former radio personality, Higgs has appeared on more than 700 media outlets including NPR, “Focus on the Family,” “Life Today,” Chris Fabry Live, PBS and A&E. She is happily married to Bill Higgs and they share their life together in a 19th century farmhouse in Louisville, Kentucky.
I’m so grateful for women who have fervently followed Jesus much longer than me, like Liz. What a JOY to get an hour of her time to chat about journeying with wisdom and grace. We discussed everything from being former bad girls rescued by God’s grace to raising babies of our own, all of it peppered by Liz’s flair for funny. Hope you guys enjoy our conversation as much as I did!
Liz, I love that you’ve been walking women through the Bible for nearly two decades and that you’re passionate about Biblical literacy. Can you share with us where that passion started for you?
How have you developed your own personal knowledge of the Bible?
What prompted you to write you most recent book on the Proverbs? Is it considered a devotional, Bible study, or both?
Proverbs is known for being a book of wisdom. What does it look like for us to walk in wisdom as believers?
How can we know if we’re walking in wisdom or not?
Do you have a personal favorite from the Proverbs included in your book?
One of my favorites is Proverbs 16:3 which says, “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Can you help us break this one down?
I’m developing my understanding of how everything in both the Old and New Testament is part of the Greater Story of God’s plan to rescue his people through his son, Jesus. That said, do we see the gospel in Proverbs? If so, can you help us understand where we see it?
You wrote, “What we consider mistakes, God considers lessons.” This is getting really honest, but I have a hard time looking to the Gospel when I’ve made a mistake. It’s an active practice for me. What encouragement do you have for me and for anyone else who feels like the messes they make are tallied against them instead of washed clean by the blood of Jesus?
What is the joy/benefit/freedom of walking in wisdom?
3 Questions I Ask Every Guest
What 3 resources would you recommend for someone who wants to grow in wisdom?
What are 3 of your simple joys?
Who has had the biggest influence on your own journey with Jesus?
Note Worthy Quotes
“I don’t want my kids to see a perfect mother, I want my kids to see a perfect Heavenly Father who is at work in all of us, including them, including mom and dad, including grandparents, everybody.”
“My message to mothers is: first of all, don’t be hard on yourself. You’re doing everything you can do. What mother doesn’t? It’s just we’re so aware of all we didn’t do, can’t ‘do, or don’t have the energy to do. We’re always aware of how short we fall. But here is our good, good, Father who bridges the gap between everything we can’t do as parents and what He can do, which is of course, everything.”
“The Body shows us where our faults lie, where our prejudices lie, where our judgmental nature might be hiding and I’m so grateful that we have a God that loves us as much as he does, is ever-training, never-grows-weary, never grows faint, and never sleeps.”
“The maturing process is FUN. It just gets better. But that isn’t the message that our culture gives us. Our culture says that young is cool and old is dull and it gets less fun and more horrible every year. That is really not the truth. It’s a real lie. The truth is, if you look for fun it is there in every season.”
“If you’re going to get full of the Word, you HAVE to pour it out.”
“Wisdom is a light for your path. That’s what wisdom does. It lights your path. And it’s God’s light shining in us.”
“The Lord isn’t just weighing our actions. He cares about our motives. Often we try hard to get our act together to look good and that doesn’t work for God at all. He really only cares about what is happening inside.”
“It’s got to be a word from the Word to really have any value.”
“It’s all Jesus. It is nothing BUT Jesus. Any good thing in us is the God thing in us.”
“If the goodness comes from God. Then the rotten fruit comes from God’s enemy who is our enemy. Guilt, shame, and condemnation never come from God. [God] convicts, but his conviction is always in love, it’s always gentle. The voice of Jesus correcting us is love, but the voice of the enemy condemning us is hate.”
“Are you talking about a real Satan?” Yes. I am. If I’m talking about a real God, I have to talk about a real enemy. He’s there. He’s all through Scripture. He certainly was there in the life of Christ. He is real, but he’s not worthy of our attention, of our listening-to and doing what he asks us to do, so we have to understand the difference between conviction of God and the condemnation of the enemy.”
“God has left us on this earth to walk this walk. We don’t get it all right until we stand in His presence."
“Any wisdom I have is God’s. Any walk I’m doing, He’s laying down every rock in front of me.”
“If we can stand on the path we’re on and take one step of faith at a time, we can be absolutely sure we’re on the path that he wants us to be on.”
“It’s not that every day is perfect, but every day is perfectly what He has for us.”
“I would tell my younger self to stick to 40 hours a week. I would tell my old self that too, actually.”
Liz's Resources
The Word - multiple translations
Reading the Bible Aloud
31 Proverbs to Light Your Path
Liz's Simple Joys
Road tripping with her husband
Sitting around the kitchen table playing games like Scrabble, cards, UNO, or Set
Cuddling with her two, grey, tabby cats Boaz and Sampson
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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