04. Nourishing Your Soul with Kristen Wetherell
Today we’re talking to Kristen Wetherell about where we can look to for hope and help when our souls are weary. Spoiler alert—it’s the one place we talk about all the time here at the Journeywomen Podcast: God’s Word. In case you don’t know her, Kristen is a pastor’s wife, a mother, and a writer. She is the author of Humble Moms and Fight Your Fears, and coauthor of the award-winning book Hope When It Hurts. Her newest book, Help for the Hungry Soul shares eight encouragements to grow your appetite for God's Word. We pray that this episode will stir your affections for God’s Word and that it will encourage you to look to Scripture as your help in the midst of seasons of weariness.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
I'd love to hear how God has used the Word to nourish and sustain you when you’ve been in a season of personal weariness.
How does the Lord use his Word to sustain and strengthen his people, and what is the point of reading the Bible when we’re in a difficult season?
Even though many of the listeners are born-again believers, we might not all have that hunger for the Word. How can we grow our appetite for the Word?
What are some things that keep us from really feasting on the meat of the Word?
What encouragement do you have for the woman who desires to know and love God, but who just doesn't feel like she has the energy to pursue Bible intake?
What is the pathway to satisfied hunger and how would you suggest we pursue it?
How do we help encourage one another as a church family and how do we feast on God's Word together?
For the woman who's in the Word, going to church, practicing all of these things, but she's not able to see immediate fruit in her life. How can she begin to trust God's work?
How can we continue to turn to God in his word, especially when life is really hard?
What do you remind yourself of when you're in a particular season of weariness? What brings you rest when you are personally walking through seasons of difficulty?
Do you have any particular promises that you have clung to in times like this?
NOTES & QUOTES
“I knew that I could trust God's Word—his Word to me and his promise to me. Even if I didn't know what the next day was going to hold for me, I knew that I could trust his word. His Word would sustain me. It was food for my soul. It was an anchor for my soul when I felt like the winds were blowing around me.”
“I think about seasons of what I would call spiritual dryness or spiritual depression. I'm thinking of one in particular where I felt like the spiritual clouds were so heavy on me. And when I came to the Word, it felt like the words were just bouncing off the ceiling of my heart. And yet I knew in my heart that I couldn't go anywhere else and that God was calling me to wait on him, even if it didn't feel like the fruit was evident right away.”
“Weariness–we all feel it, we all have it. The context looks different for each of us. But the Word doesn't change. Isn't that an amazing promise? The grass withers, the flowers fade, Isaiah says, but the Word of God remains forever. And so we need him. We need him through his Word.”
“God created humans to hunger for him. We're made for him, for life with him now and forever. God created Adam and Eve to walk with him and to love him and to treasure his Word. He gave them the command “You may eat of any tree in the garden, just not the one.” But what happened? They chose to listen to the serpent's words, not God's word. And because of that, the result is now we're looking to satisfy this God-given innate hunger for him in other places. And so we turn to all these other sources of “food” to try and fill us up and give us satisfaction. But they're temporary, and it fades.”
“God, he's given us something in this walk by faith that we're walking in right now. He's given us something that our own two eyes can see. He's given us his words. I have my Bible right here, and I'm holding it in my hands. And this is the very living, breathed out Word of God. So God is speaking to me, to you, to the listeners, through a book. What a gift.”
“God intends to satisfy and to sustain our hunger for him through his words.”
“We so often think about it as this thing that I'm supposed to do. And, in a sense, sure, God commands us to live through reading his words and through feeding on his words. But it's not just a supposed to; it's a get to. I get to feed on God's words, what a gift.”
Lauren: “What a gift indeed. But I have to tell you, I am the chief of sinners when it comes not only to neglecting time in God’s Word…but also when it comes to remembering the gift that God’s Word is. It’s no surprise that I struggle to prioritize his Word when I continually forget what a delight it actually is! A little bit later in the episode you’ll hear Kristen encourage us to use Psalm 119 as a springboard for our prayers. So I’m going to do just that. Right now. Psalm 119 is 176 verses of delight, love, and hunger for God’s Word. I’m not going to read them all, but just a few, as a prayer over you and me as we seek to increase our love for God’s Word. As I read, I hope you’ll hear the psalmist’s cry for more of God in his Word, see his hunger for God’s statutes. I’d encourage you even to allow your own heart to echo his cries for God to give you life according to his Word.
In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word.
Your testimonies are my delight;
they are my counselors.
My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,
your salvation according to your promise;
I find my delight in your commandments,
which I love.
I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love,
and I will meditate on your statutes.
Remember your word to your servant,
in which you have made me hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction,
that your promise gives me life.
You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.
Let your steadfast love comfort me
according to your promise to your servant.
Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight.
My soul longs for your salvation;
I hope in your word.
If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
give me life, O Lord, according to your word!
You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
I am your servant; give me understanding,
that I may know your testimonies!
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
I rejoice at your word
like one who finds great spoil.
I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
Lord, would you enlarge our hearts for your Word. Would you stir our affections for your commands. Would you increase our desire for your precepts, and may we find you, know you, and love you more and more through your Scriptures. Amen.”
“We struggle to hunger for God's Word, and we get into spiritual ruts. And yet God wants to use that very reality—the need of our hearts—so that we will call upon him with that need. Because this is a spiritual thing that we're doing. This is a supernatural miracle that God wants to produce in our hearts. We can't actually produce it.”
“I think our great challenge is also our great opportunity. We can plead with God for a holy hunger. “God, my affections have been deeply affected by the Fall. They are not what they should be. They are not what you intended them to be. Lord, change my affections. Lord, stir in me a deeper hunger and a deeper desire, and then help me to open your Word and show me more about you in your Word.” Psalm 119 is the heart cry of hunger for the Word of God. So I would encourage anyone who's really struggling, start there. Pray it. Make it a springboard for your prayers.”
“Our affections are not what they ought to be. They've been deeply affected by sin. And so I think acknowledging that is the first step—confessing the dullness of our own hearts. Another obstacle that I've seen is distraction. Even deceit—or the lies that we tend to believe about the Word that the enemy would love for us to stew on and would love to implant right in our hearts and minds. We could go on and on, but those are three things that often keep us from the Word.”
“We have this idea, this cultural construct that we've created, called “quiet time.” When centuries ago there was no printing press, and people did not own Bibles. So if you really think about it, there is no command in the Bible about having a daily quiet time, the way that we think of it. Instead, what does God command? It's so much broader and freer and better. It's love the Lord your God with all your heart. It's abide in me. It's hold fast to the Word of life. And how that looks for you in this season of your life is going to look different than the person next to you. There's no “right” way to get into your Bible. The point is that you're in it.”
“For the woman who's feeling exhausted, I would encourage her to start by just remembering that the word of God is your very life. And the fact that you're exhausted is just a merciful awakening from the Lord that you need him.”
“Start small and remember that the deposits add up. And God will use that in your soul to draw you to himself.”
“God made us with this hunger for him, but we are trying to satisfy it in every other place, but him.”
“When you look at what the Bible is as a whole, it is for the church.”
Lauren: “I really hope you take that invitation to go to church on Sunday to heart. I offer that invitation with gentleness though, knowing that church can be a difficult place for some. Maybe it’s a place where you’ve experienced deep wounding (we’ll actually talk about that in a few future episodes in this series). But I hope you’ll hear me when I say (from personal experience) that the church is also the very place we can find healing from those wounds. The church is Christ’s bride, his means of bringing the Kingdom to earth, of spreading his gospel, and drawing us closer to himself. There are so many reasons to love and invest in the church, friends. So many reasons. Like Kristen mentioned, the Bible itself was written to a community of people—to the church! There is something so sweet about experiencing God’s Word in community with other believers. Sitting under the faithful preaching and teaching of Scripture and digging into passages with other believers. God’s Word was meant to be experienced in community! What’s more, church is a place of deep sanctification. Have you ever wondered why that is? What do I need from a local church when I can listen to great podcasts like this one or follow great bloggers or influencers? There are so many reasons, but foremost, it’s the people in my day-to-day local church context that can really see who I am, who can call me out, see my weakness, and truly come alongside me in my faith. The bloggers, the podcasts at a distance…they aren’t able to do that. Investing in a church is how we live out those “one another” commands that are littered all throughout the New Testament and how we follow the guidance of Hebrews 10, which encourages us to not neglect meeting together, that we might encourage one another. What’s even more—the church is the place where God’s power and goodness and holiness is put on display. Scripture says that it’s “through the church [that] the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known” (that’s Eph. 3:10). Church is a place where you can experience God, and it’s also a place where he is made known to the world—through the church! I could go on and on, but if you take an action step from this episode, I hope it’s to take the brave step to walk into a church this Sunday and experience the beauty of Christ’s church.”
“In the wintertime, the tree loses its leaves and its fruit. But that doesn't mean that it's dead and that nothing's happening. There is life in the roots. There is life in the unseen places. And the same goes for our souls. We may not notice the fruit that God is bearing. It may not seem abundant to us. But if we are genuinely seeking the Lord and coming to him in his Word and asking him to use it in our hearts, then we can rest assured there's life there. If we're united to Christ, he is doing an unseen, sometimes very slow, but powerful work of God and of the Spirit in our hearts. And that's a promise that we have to trust by faith when we can't always see the immediate fruit.”
“It's a gift from God. It's not me pulling myself up by my bootstraps in order to earn God's favor. It's a response to God's favor. It's an enjoyment of all that I have in Christ Jesus, who is the riches of God's grace.”
“I think about the Israelites wandering through the wilderness and they're hungry and so they grumble. And how often am I grumbling, whether literally with my words or just in my heart? And what does God give to them? He feeds them. So we grumble and God just keeps giving.”
“Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. And so he wants to sustain my faith. That's what this is all about. It's not about five steps to doing good enough, reading your Bible. It's about taking hold of Christ by faith, even as you read your Bible, because every single blessing that we experience in the Word comes because Jesus gave himself for us, because he made it possible for us to draw near to God through his Word and to receive Christ by faith. Everything is grace”
“All of God's promises are yes and amen in Christ, and I am his treasured possession.”
“He will never leave me. He will never forsake me. And my Lord sticks closer than a brother. In fact, I'm united to him.”
RESOURCES
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What truth from this episode resonated most with you?
How has God’s Word brought you comfort in seasons of weariness?
How has your local church body supported you in seasons of weariness?
What Scriptures have you clung to in the midst of difficult seasons? Consider memorizing one of those passages this week.
What might you do or implement in light of what you learned in this week’s episode?
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.
Affiliate links used are used where appropriate. Thank you for supporting the products that support Journeywomen!
FOR MORE OF JOURNEYWOMEN
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Follow Us: Instagram | Facebook
Support the podcast by writing a review
