I wrote this book for any woman who feels like she needs an anchor, a shelter, a light or a song full of truth to sing into the shadows in her own life or the world around her. I wrote this for any woman who feels like she might be all alone in the midst of doubts or uncertainty, for any woman who feels weary and in need of some hope. I wrote it for women who are thirsty, for women who are scared, for women who are hurting, for women who are looking for a guiding light.

This book is an invitation to lie down in green pastures, to walk by quiet waters. It’s an invitation to come as you are to the banquet table of God’s Word and to feast; it’s an invitation to bury the treasures that are in God’s Word deep in your heart and to watch as the Spirit grows that treasure into a garden of fruit-bearing goodness.  

Fighting Words is more like an invitation than a book! It’s an invitation to come as you are and lie down in the green pastures of God’s Word. It’s an invitation to bury some treasure in your heart as we memorize God’s Word together, and my hope is that this book will feel like a companion who will meet you where you are, come alongside you and help you know that you’re not alone. This book is an invitation to pull up a seat and linger at the beautiful banquet table of God’s Word. I’ll sit right beside you, so we can ponder the power of God’s promises together. I think the main content of this book is God’s Word and your heart! I highly recommend that you read through this devotional with a journal in hand to process and pray through God’s Word, and carve out time to listen to how the Spirit is speaking, guiding and leading you as you meditate on and memorize Scripture.

Are you thirsty? This book is a well. It’s a place to gather around God’s life-giving Word and refresh our weary souls. God’s Word has been a shelter, a comfort, a song, a balm and a light for me over the years. Ultimately, it’s also been a sword, a mighty tool that has helped kick back at the lies we so often believe.

This book is a place where you can sit in God’s Word and wrestle, listen and cry, and where you’re invited to sit with God’s Word and let it sink deep into your heart, bringing comfort, guidance, light and hope to the darkest corners of your soul. You’re invited to wrestle, respond to, and take hold of promises in God’s Word to help you push back the lies that so often consume, distract and destroy us. 

About a decade ago, I started memorizing Scripture with a friend of mine who battles depression. I got frustrated one day when I was sitting across from her because I realized that there were so many lies she was believing. Then I realized there were so many lies I was believing, and that there is an enemy who is called the father of lies, who LOVES to distract us from the truth. All of the sudden, it dawned on me that it wasn’t enough for us to just acknowledge the lies that we so often believe. We desperately needed to ground ourselves in something stronger: the truth. So we started committing God’s Word to memory and called these verses our “Fighting Words.” If God calls His Word a sword, we might as well use it to fight back against the lies we so often believe.

As we memorized Scripture together, it started changing us. It didn’t change our circumstances, but it gave us some solid ground to stand on when the shame storms started rolling in, and it ultimately gave us a shelter and a hope that no matter what we were facing, we were never alone. It’s been one of the most transformative practices of my life, and it felt too powerful to not invite others to join me! I started sharing different scriptures that have grounded me and guided me and whispered hope in the darkest nights of my soul on Instagram over three years ago almost every Friday, and the comments and community that has gathered around the warmth and light of these promises from God’s Word has been so beautiful.

This is what inspired this book! I wanted to gather women around some of my favorite promises from God’s Word and invite them to warm their hearts by the light of his love. I wanted to invite women everywhere to bury some treasure in their hearts by memorizing some of these promises together, and to allow the Spirit to speak in and through God’s Word to revive, refresh and remind our weary and forgetful hearts of what is true. 

I hope this book is a companion that helps women feel less alone. I hope it’s a lantern to guide those who are walking through dark nights of the soul. I hope it’s a banquet table, set with the richest fare, for those who are hungry to feast and feed their souls. I hope it’s a well, to quench the thirst of those who long for more out of this life. I hope it’s a shelter, to take respite from the storms this life so often brings. I hope it’s a comfort to those who are grieving and breathes hope into hearts that are breaking. Ultimately, I hope it is a book that lives on in women’s hearts as they commit God’s promises to memory and discover that they have an ever-present supply of light, truth, love and hope from which to draw, no matter how dark the night gets. I hope this will be a book that invites women to come as they are into the presence of God’s love and hold onto hope as we ponder the promises he has given us.