Shirt // Pants // Shoes // Earrings // Leyton’s Outfit // Leyton’s Shoes (affiliate links) Photos: Casey Marie Photography
Holy grit. It’s a new and different topic than I typically talk about in this space, so I want to give you a little bit of background about where this came from.
My story of pursuing holy grit has had many twists and turns. I feel completely inadequate in leading women in Bible study and in the Word but I know that the Lord calls us to places where we feel uncomfortable sometimes. I am just trying to follow in obedience where He leads.
The beginning of this series came from something my Titus 2 women’s group leader challenged me with back in January when we did Whole30 together. We were discussing how important it is to commit Scripture to memory, so I timidly shared with the group how much I struggle with this.
(I don’t know if it’s because I’ve had several different versions of the Bible, because of mom brain, laziness or an odd combination of all of the above, but regardless it’s just not happening at this season of my life and I want that to change…for many reasons, but mainly because I want to be a light for my son, my husband, my family and my friends that can uplift them with Scripture. And when life gets tough for me and them, I want those verses tucked away in my heart to come to life to inspire an overwhelming sense of calm through the Lord’s words.
I want to be tough both physically and spiritually. Ready to actively love the Lord and pursue serving others with the strength of mind and body He has given me.)
My Titus 2 women’s leader said, “Isn’t it interesting how you are willing to sacrifice all different foods and drinks to do Whole30, but this is so hard for you?” She asked “Why is Whole30 easier for you to do that to memorize scripture? It’s because our flesh cries out against it.”
Satan doesn’t want me in the Word, memorizing it and having it at my disposal so it’s easier for me to deny my body of all these foods and such than it is to make my brain and heart commit to memory these Bible verses that are life giving.
That really stuck out to me. I wrote her questions and thoughts about memorizing scripture and speaking it out loud to Leyton in the notes section of my phone and have been reflecting on it for months now. I want to leave a legacy of faith for our son. We hope that he actively sees his mom and dad pursing our Savior and truly loving others because of it.
Then low and behold, God caught my attention again when our new growth group leaders started talking about all the ways that memorizing scripture had impacted their lives and why it’s so important.
The next crazy thing that happened was Rachel (a sorority sister from Samford) who I hadn’t spoken to in years randomly sent me a Facebook message telling me she was working on a Bible study about needing to be strong both physically and spiritually. She talked about how it had been such a life-lesson for her to prioritize her health and how it has truly become a form of worship for her to make time to be healthy. She felt the urge to intentionally study the biblical implications and share that with her readers and that the Lord had specifically put me in her thoughts while she was planning this study to help her with the physical side of things plus reflecting on the Bible study with her.
As I started to pray on and think on this series, I even went to the Life Well Loved Facebook group to ask if it was something people would be interested in doing and what they’d like to see from it. Overwhelmingly the answer was YES! Here’s one of the responses I got:
“Yes! Would love a Biblical perspective on why God wants us to talk care of our bodies for His glory! Physically and other healthy choices. Verses maybe to help motivate us.” -Ginny
Once I knew some of you were excited about it too, it made me even more pumped to launch this Holy Grit series. I’m embarrassed to admit that I can sometimes find it easier in my day to exercise my body than I do my spirit in knowing the Lord deeper on a day to day basis. I wanted to challenge myself to really commit this upcoming 30 days to not only growing physically in strength but also spiritually by taking it to the next level. I don’t want to just read a 5 minute bible study app, I want to dig deeper and memorize Scripture and I’m hopeful that you guys will join me!
The “lantern verse” for this study as Rachel calls it is Mark 12:30.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
Rachel and I will be doing a blog post each week starting next Monday deciphering what it means to be a woman with holy grit. Rachel will be bringing you in depth Bible study and I’ll be bringing physical challenges and ways to better your health each day during the 4 weeks as well. To get the daily challenges and Biblical teaching, please sign up for our email list HERE:
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Please see below for some of Rachel’s thoughts and questions for the beginning of our series and let me know your thoughts!
As Christians, we are to love the Lord with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). To carry this out, and to do life on earth in a way that glorifies Christ, it will take everything we’ve got. We will have to prioritize our time and efforts, health and relationships. We will have to work hard, and we will have to get tough, stay tough, and then teach tough to others.Â
Heather and I have come together to examine the breakdown of these ‘bottom line’ concepts:
What does it look like to love and serve God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength?
What does it look like to work hard and get tough, in the name of God?
How can we, as busy women, implement these things into our lives in real, yet practical ways?
What are areas I need to work on in order to become a tough woman in the name of the Lord?
The theme for this entire project is for us to learn to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength – and to then live life as beautifully re-made lights, offering the ultimate hope to a lost and dark world. Click over to Rachel’s blog to read more in-depth about what all we’ll be covering!
Would you, just for a minute, think on that?
What does it look like to love God with all of those things?
What are a couple things that you need to do, but don’t want to do?
Will you start praying over those few areas that could use some ‘holy grit?’
We’ll be discussing the introduction of this new Bible study in a Facebook LIVE this Friday at 3:00 CST.
Will you join me, friend? Sign up below for the daily spiritual and physical challenges and look forward to seeing what God can do in you and through you. I’m excited!
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What a wonderful idea! I struggle with making time to sit down and really spend time in the word. Bible Journaling has helped me with this, but I still fall short doing it daily, which is my goal. I am signing up to do this with you and am going to try to keep up!
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Mary, thanks so much for sharing. I am intrigued by Bible journaling. Is that like what Kristin from Taz and Belly blog does? I’m not artistic but I do love writing prayer requests and prayers out in a journal. Excited to do this with you!
Joe McGee has a set of 31 days of scriptures printed on a deck of cards (for each day of the month) that you speak over your child and then one side is paraphrased for them to claim it for themselves too (using “me” and “I” in the Scripture). My 4 year old loves them and I just keep them in the car for us to talk about every time we’re going somewhere.