Jennifer Dukes Lee :: Stories of Questions and Ruthless Self-Discovering Answers
I am so delighted to share with you my conversation with the lovely and amazing Jennifer Dukes Lee. Jennifer is a Bible teacher and writer living on a fifth-generation farm in the middle of Iowa with her family. She began her career of words working in journalism and was on the way to a successful political correspondent career. Then, the Lord called her and her husband to the farm life raising crops and daughters, and there, she began to really wrestle with the faith she grew up in, and used her interrogation skills from her journalism career and took them to God and His word. What she found there was so rich and full and transformative, and God began to help her share what she was learning and invite others into that same adventure.
Her latest work is a guided journal titled Stuff I’d Only Tell God: A Guided Journal of Courageous, Honesty, Obsessive Truth-Telling, and Beautifully Ruthless Self-Discovery.
The journal is a book of questions and prompts because as Jennifer says there are beautiful things that can be encountered at the end of a question mark. It is unlike any other journal I’ve ever encountered, it is full of questions that plumb the depths of your soul, and others that make you laugh out loud. Jennifer and I even share some of our answers to some of the really funny ones later in this episode, but much of what we talk about today is unpacking how we perceive Jesus’ questions, the tones we assign to scripture, why we resist growth, questions, and are scared to confess our doubts. Jesus is not afraid of what He already knows we’re wrestling with. Perhaps this conversation will serve as an invitation for you to consider what He may have for you at the end of a question mark.
Y’all I cannot express how much I enjoyed this journal. It has given me space to be all the versions of myself. Serious me, introspective me, silly me, music-obsessed me, all of it. Is it hard for you to answer questions about yourself? Serious ones or lighthearted ones? Are you like me and struggle to embrace fun and whimsy in your life?
I want to challenge you to hold space for the weird and the wonderful in you, no matter what that looks like. The Lord welcomes you, as you are, as He made you, questions, doubts, quirks, and all. I hope this conversation serves as a catalyst for just that. You matter, and your story matters.
Connecting with Jennifer:
Instagram (The seperate journal’s instagram page!)
References:
Baker Publishing Group (hey, to my friends!)
Jennifer’s post about her daughter going to Oxford
“Des Moines Register” (newspaper)
“The Chosen” - Jesus and Simon “I’ve got you.”
“Chipmunk Punk”- Alvin and The Chipmunks
“Make You Sweat” (“Everybody Dance Now”) C+C Music Factory
The Stuff I’d Only Tell God playlist
“Cinderella” Disney movie soundtrack
Casey Kasem American Top 40 (now Ryan Seacrest) Countdown
“French Kiss” movie soundtrack
“Dizzy Up the Girl” by Goo Goo Dolls
“Baby’s Black Balloon” - Goo Goo Dolls
“Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magenetic Zeros
Scripture References:
John 20:24-29-Thomas
Matthew 12:1-8, Mark 2:23-28, Matthew 15:1-9, Luke 6:1-5, John 8:1-11- The disciples’ concern with breaking the Law (and the Pharisees and Sadducees, and etc)
Acts 9 -Scales came off Paul’s eyes
John 5:1-15- Do you want to get well?
Luke 18:41-43- what do you want me to do for you?
Matthew 14:31 - Why did you doubt?
John 6:67 - You do not want to leave too, do you?
Matthew 26:14-30, Luke 22 (this account is different than John. John says he was “prompted” to betray Jesus, and after Jesus fed him the bread, Satan entered Judas and he left the supper) John 13- When Jesus speaks to Judas
Luke 2:1-20- Jesus showed up as a baby
Luke 2:52-Jesus grew up in wisdom and stature
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