“I have to trust and believe that if there was any other way for God to accomplish His will in my life (or in the people who will be affected by it through my life), He would. Look at Jesus in the Garden, ‘If there be any other way…’ but there wasn’t.” -Kristie Anyabwile

On Thursday one of my best friends and I attended the Fear and Faith panel discussion in Nashville where Kristie Anyabwile, Trillia Newbell, Jani Ortlund, Catherine Parks, Lindsay Swartz and Jen Wilkin gathered for a one night event to celebrate the release of Trillia’s new book Fear and Faith: Finding the peace your heart craves. 

It was awesome.

These women open their mouth and wisdom and grace and hilarity and authenticity comes out. It’s beautiful. Below are some of my favorite quotes of the night.

While all of these women are gems, I have a special place in my heart for Jen Wilkin after email-interviewing her for the RTM Magazine (her article will be in the September issue, so get excited for that), so it was great to officially meet her and talk about our mutual love for books, England and Jane Austen. What a gift she is to the church.

Haley, Jen and me. Praise for laughter, kindred spirits and God’s great big family. ❤️

Discussion on the panel centered around common fears most women have. For example: fears in singleness, marriage, parenting, body image and womanhood in general. It was so great and, since God has been working in my heart in regards to being transparent with Him about my fears and then trusting Him in spite of those fears, the night was especially meaningful.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the night. I hope they encourage your heart and cause the splendor of the Gospel to shine a little brighter.

TEN [STAND OUT] QUOTES FROM THE FEAR AND FAITH PANEL:

Jani Ortlund (this is paraphrasing): Name your fear. Draw it out of your head and name it. For example, “I’m afraid my husband will lose his job.” Then dig into that. Ask yourself what would happen if that fear was reality. What if my husband lost his job? “Okay, I would go back to teaching. Our kids would take up an offering for us every month. He would do this. We would do that.” Keep digging. Keep digging until you come to Deuteronomy 33:27: “And underneath are the everlasting arms,” and realize you will never get below that. What is your theology? Who is your God? When you realize Deuteronomy 33:27, you can say, “Getting fired? Lord, You’re worth so much more than that.”

Jen Wilkin: Our deepest fears come from trying to take on the attributes of God (Sustainer, Sovereign, Ruler, Omnipotent, etc.).

Kristie Anyabwile: Beware of the snare of compare.

Catherine Parks: Going into marriage, I had an expectation that God had already completed His work in my husband. He hadn’t completed His work in me, but He had completed it in my husband. My biggest problem in marriage is not looking to my husband as an idol, it’s looking around me and projecting what I see in other marriages onto my husband. God had to teach me not to require of my husband what God hasn’t required of him.

Jen Wilkin: You’ll parent differently if you’re coming from a position of fear or love. Keep inventory of your heart. We are stewards of these little lives, not owners.

Kristie Anyabwile: Be careful in parenting, sometimes you want to mold kids into your image, not the image of God.

Jani Ortlund: It’s insanity to not take the Lord at His Word. Fears expose perfectionism and prove we don’t have it all together. The knowledge of God and His Word fights fear.

Trillia Newbell: We can approach God, even in our fears, covered in the blood of Christ.

Jen Wilkin: Anytime you feel like you need to make yourself less so your “man” feels more, stop. Women in Scripture don’t dumb themselves down. The church needs women who are strong, not just sweet, and you can be both. The church doesn’t function as it should if women and their gifts are made small and diminished.

Jani Ortlund: How much emotional and spiritual energy do I want to waste on fear? When the Lord says ‘Fear not,’ what do we not understand about that?