Becoming a Woman of Influence, with Staci Rudolph and Michelle Hill

What difference can one woman really make? You can have an impact for the Kingdom in your home, community, and culture. Consider how to become a woman of greater influence by exploring the life of Deborah along with our hosts and special guest Staci Rudolph. You’ll also hear from Michelle Hill as she shares ideas for influencing others as a single woman.

Episode Notes:

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Introduction: Becoming a Woman of Influence

Dannah Gresh: What difference can one woman make? That's the question we're gonna wrestle with in this episode of Grounded. We're a videocast and podcast brought to you by Revive Our Hearts. I'm Dannah Gresh. 

Erin Davis: And I'm Erin Davis. I love to wrestle with a good question so, I'm looking forward to that. I want us to imagine living in a culture that has lost its moral compass. And as a result, things seem to be getting worse and worse and worse, as the people in that culture run further and further from God's Word. 

Dannah: Okay, are you serious? Do you think you're playing a game of imagination, Erin, because that sounds an awful lot like the world I live in right now?

Erin: Yeah, me too. It's not like we have to reach way far into our imagination bank to picture a culture that has lost its moral compass. 

Dannah: Exactly.

Erin: I could easily be describing the times that we're living in right now.

Dannah: Yeah, you absolutely could. Just the other week about a week-and-a-half ago, Erin, I got so beat up on social media. 

Erin: You did? 

Dannah: I did. 

Erin: If I'd known I would have come to back you up. 

Dannah: Yeah, I could have used that. I often teach on the topics of purity and modesty. As you know, those are not very popular topics these days, not very popular words. And they do admittedly require wise navigation in this day and age because we can't stop speaking God's truth. But we do have to take into account the wounds. presuppositions, and the experience of those hearing our words in a very lost world.

Erin: Yeah, it can feel so delicate because I don't want to compromise. I know that you don't want to compromise. I mean, I am a living epistle, as the Bible calls it, that message that you've given has had an impact, huge impact on my life. But we don't want to offend necessarily, and we don't want to get beat up on social media. We need to be sensitive.

Dannah: How to be sensitive and be strong? That's the question, because if you want to make a difference, you’ve got to figure out how to be both in a culture that's lost. And here's the thing I was thinking, where we are as a culture, it's really not anything new. We may be living in a culture with no moral compass here in 2021. But so were women in the year 1200 B.C.

Erin: Whoa, you’re putting us in the Way Back Machine.

Dannah: Way back. And one woman who lived in it was Deborah, and she influenced an entire nation by knowing God's Word, trusting God's Word, and proclaiming God's Word. Her story is tucked into just a couple of chapters in the book of Judges, 3,000 years after Deborah was a judge in Israel. I mean, I feel like she still has a lot to teach us about how to become a woman of influence in a lost culture.

Erin: For sure. So, we're gonna consider Deborah our guest in this Grounded episode.

Dannah: Well, there you go. 

Erin: It’s not every day that a hero from the Old Testament dropped by the old Grounded studio, but that's what we are able to pull it off, kind of today, because we're going to look at her life together. So certainly, you're going to need your Bible. Go ahead and get yourself to Judges chapter 4. Because here's why we believe here on Grounded, and we know you well enough Grounded watchers to know you believe, that being a woman of influence is something that all of us want at our very core.

Woman of Influence vs. an Influencer

Dannah: Yeah, in fact, becoming an influencer, that's kind of become a buzzword today. 

Erin: Yeah. Makes me make this face.

Dannah: Yeah, I know why you make that face. The other day I googled not influencer, but women of influence, just to see what would come up. It was YouTubers who peddle products with their sensuality celebrities,who write very profane lyrics to declare their independence. As I looked at this list of about 10 or 12 names, I thought for me as a believer in truth, there's a little bit of an “it” factor in the term influencer.

Erin: Yeah, I feel that. I can definitely tell when somebody is trying to get me to buy their shampoo, because they're a social media influencer. I don't want to be put in the influencer camp. But Dannah, as I was thinking about this episode, I got the giggles a little bit. Because do you remember that time when you and I were calling YouTube influencers?

Dannah: I do. I was scrolling through my email, and somebody sent me tha said, “Hey, look, you and Erin, on Grounded. When we first started, as the pandemic was just unfolding, you just showed up on that list of Top 10 Christian Influencers.”

Erin: We just laughed and laughed. Because this idea of being a YouTube influencer has a celebrity connotation. And that's not who we are. It's not who we aspire to be. So what is the distinction between being a woman of influence, which is definitely something we aspire to be, and being an influencer, this term that's kind of been hijacked, I think.

I do want to have an impact, no doubt about it. I have nothing to hide about that. I want to have an impact on other people, but really a specific impact. I don't want you to use the hair product that I use, but I want to have an impact for God's kingdom. And of course, I want to do that in my home. But beyond that, I want to do that in my community. And you know what, I do want to have an impact on the culture. I don't want to just throw up my hands and say, “Ah, the culture is too far gone. There’s no way for me to have any influence here.” 

Dannah: Yeah, it’s too hard.

Erin: Yeah.

Dannah: Yeah, I agree. Although, I gotta admit, every now and then I do just kind of want to quit. I think a job at McDonald's flipping burgers sounds very appealing when I'm being attacked, or whatever, on social media.

Erin: Sure.

Dannah: Which, by the way, I just want you to know I don't fight back. The Lord is my Defender, and He is yours. Please don't forget that when you're on social media. But when I want to give up, I look to my sweet grandbabies, Addie and Zoey, and that's when I realize I am in this. I am in this. I am motivated by my love for them. That's part of what motivates me. I want to rise up and be strong enough to carry the ton of godly influence to the next generation and the next.

Erin: Yeah, I know that about you. I love that about you. I'm thinking of a time when I wanted to quit. I called you and said, “I think I want to quit.” I just wanted a low-key job, not impact anybody, don't put a target on my back. And you reminded me who I work for, ultimately, which is the Lord, and that keeps me in it.

Introducing Deborah: A Woman Who Influenced Her Generation

Dannah: Yeah. Well, speaking of godly influencers of the next generation, Staci Rudolph is here with us today. She's the lead teacher for True Girl. She recently joined Erin and some other of our friends in the Revive Our Hearts  studio, and they recorded a brand new season of the Women of the Bible Podcast. It's all about Deborah and how she influenced others to obey God.

Erin: I love me some Staci Rudolph. She is a deep well; you're gonna love her, too. It was honestly that conversation we had about Deborah, it was one of the best conversations I've had in a long time. I was so energized by it. I was energized by just being with women in person. I've not lost the wonder of that. Again, I'm still loving that. We were looking at Deborah. I don't know that I'd spent a lot of time thinking about Deborah story before that conversation. But it energized me to follow Deborah's example. I think you're going to be inspired, to so we're going to pick up that conversation. You're on grounded. And we're going to have Dannah join us at the women of the Bible slash Grounded table. It's a big table.

Dannah: I'll try to keep up. Michelle Hill, the producer of Revive Our HeartsWeekend is also here with some thoughts on how to influence others as a single woman. You are going to love her too.

Erin: You are going to love her; I know that you will. Well, there's somebody I know you already adore. She has had a big influence on my own life, and that's our cohost, the one, the only Portia Collins. 

Dannah: Portia Collins.

Erin: Morning, Portia.

Portia Collins: Good morning friends, how are you? 

Erin: Good. How are you? 

Dannah: Doing well.

Portia: I’m good. 

Erin: We can always count on you to bring a ray of sunshine in your clothes and your face. I love it. 

Portia: Well, I'm loving this conversation already this morning. You know, one of the things I love to say is: impact over influence. Influences seek to just influence for a time. But if we seek to be impactful, then we want to make lasting changes in people's lives. So, grab your Bibles because we're going to be looking at a lady who I think does just that. So, flip over to Judges, chapter 4. 

Now here, we don't normally give you homework assignments very often. But today, I'm going to give you one. Sometime this week I want you to read Judges chapter 4 & 5, and consider this. What did Deborah do and what didn't she do that was so influential? Well, this morning, I want to read you a few verses that describe how Deborah influenced her entire nation, which by the way, was a nation that never might have been tempted to believe had turned too far from God to ever turn back. 

But Deborah had tremendous influence simply by calling one man, Barak, to trust and follow God. So let's look at this chapter 4. I'm picking up at verse four. It says, 

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of of [you know, I always got to get the $10 words, thanks Erin] Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, "Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you, ‘Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand?'?" Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go." And she said, "I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.

Alright, so keep those Bibles open, right here in Judges 4, as we dive in a bit deeper. 

Dannah: Erin did you no favors, handed you all those hard words to pronounce today. 

Portia: All the time, Dannah.

Erin: My bad. 

Dannah: She does. I think she says these are just hard; these nobody knows how to pronounce. Let's give them to Portia. 

Erin: But there's a lot of hard words in the Bible. 

Dannah: Oh, well, it's time to get Grounded with God's people, and we are going to get grounded in that passage of Scripture. As Erin said, our guest today on grounded is a woman from the Old Testament. She is, I believe, alive and well in heaven with the Lord. But in physical terms, she couldn't quite make it today. So, we've asked to the personalities on this season's Women of the Bible podcast to join us because they've just thoroughly studied Deborah. Of course, Women of the Bible is always hosted by Grounded’s own Erin Davis. So, Erin, let's welcome Staci to Grounded. 

Erin: All right. Staci, you've been here before but we are so glad to have you back. We adore you. And if you have a daughter or granddaughter who's a tween, you probably already adore Staci, because you may have met her through the True Girl online Bible studies or seen her live. Welcome to Grounded, Staci.

Staci Rudolph: Thank you. 

Dannah: All right, here we go, diving in. Keep your Bibles open to Judges. But before we really look at the passage, let's talk about what Israel was like in the year 1200 B.C. When that passage Portia just read was actually lived out, what were the circumstances of Deborah's culture?

Erin: Staci, I feel like we're on Bible drill a little bit. Like, what's the answer? Do you remember what the culture was like and what judges were for?

Staci: I'm ready. It was just chaotic. It was crazy. I think we see Israel going through that same cycle again of: disobeying God, being disciplined by being in captivity, and then crying out, and being delivered. But within that captivity, we see just craziness. I can't imagine all the things that were going on. So just really, this craziness of people living according to how they feel and how they think. 

Erin: There was a real leadership vacuum, the godly king had died. Let's keep drawing parallels. Let's not dance around. We can look at our own culture at all levels and feel like there is a leadership vacuum here. At the beginning and end of Judges it says that everyone did what was right in their own eyes, so that captures it. There is a moral compass there. And right here in Judges 4, they were being enslaved by a pagan culture and had been for 20 years.

Dannah: Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. That certainly does describe where we are today. And yet, as you just mentioned, Erin, God sends the judges to help correct the problem of disobedience and chaos. Why is it significant that the judge we're talking about today for this day and age, the year 1200 B.C., why is it significant that she was female? 

Erin: You go. 

Staci: Well, back in that time, it just wasn't common. It was unheard of for women to be in big roles of leadership. So, I think the fact that God used a woman just spoke volumes. I also think it spoke to the fact that no man would stand up and lead and listen to what the Lord was saying and aid in the deliverance of Israel. So, I think it speaks to God using a woman to get what He wanted to get done accomplished. He was gonna have His plan accomplished, and He did what He had to do. So yeah.

Dannah: That's good. 

Erin: She’s the only female judge in the Judges list in the book of Judges.

Dannah: Is she?

Erin: Yeah.

Dannah: Okay. Well, Portia said something at the beginning that I wrote down. She just said, what did she do and what didn't she do? So, what lessons about being a woman of influence can we learn in the path that we just read? We might want to go back to a few of those verses. But what can we learn that she did do well in that unique role of influence as a woman? And what did she not do that maybe we should take note of? 

Erin: Well, I can say what she did. I will take us back to Judges 4. It's so subtle that we might miss it on an initial pass, which is what has been so delightful about just sitting in Deborah’s story. Judges 4:6 is really the first time we see Deborah rise up and exert some influence. It says “She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali [There you go. I took some of those big words.] and said to him, ‘Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded you . . .’” Then she goes on to repeat this command that apparently Barak had heard from the Lord and chosen to ignore or not respond to. I don't know if he was dragging his feet. I don't know if he was in full-on rebellion. We don't know. Scripture doesn't tell us, but she reminds him what the Lord said. 

So one thing we know about Deborah is she exerted influence by being a woman who knew God's Word. Now, she didn't know God's Word like this. But she listened to the voice of God, and she obeyed God's Word. Then she called other people that listen to God's Word. That right there is a path towards impact, know God's Word, obey God's Word, call others to listen to God's Word. Staci, what else do you remember about what she did do or what she didn't do?

Staci: Well, I think something is really interesting, too. I like when you're saying she took action, but I also love how it says she was sitting under the palm. She was listening to God continuously. And then God downloaded to her and let her know when it was time to rise up. I feel like so often today we're running after our calling and running and seeing what God wants us to do. But she was just sitting, she was sitting, she was abiding. And when it was time for her to move, God was clear, and He let her know. So I think that's really important. Just sit and abide and rest and wait. 

Dannah: Yeah.

Erin: This was a conviction for me. And Deborah's story was more what she didn't do. I mean, she didn't browbeat Barak. She didn't say, “You weak man. God told you to do it, and you're not doing it.” She didn't take charge of Barak's army. Barak was a military man. What we see in the story is that there was no real leadership. She probably could have taken charge and headed towards Sisera’s army, but she didn't. She also didn't manipulate him. That's the connection point for me. I mean, I can really manipulate people to get what I want. It's so natural to me in my flesh. 

But she didn't do that. She's just simply says, “Has not the Lord God commanded you.” And then repeats the words of the Lord and then lets it sit at God's Word. She continues to do that throughout. She also celebrates Barak even though you can look at this and make some assumptions that he was really weak. When she's singing after the battle, she's so celebratory of him.

Dannah: Yeah. She's not like, “Hey, this guy's not doing anything, so I'm just gonna go do it myself.” There's an elegance about her. There's a femininity about her. There's an affirmation of God's gifting and leadership and appointment to men about her that I think we can't look past.

Erin: Yeah, I think that elegance comes from a real trust in the Lord from what Staci was saying, from a daily practice of abiding in Him, a daily practice of sitting under the palm of Deborah, which I would love to see probably doesn't exist anymore, and listening to Him and obeying, because she trusted the Lord so fully. She could respond to others in a really elegant, unique way. 

Staci: Yeah, I think it's also important to see that she told the whole truth of God. She reminded him of what he had heard from God. She also made it clear, we're in verse 9, “I will gladly go with you, but you will receive no honor on the road you're about to take.” I think that's kind of interesting, because she reminded him of what God said, but she also spoke the truth and what would happen if she was to go down, because he hadn't listened to God and gone on his own. But then like you said, she celebrates him. I think it's so important to have the whole—pushing him but also the truth of what will happen because you didn't listen right away, but also the goodness that will come out of it. 

Erin: She didn’t sugar coat it. 

Dannah: We kind of alluded to how the story ends, but what we read today is a bit of a cliffhanger. So, let's just be clear that everybody knows, let me read verses 9 and 10, “Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. And Barak called out Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. And 10,000 men went up at his heels, and Deborah went up with him.” So, to be very clear how did it end? Very briefly, because I have one really important last question for you.

Staci: They went up, they fought the battle, and I'm just playing it but they really did. She went with Barak. They fought the battle. God met them in the battle. He helped them win it. But then Sisera, the commander of the enemy army, got away. He goes to Jael’s house, and can I tell what happens? 

Erin: Yeah, you gotta give them the tent peg part. You can't skip it over. 

Staci: Oh, yeah, she put a tent peg right through his temples as he slept. That was the end of it all. 

Erin: The Lord really won the battle. That's the cool, Yes, Deborah did her part. Barak did his part. This dry creek bed gets randomly flooded, which, of course, it was at the hand of Lord. The chariots of iron get stuck in the mud. And so, the Lord really is the one that routed the enemy. I say this frequently lately. It's kind of a soapbox I'm on. We'd like to say we're living on mission with Christ. Well, no, we're not. We're living on co-mission. We are partnering with Him and what He is doing. And that's what Deborah did. She was on co-mission with God to set the people free.

Dannah: That's awesome. I want to ask this one last question. But we're out of time. So, you got to give me like a one word, two words, maybe a phrase answer. God ordained Deborah to be in the position she was in and whatever position you're in is God's chosen that for you. You're there for a reason. Scripture is God-breathed, right? So, if we're reading Deborah's story, He wanted us to read her story. I think partly because He wants us to learn from it how we can influence in our culture today. So, Staci, number one thing you learned from Deborah's life as you studied for the Women of the Bible podcast?

Staci: I think be downloaded with God’s Word, rest in Him, and He'll let you know when it's time to go out and what you're supposed to do.

Dannah: Yeah, Erin. 

Erin: Same version of that idea. To be a woman of impact, a woman of influence, I must be a woman of the Word. There's no way around it.

Dannah: Yeah, love it. What a great taste of this new Women of the Bible podcast, releasing today, season 6 on Deborah. Now, Laura Booz was part of the team. She is a favorite here on Grounded; she's a gift to the Grounded team. She's a gift to the Revive Our Hearts team. Would you guys be okay if we ended our time together by checking out a short clip from this first episode, where Laura describes the cycle that Israelites found themselves in. It's a cycle we often find ourselves in. Let's watch as Laura Booz explains.

Laura Booz: I have more friends who have broken their feet, carrying laundry baskets down the stairs. Well, one, but I think about her literally every time I'm carrying laundry down the stairs. So, she's a lot of friends. I’m a mom of six kids. That means I do a lot of laundry! Keeping my family in clean clothes is a never-ending cycle of wash, dry, fold, put away . . . wash, dry, fold, put away . . . wash, dry, fold, put away! 

Hi, I’m Laura Booz. Welcome to the Women of the Bible podcast. In this season, my friend Erin Davis is leading us in a study about Deborah, a woman who served God faithfully in a seemingly never-ending cycle.

We’ll read Deborah’s story in the book of Judges. It describes a cycle that the people of God were in for over three-hundred years, even though God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt . . . even though He brought them to their Promised Land.

And even though they knew the consequences of their sin, they put themselves in a spin cycle over and over and over again! And yet, over and over and over again, God raised up deliverers. The book of Judges tells us that over time there were twelve judges, and one of them was a woman hand-picked by God to be a deliverer of God’s people at just the right time.

Deborah was a true woman who served the Lord in a distinctly feminine way. You know, this cycle of disobedience and deliverance didn’t end in the period of the Judges. As broken people living in a broken world, we continue to disobey and need God’s great hand of deliverance. 

So I hope that as you open your Bible to the book of Judges and join us in this study of Deborah, that you too will look for the hand of your Deliverer, Jesus. 

Using Your Influence as a Single Woman: Michelle Hill

Dannah: Well, if you're in the spin cycle of disobedience, or you see it all around you, you might want to dive into the book of Judges and learn from Deborah, as we consider becoming a woman of influence. 

And as we do that today, my heart is really drawn to the single sisters in my congregation. I've been in small group discussions where I feel like the influence of my single sisters isn't affirmed in the way that I long for it to be. And that's not going to happen today on Grounded, because we think it's important to make space for us, whether married or single, to learn better how to affirm the leadership of all Christian women.

So, Erin and I were talking, and we knew right away just who we wanted to hear from. With a few practical ideas of how to influence your corner of the world, I'm very excited to introduce my friend Michelle Hill to you. She's my producer for Revive Our Hearts Weekend. And it's a newer product in our podcast family hosted by me. Michelle's voice might sound familiar to you, because she also is the host of her own podcast Family Life This Week. And Michelle is single. Hey there, Michelle.

Dannah: Good to see you today. I can't hear you. But I hope the rest of the world can. And if the rest of the world can, take it away. Technical difficulties happen here on Grounded sometimes.

Michelle Hill: As Erin started this episode off, she said that there are many women who long to be an influence on others—and that's true in every season. And it's true regardless of marital status, whether or not we have children of our own, and in every season of life, because it's the way that God wired us. You know, what kind of single girl becomes a woman of influence? That was a great question for me when I was younger. I kept looking around, wondering how I could fill that void of being a woman of influence. 

It was just something that practically was not being taught, that I could find anyway. And so, I went back to what I knew to be true. Where does my identity reside? And of course, my identity has to reside in Christ. My life verse is 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

You know, that verse just reminds us that we are God's special possession. He created us for good works. He created us to be influencers, to declare His praises. And that's true, whether you're single or married, whether you're widowed or divorced. I really think that for some of us, your influence has seasons. That's one thing that Deborah's story helps us to ask the question, How can I influence in this season? How can I influence where God has placed me? Practically, for me, I want to speak life into those people who are around me. I heard a pastor once say, we need to be leaving the aroma of Christ. And so, as I look around, what does that look like?

Well, for coworkers, I think Deborah used her words. We use words to encourage: a job well done or if you see something of value point, it out. It doesn't have to be to the CEO, maybe it's to the janitor, maybe it's to the coworker that you share a cubicle with, but point out what you see in their lives. 

You don't have to be a leader to cheer someone on. Don't be afraid to speak up or rather know when to speak and when to hold your words. I had a boss at one point in time who was a little leery of singles in the office. Over the years of just me having a quiet influence and speaking words when I felt God was asking me to share. My boss changed his view on singles, which helped him as he was raising his sons who are single today. 

Talking about influence, there's this young woman in where I work here at Revive Our Hearts, who has great influence on me. She writes a note to me just periodically or will drop in some flowers every once in a while, or even leave a poem on my desk that she's just written. She's encouraging me, and she's cheering me on in my walk with Christ. Also, practically speaking, look at younger women, how you can influence them—have them into your home, make breakfast for them, have a study with them. Or in the community, maybe you can volunteer in different areas. Maybe you coach a child and soccer team. 

For me, it was volunteering with hospice. Every Sunday, I would sit around a group of these elderly people and I would read the Bible, because Mr. H., a gentleman that I was assigned to would say, “I want you to read my wife's Bible to everybody.” And so, every Sunday, we just sat and read the Bible together. Pretty soon there'd be 20 or 30 people who would sort of wheel their wheelchairs up just to listen to the Word of God. God used me and He used Mr. H., to influence. 

Here's the point, wherever you are, you can be an influencer. I think as a single influence it is something that builds over time. Like a mom raising her kids, you might not feel like you're influencing anyone, but live faithful to where He is called you to be. Be a Deborah, and stand strong and courageous, know that you're planting seeds. 

You might be 25, now, and you're planting some seeds, and you may not see them bloom until you're 30 or 40. But also know this, if you are a teacher, you're influencing the kids in your classroom. If you're a nurse, you have the opportunity to speak life into every patient you touch and see. If you're in the corporate business world, there are tons of people you can influence. But here's the thing, look for those moments and pray for those moments.

Dannah: Look for those moments and pray for those moments. That takes us back to the whole idea of abiding, doesn't it? Waiting and resting in God for His marching orders? Thank you, Michelle, for those great practical ideas. I think they’re ideas all of us can implement as we seek to become women of influence. Portia?

Influence: The Good Stuff

Portia: Well, before we wave goodbye, we always want to point you to the good stuff. That is, like all the tools to help you stay grounded in this week. I'm sure you guys already know what's coming. We want to encourage you to get your copy of Deborah: Becoming a Woman of Influence. It's brand new. It's hot off the presses today. And let me just tell you, it is great. This study is based on the teachings of Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, and it's only available at Revive Our Hearts. If you want to become a woman who influences others for Christ, this study is for you. Find it at ReviveOurHearts.com. We'll send it to you when you give a gift of any amount to the ministry this month.

Dannah: You know, Portia, I just had a friend of yours participate in our pre-release online study for leaders. The other day she came into my office brimming with excitement. She grabbed her book, her Deborah book, and she began to show me what she was learning. And you know, when that happens, the study has got to be good.

Portia: Listen, I've seen this happen so much and not just with the Deborah study, but with all of the Women of the Bible. 

I'm super excited about this one, and I'm ready to share this one with my friends, too. Well, here's another thing I want to let you guys know. If you aren't already subscribed to the Women in the Bible podcast, make today the day. Go to your podcast app. I typically use Apple podcasts, sometimes Spotify, but look for the Women of the Bible podcast by Revive Our Hearts and subscribe, hit the subscribe button. And you know, after you listen to a couple episodes, go ahead and give us a rating too, okay?

Dannah:  Yeah, you can find it at ReviveOurHearts.com/Deborah, and the first episode of the Deborah season drops today. It's featuring Erin as host along with Staci, Laura Booz, and Laura Gonzalez. And so, a new episode will drop every Monday for the next six weeks.

And if you're looking for a fall Bible study to do, this makes a great group setting, and you can use the podcast There are also videos available along with the printed resource so maybe consider it for this fall's group study for you. 

Alright friends, I think that the key word for us today is “abide.” As Deborah said under that palm tree and governed, she was also sitting and waiting on God for what was next. Are we doing that? Are we asking the Lord, “I'm here today to do whatever it is You need me to do to cooperate with Your plan.” That's how we become a woman of influence, not by making up our own plans, but by listening to Him for His.

Portia: Amen, amen, amen. 

Dannah: Well, Sally Burke is going to be with us next week. The topic is how to pray for your kids as they go back to school. Listen, we have children who have not been in school for eighteen months. Now, some kids have been in school, but a lot of them haven't. They're gonna have some unique fears and some challenges and opportunities that they haven't had before. So whether you're a mom or a grandmother, I hope you'll join us to commit to pray for our children and our grandchildren. That's next week on Grounded. We hope you'll wake up with us with some hope and a little dose of perspective. 

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