May 4, 2026 • 32 mins
Don't forget to grab your free scripture journal at PrayingChristianWomen.com/journal today!
How do you anchor your soul and stand firm when the world around you feels completely unstable?
This week, Mariel Davenport, a Bible study teacher and creator of the TEND method, joins Jaime for an uplifting and encouraging conversation on reorienting your heart based on her newest Bible study, 1 Peter: Sustained by a Living Hope.
In this episode, Mariel shares the beautiful picture of community through the lens of her salsa garden—explaining how the "companion planting" of tomatoes and jalapeños perfectly mirrors how the body of Christ is designed to mutually benefit and grow together.
Mariel also tackles the misconception that reading the Bible is just an academic exercise, and offers practical advice on how slowing down to handwrite Scripture can cultivate a vibrant, intimate relationship with God rather than just gathering a collection of facts.
Mariel also opens up about the reality of spiritual warfare, sharing how deeply knowing who God says you are is your greatest defense against the enemy's lies. You’ll walk away with a fresh perspective on what it means to truly tend to your soul, and how remembering your identity as chosen and holy can transform your daily walk with Jesus.
Visit marieldavenport.com to connect with Mariel and pick up a copy of 1 Peter: Sustained by a Living Hope, which provides a timely, step-by-step guide to standing firm and finding eternal hope in our shifting culture.
While there, you can also learn about her weekly podcast and her Tending Together online community, and connect with her on instagram at @marieldavenport.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Life Audio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi thereon, Welcome to another episode of the Praying Christian
Women podcast. I am Jamie Hampton, and today I get
to be back with good friend of the podcast, Mary
El Davenport. She's a Bible study teacher who helps women
connect with God through his word. She absolutely loves the
Bible and it oozes out of everything she does and says,
(00:25):
which is why I love talking to her on this podcast.
And she developed the tend method of Bible study, which
we talked about in September with her Ruth Study. It's
a four step approach to studying the Bible, and it
emphasizes intimacy with God and really tending and cultivating that relationship,
which is awesome. And she has a brand new study
coming out tomorrow. As of the time when this episode airs,
(00:49):
it's first Peter Sustained by a Living Hope.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So I just can't wait to get into this Mary Elle.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And you also have a community online that you're going
to be going through this study with, so I just
can't wait to.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Talk about all of these things with you. Thanks for
joining us again. Thank you so much for having me Jamie.
This is really fun. I loved being here last time
and I'm so excited to be here again.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, I was thinking since you were here last September
and we already kind of talked about your prayer closet,
which I think, is it your prayer chair?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Is that the one?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Okay, you've got a prayer chair and you're like able
to look out and see like your garden and stuff. Yes, okay,
so I remember that. But I want to ask you.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
This is Alana, and I love like horticulture analogies for
our spiritual life. So I want to ask you what
is your favorite spiritual analogy that pertains to plants or gardening.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah. You know, it's really funny because I thought this
is such my favorite.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Question because I love gardening.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Stuff, and I know you did.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I garden my salsa garden, and even though I don't
really have a green thumb persone, I really love growing
the ingredients of salsae. So one of the things I
learned several years ago with salsa gardening and salta planting
and stuff is that there's a thing called companion planting,
and it's where you plant together plants that benefit one another,
(02:14):
kind of a mutual you know, relationship. And so if
you plant tomato plants with halapinos, the tomatoes get really large,
and so they provide shade for the little halapino plants
from you know, the harsh sun parts.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Of the day.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
And at the same time, the jlapino plant keeps different
kinds of beetles and worms and stuff off of the
tomato plant because of the spice and the you know,
scent of the halapino plant. And so I just I
feel like that is such a beautiful picture of just
the body of Christ and having community together and how
(02:50):
we need one another, you know in our own growing
and flourishing and God's word and so and really that's
why I started my community on that you mentioned tending together,
because I feel like there these women come together and
we are mutually benefiting from one another in a sense,
you know, we pray for one another. We somebody will
(03:11):
share something in Bible study that really serves another lady
and she'll be like, wow, that's exactly the word I needed,
you know, or just encouragement with each other, and so
I just companion planting is such a it's just such
a beautiful picture of that that I'm like, yes, that
is every time I plant my plants together, you know,
which is recently as with spraying and stuff, I've been
(03:34):
doing that and I just keep thinking about this companion
planting and how it really is community for us. So yeah,
I love this. I'm picturing my garden. So we lived
in Alaska before two years ago. So last summer was
our first summer that I was able to have a garden.
Not I'm sorry, I had a garden in Alaska, but
(03:54):
we just tomatoes didn't do super well. Peppers really didn't flourish.
And if you had a greenhouse, even like I had
greenhouse tomatoes in Alaska, and I'm sorry Alaskans, they're not
the same. It's not the same in the greenhouse as
it is there's even though there's sun for a long
time and they can grow gigantic produce there, it's not
(04:16):
the same quality of sun and so the I'm sure
there's a spiritual lesson in there too. But the tomatoes
were lacking in my opinion, as in you know East
Coaster that grew up in Maryland with cousins that had
like a farm, and you know, it just it was
not the same. So here, I was so excited about
my tomatoes and they're gorgeous they came, they were so good,
but I planted them separately from the Halapanos. So now
(04:38):
this year, I am gonna, I'm gonna and I'm going
to think about that analogy every time. And you know,
praying Christian women did an Ephesian study a few years ago,
and we kind of did a similar thing where we
kind of had a community that we went through stuff with.
And I had never seen so clearly like I had thought, oh,
we'll do Ephesians because oh yeah, armor of God, that's
(05:00):
so relevant to prayer. And when I think of the
Armor of God, I think of an individual putting on
the different pieces of armor to be a prayer warrior.
But the Lord like impressed on me, chapter after chapter
after chapter the importance of the Body of Christ collectively,
and how even the shields that are used I think
(05:20):
it's called a scutum. It was like the Roman shield
was designed to interlock with other shields and it could
be used individually and was very effective that way, but
it was designed to be used in this collective sense.
And so when you talk about that intermingling of plants
to mutually benefit from each other's strengths and.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
To not like Alana and I talk all the time
about like it's so easy to envy the strengths of others. Like,
for instance, I see you and your love for God's Word,
and I'm like, I want that, and that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
But when it turns into envying.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Your passion for the Bible and God's Word and your
testimony of how God like completely turned you around from
not believing at all to being this just force of
you know, just loving God's word and sharing it.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
If I look at.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
That and I envy that and in a way that
disparages my strengths, then I mean the enemy can get
a foothold there.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So that little picture of the plants, the tomatoes and
the peppers, just it says it all in just one
little picture. So I'm going to think of that every
time a garden from Dallas.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yes, yeah, it really is such a great picture of
community and just how we it's good for a halopina
plant to really be a halopena plant, you know, and
yet it offers things that benefit the tomato plant. So yeah,
embracing who we are, how God made us, and then
how he brings this community together to you know, grow
(06:51):
us even stronger. So yeah, and I love that you
grew tomatoes in Alaska, Jamie.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
That cracks me up.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, well, I could only grow the one.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
The only ones that really flourished and fruited without a
greenhouse were the cherry tomatoes and they were okay. But yeah,
but he I gave up after the first year trying,
and I stuck with zucchini. And you know, like kale,
oh cale, you could grow some kale.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It loved Alaska.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, oh I bet, I bet that's so good.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, So, for those who didn't see episode four oh
nine in September when you talked about your Ruth Bible
study and gave your testimony, go back and listen to
that because Mary Elle gives this amazing testimony of just why.
It kind of illustrates why she's so passionate about God's
(07:54):
word and God's word literally changed her life. But for
those who had not, can you you kind of refresh
our memory about what the tend method of Bible study
is that you've developed. It's an acronym, and you know,
what are those steps and how how did you come
up with that method?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, so really because of my salsa garden, the Lord
really showed me there that He tends our souls in
so much the same way as we tend a garden.
And you see it all throughout scripture, you know, the
pictures of you know, God's word being a seed and
planting it in our hearts and tending to it.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
And so that's how I came up with the method.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And it really is just an acronym of an inductive
way to study scripture. So it's it's simple. It helps
guide you through the steps. Tea is take time to pray,
and that's where we just reorient our heart back to
the Lord. And you know, when we get into his word,
we want to start with prayers so we are reminded
(08:56):
who we're talking to, and then he is examined the scripture.
And that's where you write down the verses with your hand,
which is just I mean, it's a lost art now
often it is, you know, are on our screens and
doing our thumb on our phone and stuff, and there's
just such a benefit to us mentally and even spiritually
(09:19):
to slow down enough to actually write it out. So
I really only look at one to three verses a day,
and I will go through an entire book of the
Bible a couple of verses a day.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
At a time.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
And so I'll examine the scripture, I write it down,
and then in is notice the lesson? And that's where
we want to ask of those verses, you know, what
is here being taught about God? About his character? Because
scripture is primarily about God and his character and who
he is. And then we want to consider is there
a promise or an action or command or an example
(09:52):
in these verses that are being taught by the original
author to the original hearers of this word? And d
is do what it says. And that's where we just
respond to God's word. And it's just it's so much
like gardening. I mean, I can I come back to
that all the time because it's just this little by little,
(10:13):
you know, you press the seed of the Word into
the soil of your heart, and it's just little by little,
and then eventually.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
You start to see fruit, you start to.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
You know, grow, and there's just there's so much there
that when we tend, when we do that something as
small as just a couple of verses a day, it's
amazing how the Lord will just bring about so much
fruit over time as we do respond little by little.
So yeah, I mean it's it has been something that
(10:43):
I've been doing for over twenty years now. Taught my
sons how to do it when they were little, and
now they're grown and.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Just and they're continuing to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So it just the ability to slowly get into God's Word,
you know. I think sometimes we think there's some award
that we get if we, you know, race through God's
word or you know a chapter a day, keeps the
devil away kind of thing. But the reality is if
we slow down and really hear from God, it just
it will change our perspective, our mood, our actions. I
(11:13):
mean it's really powerful. So yeah, so that's how I
tend and that's what these Bible studies are, you know,
the Root study that we talked about in September and
then the first Peter study that's coming out is using
that method to go through that book.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, and I love what you said about slowing down
because I think more than any other time in the
history of the world, we need to be intentional about
slowing ourselves down and writing, like actually writing out God's word,
I mean it just or even writing our thoughts out.
I got back into journaling recently after a long time
(11:50):
not having done it, and I loved it because my thoughts.
I mean, I have realized my attention span getting shorter
as a result of social media and just you know,
short form communication texting, you know, instead of letters, and
even email has become too cumbersome sometimes to do right.
(12:11):
And so I have felt my attention span shortening my
depth of thought. I'm doing more skimming thought than in
depth thought. And if we're not intentional about that, it's
not going to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So I love that part of your study because it
does bring us back, and the simplicity and the purity
of doing that is in itself connects us, I think
in a way that.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We can't when we're just running so fast. I think
it just helps that connection.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Absolutely, Yeah, and so much. There's so much in God's word.
There's such depth.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
There that when we slow down, I mean, just something
as simple as you know Psalm twenty three that feels
so familiar and you slow down, it really transforms you
to really hear God through each of those verses and
what he's revealing about himself. It's so powerful, it is,
I think, so I worked in laboratory research, right out
(13:08):
of college and used a lot of microscopes and you know,
diagnostic tools and stuff, and it just makes me think
that you can look at things on a surface level,
then you can look at it a little bit more
deeply and you can just keep basically like ratcheting in
smaller and smaller and smaller, and it reveals these entire
(13:30):
worlds within like within a cell. There's this entire like
city within a cell that's working. And I mean, and
it goes so much deeper than that you know with
scientists that look at smaller and smaller levels. But God's
word can be like that where you just ratchet in
more and more and more and you uncover different layers
(13:52):
of meaning, you uncover word use and just I mean,
it's just incredible. And then you can say, oh, I
remember this is here also and you can flip back
to where that's in the Old Testament, and I mean,
it's just it's amazing when you slow down and when
you look that there's literally an endless amount of information
(14:13):
and wisdom in God's Word.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, I love that analogy too, because it really is
it's simple enough for a child to understand and for
a child to be changed by it. But it is
deep enough that, you know, the wisest scholar could spend
years on writing books on one verse. I mean, it
just it's so powerful. So yeah, that is a great picture.
(14:36):
It's a great analogy.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Well, I have a question for you, because I remember
talking to someone once that said, I don't really understand
the point of studying and studying and studying God's word, Like,
I know what the Bible says. The disciples, all they
had to know was just kind of the basic things.
Jesus said, like why do we Why is it important
for us as Christians? What good is it to just
(15:00):
continue studying the Bible when we got the idea already?
Why don't we just go live our lives and love people?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Like Jesus said, that is such a good question, you know,
I think the best response I can think of is
the fact that God's word is not an academic achievement.
It's not for our academic knowledge. It's for intimacy and
a relationship with a living God. And in the same
(15:28):
way that we would not just talk to our husband
on our wedding day and never speak to him again,
we want to not just know about God, but we
want to know God and his word is how he
reveals himself to us all the time.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Through our whole life.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
And you know, it makes me think of two Timothy
in chapter three. He's talking about the end times and
just godless people and how they creep their way into
households and capture or what he calls weak willed women.
And it's because of these women are gaining a learning
(16:07):
of facts rather than a knowledge of truth. And so
I feel like that is such a so connected to
us because we live in the day and age where
you know, through our phones and screens and all these godlessness,
godless people and godless ideas creep their way into our
households and capture us with our.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Own burdens and sins.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
If we aren't knowing God and growing in relationship with him,
if we just know facts about God, there's no life there.
That's just you know, book knowledge. That's just an academic
practice as opposed to developing an intimate relationship with God
that brings stability and peace and joy and just grows us.
(16:56):
That's truly where we bear fruit, you know, is in
that intimacy with God as opposed to I just know
a lot of things, and I can pass a trivia test.
There's not any growth in that, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Would say there's always space for us to go deeper
in our relationship with God. But it doesn't have to
look like you know, the three hour quiet time or
you know, the Instagram ready kind of thing. It really
is a relationship. So it's this ongoing conversation. He speaks
to me through his word, I speak to him through prayer,
(17:32):
and we just do life together with a living God.
It's a living relationship.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That's so good. I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Thank you for explaining that, because I think that really
clarifies that question. I wish I had that answer when
I talk to that person.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I did not.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
How you do now I do. I'm going to go
back yet, So tell us about your newest study. First, Peter,
Sustained by a Living Hope are what are some of
the big takeaways, What are some of the big themes
and how are they relevant to us today? When I
see Sustained by a Living Hope and I read the
news and I see the world around us and I
(18:26):
look on social media, I think, thank you Jesus, we
need this.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
So yeah, absolutely, you know, this whole Bible study is
this whole book of Scripture is about standing firm in
a world that feels unstable. And just like for Peter
and for the believers in the early Church, the world
felt unstable and their their hope felt so shifting that
(18:51):
Peter brings them back with this letter to shift their
perspective back to focus on who God is and anchor
their identity and cry and just that gives them this
living hope that is eternal. And man, you are exactly right,
and we need this message in our day right now.
(19:11):
I mean, we cannot turn on the news that we
don't hear of wars and rumors of wars and just
depravity and pain and loss and so many things to
shake us and steal our confidence and God's word. Through
First Peter, I mean, he is all about getting this
(19:32):
anchor into standing firm in a place while everything's unstable,
in a place that's really stable, and that is our
eternal salvation in Christ. First Peter reminds us that hope
is not tied to our circumstances, which is so easy
to say and hard to do, but that really it's
(19:53):
anchored in what Christ has already done and what he
has coming, what he's promised for us, and so it
is such a timely reminder of what we have in Christ.
And it just so much of Scripture really feels like
it could really be.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Written written today, you know. I mean, we just we.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Need that same reminder that Peer is telling his audience
and telling us that our hope is sustained, our hope
is a living hope, and we can anchor it in
Christ and what He's done. So yeah, it's just an
invitation to know that first Peter, and then to live
it out, because first Peter is here's who you are,
(20:34):
and then let's live it out in this hard and
trying culture.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And so same for us. We just we definitely need that.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, I mean, the Bible points to the fact that
things will get worse before they get better, and at
this point in our lives, if we take this opportunity
to internalize that hope, to internalize that knowledge of truth,
it's going to sustain us. And I think of my kids,
I think, oh, they need this, they need I need
(21:04):
to be intentional about helping them to connect with God
in this way. So yeah, that's it's so needed. Did
you find anything surprising so as you did your research,
as you kind of prepared this study. Did anything surprise
you or was there anything new about First Peter that
you had not previously understood or that you saw in
(21:25):
a new way?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, you know, one of the things that I don't
know if it was necessarily a new way, I feel like,
but it was a incredible reminder just going through because
I tended through the Book of First Peter as I'm
writing it, you know, as I'm writing this study, and
it just was so poignant to me. How Peter spends
(21:50):
a significant amount of time in this letter reminding believers.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Who they are.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Before he says, here's how you live it out. So
he's reminding them you are chosen, you are holy, you
are people.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Belonging to God.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
And then he says, now you can go live it out,
because who we think we are matters. I mean, we
are going to live we do live out of who
we think we are. And God says, you are mine,
you are chosen, you are holy, you are you know,
a people belonging to God in order to proclaim His
(22:26):
goodness into the world, and so who we think we
are matters, and Peter says, here's who you are.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Now go live like it.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
And it just it felt like, again such a reminder
that is a good place to anchor our soul in
this culture, in this world, in this day and age,
you know, of just not hearing what the world says
about me or the lies that I've internalized, but to
really reorient my heart back to who does God say
(22:56):
I am? And then how do I live and overflow
from that? And yeah, and I agree, I think our
kids are this next generation that's just coming up. You know,
they really have to be anchored and who Christ says
they are because the world is shouting at them so
many lies, and so in order to bear fruit that overflows,
(23:20):
you know, and shows God's goodness into the world, it
starts with who am I?
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Who am I?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
In Christ?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And so yeah, fir'st Peter really he really lays it
out there and he's very clear with that and giving
them that hope to just remember who you are and
whose you are.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
And that's spiritual warfare.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I mean, you think a spiritual warfare as you know,
praying out declarations or whatever. But the enemy is a liar.
That's one of his primary characteristics is he's a deceiver.
He's a twister of truth and spiritual warfare is knowing,
I guess learning based on script sure knowing and internalizing
(24:02):
and just declaring like who we are. That's spiritual warfare,
because otherwise, I mean, we rely on behavior modification and
a set of rules and pharasical standards that end up
being a house of cards and empty and void, you know,
like the clanging gong. If there's no love and if
there's no connection with the vine, and we have these
(24:24):
empty righteous acts like filthy rags, you know, that's that's
a deception. And so I love I love that focus.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
That's so good.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, we've got to be rooted in the right thing,
you know, and and the fruit that comes from that
it can't just be plastic out here, you know.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
It's really it's really where we're rooted.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And so just knowing who God is and knowing who
we are in him, it's just makes such a difference.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
That is great.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, can you tell us a little bit about your
online community and how like our listeners are like right
now the perfect time to learn about this because you've
got this coming up what next week where you're going
to actually like start going through this study. So talk
about your online community and what that involves and what
that's going to look like.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, So the online community is just a place where
women gather from all over the world. It's called tending together,
and that's what we do. We are just tending our
souls together. And we have prayer prompts each week where
we're praying scripture in there and pray for one another.
We do our tend Bible studies and gather together on
(25:35):
Zoom each week to do this the Bible studies, and
it is just such a beautiful gathering of women. And
so next week May twelfth, we will start with First Peter.
And so for everybody who orders the book, they can
grab the free for a month in the community can
come join us and tend through First Peter with us
(25:57):
and kind of get a taste of how this canmunity
works and if it's something that might benefit them and
you know, help them in their walk with the Lord.
And so I have grown the most in my seasons
where I have had accountability and other women that support
me and come alongside me and are like, you know, hey,
(26:18):
I'm praying for you, or just hold me accountable, and
so we kind of hold space for that. And my
hope is that women would come together to be able
to link arms, and like you said with the shields
in Ephesians, that's exactly it.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
You know, we we.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Are stronger together, and so this is a place for that.
And I'm really excited to get to do First Peter
in there because we did it with Ruth and it
was just a really sweet time. And we are always
every four to six weeks we're doing another ten Bible study.
So some of them are the published studies and some
are exclusively for the community. So yeah, I would love
(26:57):
your listeners to come join me.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, that's all. Its wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Where can they go to find out more about that
and find your other books and your everything.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah, yeah, they can go to Mariel Davenport dot com.
I've got links there and you can find about the
community and the podcast and and then the Bible studies.
You can also buy the Bible Cities anywhere books are
sold Amazon and Baker Books and Our Daily Bread, who
is the publisher of the studies, and so they have
them as well. And yeah, and now is the time
(27:28):
to get First Peter because you know, if you order
it in the next week or so, then you can
hop and get this free coupon to join us in
the community.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
So yeah, go to Mariel Davenport dot com. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Well and where are you on social media? Is that
all on your website as well?
Speaker 4 (27:48):
That is on my website.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, I'm also you know, you can find me in
substack Mariel Davenport. You can find me in Instagram at
Mariel Davenport. So yeah, all the places under my name,
my pot cast links in there and stuff too.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I didn't even mention your podcast, which you want to
tell us about that too.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Sure, It's just it's a less than ten minute little
podcast time that we just tend through a couple verses.
We do that once a week and it's whatever I'm
tending through in my own time with the Lord, and
I just have a heart to share it with people,
and so anybody that'll listen, you know, it will serve
you to just put it in your ears and let
(28:28):
God's words speak to you. We just go through the
tend method and do that each week. So yeah, I
do that in the community as well, so kind of
get it both places. And yeah, hopefully that would serve
somebody to be able to listen to it if you can't,
you know, grab your Bible and you're driving to work or.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Something like that.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
It's just a place that you can feel like my
soul's being tended, even though I haven't had time to
sit down with an open Bible today, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
So that's great. I love it.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Well, Maryelle, thank you for being here again.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
This is great.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
I can't wait for your first Peter Community group. And
how can we pray for you today? We'll close in prayer.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, well, with the Bible study coming out that I
definitely my biggest prayer is just for the Lord to
draw more women to know him through his word, because
it's how I came to know the Lord. It is
how I am growing in the Lord, and it is everything.
God's Word is everything. So that's my biggest prayer. And
I'm also launching my youngest son, and so on a
(29:32):
personal level, I would love prayer for, you know, to
just steward this season well of empty nesting and sending
these children out into the world to just be arrows
for Jesus.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
All right, we will definitely do that, all right.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Thank you, Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Jamie.
This has been really sweet and I really appreciate it. Friend,
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Oh, me too.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
All right, well, let's pray God, thank you so much
for Maryelle, for her test stimony, for her love of
your word, and just for the ways that you use
her to reach women with the truth of Scripture. We
just pray that your word would go out through these
Bible studies and not return empty. We just pray that
(30:16):
they would reach more women than she could ever even
ask or imagine, and men too, that people would just
find a connection with you through slowing down and really
experiencing your word and taking it into themselves.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
And we just thank you so much for that.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And we just lift up Maryelle that you would continue
to guide her to direct her as she launches this
next tend study in her community.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Through First Peter.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
We just pray that you would bless that that it
would be just a safe space for growth and for
just deepening faith. I just pray that salvations would come
through this new study, and we just pray that those
who are already believers would deepen their relationships and their
connections with you, and that this book would.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Be a lifeline and a hope for all of us.
That just desperately need hope during a time when it's
sometimes hard to remember that you're on the throne, and
it's sometimes hard to remember that we are yours and
that if you are for us, no one and nothing
can be against us. And so we just cling to
that hope and thank you for it, and just pray
(31:30):
for Maryelle as she launches her youngest. We pray for
him that he would flourish and thrive, and for all
of her kids that they would just be drawn to
you even more strongly as they go out on their
own than they even were when they were under her care.
That you would continue to draw them to yourself, that
(31:51):
you would teach them, that you would bless them and
love them, and that you would give her the wisdom
to know how to kind of restructure life as an
empty nester, to steward that well, to just be able
to take your cues and follow your leading into exactly
what you have for her during this season. In Jesus name,
(32:13):
we pray.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Amen, Amen.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Thank you so much, Jamie. We'd like to take just
a quick second to thank the team at life Audio
for their partnership with us on the podcast. If you
go to lifeaudio dot com. You will find dozens of
other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's
(32:36):
lifeaudio dot com.
Life Audio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hi thereon, Welcome to another episode of the Praying Christian
Women podcast. I am Jamie Hampton, and today I get
to be back with good friend of the podcast, Mary
El Davenport. She's a Bible study teacher who helps women
connect with God through his word. She absolutely loves the
Bible and it oozes out of everything she does and says,
(00:25):
which is why I love talking to her on this podcast.
And she developed the tend method of Bible study, which
we talked about in September with her Ruth Study. It's
a four step approach to studying the Bible, and it
emphasizes intimacy with God and really tending and cultivating that relationship,
which is awesome. And she has a brand new study
coming out tomorrow. As of the time when this episode airs,
(00:49):
it's first Peter Sustained by a Living Hope.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
So I just can't wait to get into this Mary Elle.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
And you also have a community online that you're going
to be going through this study with, so I just
can't wait to.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
Talk about all of these things with you. Thanks for
joining us again. Thank you so much for having me Jamie.
This is really fun. I loved being here last time
and I'm so excited to be here again.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Well, I was thinking since you were here last September
and we already kind of talked about your prayer closet,
which I think, is it your prayer chair?
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Is that the one?
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Okay, you've got a prayer chair and you're like able
to look out and see like your garden and stuff. Yes, okay,
so I remember that. But I want to ask you.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
This is Alana, and I love like horticulture analogies for
our spiritual life. So I want to ask you what
is your favorite spiritual analogy that pertains to plants or gardening.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah. You know, it's really funny because I thought this
is such my favorite.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Question because I love gardening.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Stuff, and I know you did.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
I garden my salsa garden, and even though I don't
really have a green thumb persone, I really love growing
the ingredients of salsae. So one of the things I
learned several years ago with salsa gardening and salta planting
and stuff is that there's a thing called companion planting,
and it's where you plant together plants that benefit one another,
(02:14):
kind of a mutual you know, relationship. And so if
you plant tomato plants with halapinos, the tomatoes get really large,
and so they provide shade for the little halapino plants
from you know, the harsh sun parts.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Of the day.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
And at the same time, the jlapino plant keeps different
kinds of beetles and worms and stuff off of the
tomato plant because of the spice and the you know,
scent of the halapino plant. And so I just I
feel like that is such a beautiful picture of just
the body of Christ and having community together and how
(02:50):
we need one another, you know in our own growing
and flourishing and God's word and so and really that's
why I started my community on that you mentioned tending together,
because I feel like there these women come together and
we are mutually benefiting from one another in a sense,
you know, we pray for one another. We somebody will
(03:11):
share something in Bible study that really serves another lady
and she'll be like, wow, that's exactly the word I needed,
you know, or just encouragement with each other, and so
I just companion planting is such a it's just such
a beautiful picture of that that I'm like, yes, that
is every time I plant my plants together, you know,
which is recently as with spraying and stuff, I've been
(03:34):
doing that and I just keep thinking about this companion
planting and how it really is community for us. So yeah,
I love this. I'm picturing my garden. So we lived
in Alaska before two years ago. So last summer was
our first summer that I was able to have a garden.
Not I'm sorry, I had a garden in Alaska, but
(03:54):
we just tomatoes didn't do super well. Peppers really didn't flourish.
And if you had a greenhouse, even like I had
greenhouse tomatoes in Alaska, and I'm sorry Alaskans, they're not
the same. It's not the same in the greenhouse as
it is there's even though there's sun for a long
time and they can grow gigantic produce there, it's not
(04:16):
the same quality of sun and so the I'm sure
there's a spiritual lesson in there too. But the tomatoes
were lacking in my opinion, as in you know East
Coaster that grew up in Maryland with cousins that had
like a farm, and you know, it just it was
not the same. So here, I was so excited about
my tomatoes and they're gorgeous they came, they were so good,
but I planted them separately from the Halapanos. So now
(04:38):
this year, I am gonna, I'm gonna and I'm going
to think about that analogy every time. And you know,
praying Christian women did an Ephesian study a few years ago,
and we kind of did a similar thing where we
kind of had a community that we went through stuff with.
And I had never seen so clearly like I had thought, oh,
we'll do Ephesians because oh yeah, armor of God, that's
(05:00):
so relevant to prayer. And when I think of the
Armor of God, I think of an individual putting on
the different pieces of armor to be a prayer warrior.
But the Lord like impressed on me, chapter after chapter
after chapter the importance of the Body of Christ collectively,
and how even the shields that are used I think
(05:20):
it's called a scutum. It was like the Roman shield
was designed to interlock with other shields and it could
be used individually and was very effective that way, but
it was designed to be used in this collective sense.
And so when you talk about that intermingling of plants
to mutually benefit from each other's strengths and.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
To not like Alana and I talk all the time
about like it's so easy to envy the strengths of others. Like,
for instance, I see you and your love for God's Word,
and I'm like, I want that, and that's a good thing.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
But when it turns into envying.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Your passion for the Bible and God's Word and your
testimony of how God like completely turned you around from
not believing at all to being this just force of
you know, just loving God's word and sharing it.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
If I look at.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
That and I envy that and in a way that
disparages my strengths, then I mean the enemy can get
a foothold there.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So that little picture of the plants, the tomatoes and
the peppers, just it says it all in just one
little picture. So I'm going to think of that every
time a garden from Dallas.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Yes, yeah, it really is such a great picture of
community and just how we it's good for a halopina
plant to really be a halopena plant, you know, and
yet it offers things that benefit the tomato plant. So yeah,
embracing who we are, how God made us, and then
how he brings this community together to you know, grow
(06:51):
us even stronger. So yeah, and I love that you
grew tomatoes in Alaska, Jamie.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
That cracks me up.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, well, I could only grow the one.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
The only ones that really flourished and fruited without a
greenhouse were the cherry tomatoes and they were okay. But yeah,
but he I gave up after the first year trying,
and I stuck with zucchini. And you know, like kale,
oh cale, you could grow some kale.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
It loved Alaska.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Yeah, oh I bet, I bet that's so good.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, So, for those who didn't see episode four oh
nine in September when you talked about your Ruth Bible
study and gave your testimony, go back and listen to
that because Mary Elle gives this amazing testimony of just why.
It kind of illustrates why she's so passionate about God's
(07:54):
word and God's word literally changed her life. But for
those who had not, can you you kind of refresh
our memory about what the tend method of Bible study
is that you've developed. It's an acronym, and you know,
what are those steps and how how did you come
up with that method?
Speaker 4 (08:11):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, so really because of my salsa garden, the Lord
really showed me there that He tends our souls in
so much the same way as we tend a garden.
And you see it all throughout scripture, you know, the
pictures of you know, God's word being a seed and
planting it in our hearts and tending to it.
Speaker 4 (08:32):
And so that's how I came up with the method.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
And it really is just an acronym of an inductive
way to study scripture. So it's it's simple. It helps
guide you through the steps. Tea is take time to pray,
and that's where we just reorient our heart back to
the Lord. And you know, when we get into his word,
we want to start with prayers so we are reminded
(08:56):
who we're talking to, and then he is examined the scripture.
And that's where you write down the verses with your hand,
which is just I mean, it's a lost art now
often it is, you know, are on our screens and
doing our thumb on our phone and stuff, and there's
just such a benefit to us mentally and even spiritually
(09:19):
to slow down enough to actually write it out. So
I really only look at one to three verses a day,
and I will go through an entire book of the
Bible a couple of verses a day.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
At a time.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
And so I'll examine the scripture, I write it down,
and then in is notice the lesson? And that's where
we want to ask of those verses, you know, what
is here being taught about God? About his character? Because
scripture is primarily about God and his character and who
he is. And then we want to consider is there
a promise or an action or command or an example
(09:52):
in these verses that are being taught by the original
author to the original hearers of this word? And d
is do what it says. And that's where we just
respond to God's word. And it's just it's so much
like gardening. I mean, I can I come back to
that all the time because it's just this little by little,
(10:13):
you know, you press the seed of the Word into
the soil of your heart, and it's just little by little,
and then eventually.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
You start to see fruit, you start to.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
You know, grow, and there's just there's so much there
that when we tend, when we do that something as
small as just a couple of verses a day, it's
amazing how the Lord will just bring about so much
fruit over time as we do respond little by little.
So yeah, I mean it's it has been something that
(10:43):
I've been doing for over twenty years now. Taught my
sons how to do it when they were little, and
now they're grown and.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Just and they're continuing to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So it just the ability to slowly get into God's Word,
you know. I think sometimes we think there's some award
that we get if we, you know, race through God's
word or you know a chapter a day, keeps the
devil away kind of thing. But the reality is if
we slow down and really hear from God, it just
it will change our perspective, our mood, our actions. I
(11:13):
mean it's really powerful. So yeah, so that's how I
tend and that's what these Bible studies are, you know,
the Root study that we talked about in September and
then the first Peter study that's coming out is using
that method to go through that book.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Yeah, and I love what you said about slowing down
because I think more than any other time in the
history of the world, we need to be intentional about
slowing ourselves down and writing, like actually writing out God's word,
I mean it just or even writing our thoughts out.
I got back into journaling recently after a long time
(11:50):
not having done it, and I loved it because my thoughts.
I mean, I have realized my attention span getting shorter
as a result of social media and just you know,
short form communication texting, you know, instead of letters, and
even email has become too cumbersome sometimes to do right.
(12:11):
And so I have felt my attention span shortening my
depth of thought. I'm doing more skimming thought than in
depth thought. And if we're not intentional about that, it's
not going to happen.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
So I love that part of your study because it
does bring us back, and the simplicity and the purity
of doing that is in itself connects us, I think
in a way that.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We can't when we're just running so fast. I think
it just helps that connection.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Absolutely, Yeah, and so much. There's so much in God's word.
There's such depth.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
There that when we slow down, I mean, just something
as simple as you know Psalm twenty three that feels
so familiar and you slow down, it really transforms you
to really hear God through each of those verses and
what he's revealing about himself. It's so powerful, it is,
I think, so I worked in laboratory research, right out
(13:08):
of college and used a lot of microscopes and you know,
diagnostic tools and stuff, and it just makes me think
that you can look at things on a surface level,
then you can look at it a little bit more
deeply and you can just keep basically like ratcheting in
smaller and smaller and smaller, and it reveals these entire
(13:30):
worlds within like within a cell. There's this entire like
city within a cell that's working. And I mean, and
it goes so much deeper than that you know with
scientists that look at smaller and smaller levels. But God's
word can be like that where you just ratchet in
more and more and more and you uncover different layers
(13:52):
of meaning, you uncover word use and just I mean,
it's just incredible. And then you can say, oh, I
remember this is here also and you can flip back
to where that's in the Old Testament, and I mean,
it's just it's amazing when you slow down and when
you look that there's literally an endless amount of information
(14:13):
and wisdom in God's Word.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Yeah, I love that analogy too, because it really is
it's simple enough for a child to understand and for
a child to be changed by it. But it is
deep enough that, you know, the wisest scholar could spend
years on writing books on one verse. I mean, it
just it's so powerful. So yeah, that is a great picture.
(14:36):
It's a great analogy.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Well, I have a question for you, because I remember
talking to someone once that said, I don't really understand
the point of studying and studying and studying God's word, Like,
I know what the Bible says. The disciples, all they
had to know was just kind of the basic things.
Jesus said, like why do we Why is it important
for us as Christians? What good is it to just
(15:00):
continue studying the Bible when we got the idea already?
Why don't we just go live our lives and love people?
Speaker 3 (15:06):
Like Jesus said, that is such a good question, you know,
I think the best response I can think of is
the fact that God's word is not an academic achievement.
It's not for our academic knowledge. It's for intimacy and
a relationship with a living God. And in the same
(15:28):
way that we would not just talk to our husband
on our wedding day and never speak to him again,
we want to not just know about God, but we
want to know God and his word is how he
reveals himself to us all the time.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Through our whole life.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
And you know, it makes me think of two Timothy
in chapter three. He's talking about the end times and
just godless people and how they creep their way into
households and capture or what he calls weak willed women.
And it's because of these women are gaining a learning
(16:07):
of facts rather than a knowledge of truth. And so
I feel like that is such a so connected to
us because we live in the day and age where
you know, through our phones and screens and all these godlessness,
godless people and godless ideas creep their way into our
households and capture us with our.
Speaker 4 (16:29):
Own burdens and sins.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
If we aren't knowing God and growing in relationship with him,
if we just know facts about God, there's no life there.
That's just you know, book knowledge. That's just an academic
practice as opposed to developing an intimate relationship with God
that brings stability and peace and joy and just grows us.
(16:56):
That's truly where we bear fruit, you know, is in
that intimacy with God as opposed to I just know
a lot of things, and I can pass a trivia test.
There's not any growth in that, you know.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
So yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
Would say there's always space for us to go deeper
in our relationship with God. But it doesn't have to
look like you know, the three hour quiet time or
you know, the Instagram ready kind of thing. It really
is a relationship. So it's this ongoing conversation. He speaks
to me through his word, I speak to him through prayer,
(17:32):
and we just do life together with a living God.
It's a living relationship.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That's so good. I love that.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Thank you for explaining that, because I think that really
clarifies that question. I wish I had that answer when
I talk to that person.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I did not.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
How you do now I do. I'm going to go
back yet, So tell us about your newest study. First, Peter,
Sustained by a Living Hope are what are some of
the big takeaways, What are some of the big themes
and how are they relevant to us today? When I
see Sustained by a Living Hope and I read the
news and I see the world around us and I
(18:26):
look on social media, I think, thank you Jesus, we
need this.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
So yeah, absolutely, you know, this whole Bible study is
this whole book of Scripture is about standing firm in
a world that feels unstable. And just like for Peter
and for the believers in the early Church, the world
felt unstable and their their hope felt so shifting that
(18:51):
Peter brings them back with this letter to shift their
perspective back to focus on who God is and anchor
their identity and cry and just that gives them this
living hope that is eternal. And man, you are exactly right,
and we need this message in our day right now.
(19:11):
I mean, we cannot turn on the news that we
don't hear of wars and rumors of wars and just
depravity and pain and loss and so many things to
shake us and steal our confidence and God's word. Through
First Peter, I mean, he is all about getting this
(19:32):
anchor into standing firm in a place while everything's unstable,
in a place that's really stable, and that is our
eternal salvation in Christ. First Peter reminds us that hope
is not tied to our circumstances, which is so easy
to say and hard to do, but that really it's
(19:53):
anchored in what Christ has already done and what he
has coming, what he's promised for us, and so it
is such a timely reminder of what we have in Christ.
And it just so much of Scripture really feels like
it could really be.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Written written today, you know. I mean, we just we.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
Need that same reminder that Peer is telling his audience
and telling us that our hope is sustained, our hope
is a living hope, and we can anchor it in
Christ and what He's done. So yeah, it's just an
invitation to know that first Peter, and then to live
it out, because first Peter is here's who you are,
(20:34):
and then let's live it out in this hard and
trying culture.
Speaker 4 (20:38):
And so same for us. We just we definitely need that.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yeah, I mean, the Bible points to the fact that
things will get worse before they get better, and at
this point in our lives, if we take this opportunity
to internalize that hope, to internalize that knowledge of truth,
it's going to sustain us. And I think of my kids,
I think, oh, they need this, they need I need
(21:04):
to be intentional about helping them to connect with God
in this way. So yeah, that's it's so needed. Did
you find anything surprising so as you did your research,
as you kind of prepared this study. Did anything surprise
you or was there anything new about First Peter that
you had not previously understood or that you saw in
(21:25):
a new way?
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Yeah, you know, one of the things that I don't
know if it was necessarily a new way, I feel like,
but it was a incredible reminder just going through because
I tended through the Book of First Peter as I'm
writing it, you know, as I'm writing this study, and
it just was so poignant to me. How Peter spends
(21:50):
a significant amount of time in this letter reminding believers.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
Who they are.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
Before he says, here's how you live it out. So
he's reminding them you are chosen, you are holy, you
are people.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Belonging to God.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
And then he says, now you can go live it out,
because who we think we are matters. I mean, we
are going to live we do live out of who
we think we are. And God says, you are mine,
you are chosen, you are holy, you are you know,
a people belonging to God in order to proclaim His
(22:26):
goodness into the world, and so who we think we
are matters, and Peter says, here's who you are.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
Now go live like it.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
And it just it felt like, again such a reminder
that is a good place to anchor our soul in
this culture, in this world, in this day and age,
you know, of just not hearing what the world says
about me or the lies that I've internalized, but to
really reorient my heart back to who does God say
(22:56):
I am? And then how do I live and overflow
from that? And yeah, and I agree, I think our
kids are this next generation that's just coming up. You know,
they really have to be anchored and who Christ says
they are because the world is shouting at them so
many lies, and so in order to bear fruit that overflows,
(23:20):
you know, and shows God's goodness into the world, it
starts with who am I?
Speaker 4 (23:26):
Who am I?
Speaker 1 (23:26):
In Christ?
Speaker 3 (23:27):
And so yeah, fir'st Peter really he really lays it
out there and he's very clear with that and giving
them that hope to just remember who you are and
whose you are.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
And that's spiritual warfare.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I mean, you think a spiritual warfare as you know,
praying out declarations or whatever. But the enemy is a liar.
That's one of his primary characteristics is he's a deceiver.
He's a twister of truth and spiritual warfare is knowing,
I guess learning based on script sure knowing and internalizing
(24:02):
and just declaring like who we are. That's spiritual warfare,
because otherwise, I mean, we rely on behavior modification and
a set of rules and pharasical standards that end up
being a house of cards and empty and void, you know,
like the clanging gong. If there's no love and if
there's no connection with the vine, and we have these
(24:24):
empty righteous acts like filthy rags, you know, that's that's
a deception. And so I love I love that focus.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
That's so good.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, we've got to be rooted in the right thing,
you know, and and the fruit that comes from that
it can't just be plastic out here, you know.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
It's really it's really where we're rooted.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
And so just knowing who God is and knowing who
we are in him, it's just makes such a difference.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
That is great.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Well, can you tell us a little bit about your
online community and how like our listeners are like right
now the perfect time to learn about this because you've
got this coming up what next week where you're going
to actually like start going through this study. So talk
about your online community and what that involves and what
that's going to look like.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, So the online community is just a place where
women gather from all over the world. It's called tending together,
and that's what we do. We are just tending our
souls together. And we have prayer prompts each week where
we're praying scripture in there and pray for one another.
We do our tend Bible studies and gather together on
(25:35):
Zoom each week to do this the Bible studies, and
it is just such a beautiful gathering of women. And
so next week May twelfth, we will start with First Peter.
And so for everybody who orders the book, they can
grab the free for a month in the community can
come join us and tend through First Peter with us
(25:57):
and kind of get a taste of how this canmunity
works and if it's something that might benefit them and
you know, help them in their walk with the Lord.
And so I have grown the most in my seasons
where I have had accountability and other women that support
me and come alongside me and are like, you know, hey,
(26:18):
I'm praying for you, or just hold me accountable, and
so we kind of hold space for that. And my
hope is that women would come together to be able
to link arms, and like you said with the shields
in Ephesians, that's exactly it.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
You know, we we.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
Are stronger together, and so this is a place for that.
And I'm really excited to get to do First Peter
in there because we did it with Ruth and it
was just a really sweet time. And we are always
every four to six weeks we're doing another ten Bible study.
So some of them are the published studies and some
are exclusively for the community. So yeah, I would love
(26:57):
your listeners to come join me.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
Yeah, that's all. Its wonderful.
Speaker 2 (27:00):
Where can they go to find out more about that
and find your other books and your everything.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Yeah, yeah, they can go to Mariel Davenport dot com.
I've got links there and you can find about the
community and the podcast and and then the Bible studies.
You can also buy the Bible Cities anywhere books are
sold Amazon and Baker Books and Our Daily Bread, who
is the publisher of the studies, and so they have
them as well. And yeah, and now is the time
(27:28):
to get First Peter because you know, if you order
it in the next week or so, then you can
hop and get this free coupon to join us in
the community.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
So yeah, go to Mariel Davenport dot com. Perfect.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Well and where are you on social media? Is that
all on your website as well?
Speaker 4 (27:48):
That is on my website.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Yeah, I'm also you know, you can find me in
substack Mariel Davenport. You can find me in Instagram at
Mariel Davenport. So yeah, all the places under my name,
my pot cast links in there and stuff too.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
I didn't even mention your podcast, which you want to
tell us about that too.
Speaker 4 (28:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Sure, It's just it's a less than ten minute little
podcast time that we just tend through a couple verses.
We do that once a week and it's whatever I'm
tending through in my own time with the Lord, and
I just have a heart to share it with people,
and so anybody that'll listen, you know, it will serve
you to just put it in your ears and let
(28:28):
God's words speak to you. We just go through the
tend method and do that each week. So yeah, I
do that in the community as well, so kind of
get it both places. And yeah, hopefully that would serve
somebody to be able to listen to it if you can't,
you know, grab your Bible and you're driving to work or.
Speaker 4 (28:47):
Something like that.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
It's just a place that you can feel like my
soul's being tended, even though I haven't had time to
sit down with an open Bible today, you know.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
So that's great. I love it.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Well, Maryelle, thank you for being here again.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
This is great.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
I can't wait for your first Peter Community group. And
how can we pray for you today? We'll close in prayer.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Yeah, well, with the Bible study coming out that I
definitely my biggest prayer is just for the Lord to
draw more women to know him through his word, because
it's how I came to know the Lord. It is
how I am growing in the Lord, and it is everything.
God's Word is everything. So that's my biggest prayer. And
I'm also launching my youngest son, and so on a
(29:32):
personal level, I would love prayer for, you know, to
just steward this season well of empty nesting and sending
these children out into the world to just be arrows
for Jesus.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
All right, we will definitely do that, all right.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Thank you, Thank you so much. Thank you for having me, Jamie.
This has been really sweet and I really appreciate it. Friend,
I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Oh, me too.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
All right, well, let's pray God, thank you so much
for Maryelle, for her test stimony, for her love of
your word, and just for the ways that you use
her to reach women with the truth of Scripture. We
just pray that your word would go out through these
Bible studies and not return empty. We just pray that
(30:16):
they would reach more women than she could ever even
ask or imagine, and men too, that people would just
find a connection with you through slowing down and really
experiencing your word and taking it into themselves.
Speaker 1 (30:34):
And we just thank you so much for that.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
And we just lift up Maryelle that you would continue
to guide her to direct her as she launches this
next tend study in her community.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Through First Peter.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
We just pray that you would bless that that it
would be just a safe space for growth and for
just deepening faith. I just pray that salvations would come
through this new study, and we just pray that those
who are already believers would deepen their relationships and their
connections with you, and that this book would.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Be a lifeline and a hope for all of us.
That just desperately need hope during a time when it's
sometimes hard to remember that you're on the throne, and
it's sometimes hard to remember that we are yours and
that if you are for us, no one and nothing
can be against us. And so we just cling to
that hope and thank you for it, and just pray
(31:30):
for Maryelle as she launches her youngest. We pray for
him that he would flourish and thrive, and for all
of her kids that they would just be drawn to
you even more strongly as they go out on their
own than they even were when they were under her care.
That you would continue to draw them to yourself, that
(31:51):
you would teach them, that you would bless them and
love them, and that you would give her the wisdom
to know how to kind of restructure life as an
empty nester, to steward that well, to just be able
to take your cues and follow your leading into exactly
what you have for her during this season. In Jesus name,
(32:13):
we pray.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
Amen, Amen.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
Thank you so much, Jamie. We'd like to take just
a quick second to thank the team at life Audio
for their partnership with us on the podcast. If you
go to lifeaudio dot com. You will find dozens of
other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows
about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more. That's
(32:36):
lifeaudio dot com.
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