Dwell Differently

“We have that ability—we can take God’s Word and when it’s ingrained in us we can just take it and pick it up and pray it over ourselves and pray it over our loved ones.” — Jennifer Dukes Lee

Today, Jennifer Dukes Lee joins Natalie Abbott to talk about Luke 6:45a, and you won't want to miss it. Jennifer talks vulnerably about how God has met and sustained her and her family  in hard seasons through his Word. She encourages us t...

“What you store up in your heart—either good or bad—has a real effect in your life. And the good things that come out of your heart, or the bad things, are the result of what you’re putting inside of you. So here’s the thing: we can know what’s going on inside of us by evaluating what’s coming out of us.” — Natalie Abbott

Have you ever said something and been shocked by what came out of your mouth, or maybe even how you said it? Joi...

“God invites us to participate in what we’re seeing there in Ezekiel 36 and 37. It’s not that we’re making this heart of stone into a heart of flesh—God’s the actor. It’s not that we’re making these dry bones come alive—God’s doing that. But he invites us to be a part of that. That is an incredible privilege and it’s exciting.” — Mike Grenier

If you're honest, do you ever feel like you should want to share the gospel more than ...

“When you get to the end of yourself and you’re truly honest with yourself, and then you hear this, and you hear that God comes right then with the promises, ‘I’ll give you a new heart and put my spirit in you,’ that is so good.” — Vera Schmitz

We can be tempted to think we just need to be “cleaned up” before coming to Jesus, but our verse this month helps us see the amazing truth about a God who does far more than just cl...

"The very thing that we most deeply need as human beings we can’t actually do for ourselves. It’s the work of God in us.” — Natalie Abbott

What do you do when you find yourself not caring spiritually, when your heart feels cold toward God? What does it look like to have a heart that is soft toward the Lord? Join Natalie Abbott and Nicole Zasowski as they dig into how Ezekiel 36:26 continues to impact the lives of God’s people. ...

“God has given us his own Spirit, and that’s how as believers we are able, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to follow him and to do what is right. But so often, we don’t. And that’s where this verse has been following me around. This verse has been convicting my heart where it’s hard and convicting my spirit where it’s unwilling and not wanting to follow the Holy Spirit who is in me and to listen to his voice and his guidance.” — N...

“We have a God who first loved us…and sacrificed for us and served us, and that’s a beautiful, beautiful thing." — Jason Abbott

This month’s verse raises so many questions: Why is Jesus able to be a ransom for us? What does this verse teach us about the kingdom of God? How does our servant-King’s example impact the way we live our lives? What should I do when I know the right way to serve and love others but just don’t want to?...

“If we make Christ greater, then we are thinking of ourselves less…I just want my life to be about Christ…it’s Christ above all, Christ greatest, Christ more. That’s what I want. And so I think that if that is true of me, then service out of that is easier and also I stop vying for position and rank and approval.” — Vera Schmitz

Do you tend to keep a scorecard when it comes to serving others? Our verse this month, Mark 10:...

“Jesus is trying to flip everything you expect upside down so that you can see him as he actually is.” — Caroline Saunders

Caroline Saunders joins Dwell Differently’s Natalie Abbott for a super honest conversation about what greatness really is, how to explain the truth of this month’s memory verse to a 10-year-old, what a ransom is, and more. You won't want to miss the practical implications and encouragement they share, helpi...

“He came to serve us because we are actually incapable of doing the thing that we most desperately need, which is to be made right before God.” — Natalie Abbott

How would you answer the question Jesus asks twice in Mark 10: “What do you want me to do for you?”? If you’re anything like us, you may wrestle with what you think that answer should be and what it really is. Join Natalie Abbott to learn more about the context of this month...

When it comes to control, we often tend to fell like we have it all under control or like everything is spinning out of control. Our verse this month tells us neither is true. Jesus is the one who is in control. On todays episode our guest, Joanna Kimbrel, shares just how easy it is for us to live under the illusion of our self control, asking Natalie if she's been reading her journal. And she also shares specific times when s...

“He sees everything, and there is a peace that comes when you remind yourself of how big and capable he is to hold all things together.” — Vera Schmitz

What do you do when peace feels elusive and all the plates that are spinning feel like they’re about to crash? Join Dwell Differently co-founders and sisters, Vera Schmitz and Natalie Abbott, as they talk about times they’ve felt a lack of control in their lives, share how praying th...

“But the Lord, I believe, in his mercy brought me to the end of myself and just said, ‘Actually, Jen, you can’t do it all. You are not self made. You are not self-sufficient. I made you—and I made you for me. And that’s where you’re going to find peace.’” — Jen Oshman

What do you do when overwhelm strikes? Or when you find yourself in a place of relying only on your own efforts and self-sufficiency? Join Natalie Abbott, co-founder o...

If you've ever felt like everything depends on you (maybe you even feel that way right now), like you're the one holding it all together, then today's message is for you! Here is the good news: everything does not depend on you, you are not the one holding it all together. Jesus is.  He made, sustains, and will redeems all things. And this is exactly the reminder our weary souls need. On today's episode, Natalie...

Have you ever struggled with fear, control, or busyness? Who doesn't?! We wanted to revisit this topic today by sharing one of our all-time most helpful episodes (first released in August 2022). Dwell Differently co-founder Vera Schmitz shares how memorizing specific truths from God's Word has helped set her free from these struggles in her own life. She relates how the truth about God's transcendent peace in Philipp...

What is God's purpose for us in our pain and suffering? How do we walk through our trials in faithful prayer and even joy? In this episode, Kristen Wetherell answers these questions with vulnerable honesty. Kristen is a pastor's wife, busy mom of three, author, speaker, and she also suffers from chronic pain.  In our conversation today, she helps us see how knowing God in his Word is absolutely essential—it's the len...

Our verse this month is Romans 12:12: "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer." How in the world do we live like this? How do we have joy in our unrealized hopes? How do we patiently endure hardship? How do we faithfully pray in all of it? On today's episode, Natalie Abbott and Vera Schmitz wrestle through how they try (and often fail) to live like this, pointing us to the foundation and source ...

Have you ever wanted to pray but couldn't find the words? In today's episode, Natalie talks with Andrew Peterson and Doug McKelvey about prayer—how we find time to pray in the midst of our lives, how we find words to pray when words are elusive, and how God wants to meet us in all of our emotions and situations with himself. 

This month’s memory verse: "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in ...

Are you good at waiting? Do you want to be? Our verse this month is all about waiting well. In it, we're encouraged to be joyful and patient and faithful in the unrealized and even difficult parts of our lives. But how do we do that? Tune in as Natalie Abbott walks us through the book of Romans, looking at the themes we see in Romans 12:12, and pointing us to the God in whom we can have confidence while we wait.

This month’s me...