Jennifer Dukes Lee has been on my bucket list to interview since I started the podcast. I’ve followed her blog for years and have always been drawn to her authenticity and vulnerability and her writing has ministered to me, especially in my season of parenting. On this episode Jennifer and I discuss a little about her book, Growing Slow: Lessons on Unhurrying Your Heart from an Accidental Farm Girl, and the section she most wanted to delete from it titled Winter. But y’all! It was the best part of all! She also talks about her new book, Stuff I’d Only Tell God: A Guided Journal of Courageous Honesty, Obsessive Truth-Telling and Beautifully Ruthless Self-Discovery.
When I saw that Jennifer’s latest book was a journal, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she’s convinced me this is something we all need. She shares the benefits of journaling and how the practice can help us heal and give us confidence to face our future. She asks questions in this book that truly help us find the answers to why we struggle with certain things, kind of like a counseling session, and helps us find hope to overcome our strongholds. Jennnifer shares one of her favorite questions in the journal (I loved this one!) as well as one of the hardest questions for her to address. This episode will enlighten you in so many ways and I know you’ll love Jennifer and want to get this journal for yourself!
Quotes and Resources from Jennifer
“Winter heals the land… It can look like a really unproductive time on the farm, but what’s happening, if we tend to our fields, we will have healthier soil in our hearts for planting that will come in spring.”
“I don’t write news stories. I write good news stories.”
“Your past has a way of catching up to eventually find you, and it does so in the way you feel about yourself.”
“There’s healing in writing it down and seeing it as a release from emotional pain and it gives you freedom to move forward.”
“Processing how you dealt with it in the past and picturing how you want to deal with things in the future can go a long way toward emotional healing.”
If you’d like to find out more about a genogram, you can find it here
Preorder Jennifer’s newest book, Stuff I’d Only Tell God: A Guided Journal of Courageous Honesty, Obsessive Truth-Telling, and Beautifully Ruthless Self-Discovery
Find out more about Jennifer at her website JenniferDukesLee.com
Connect with Jennifer on Facebook at Jennifer Dukes Lee and Instagram at Jennifer Dukes Lee
Follow Jennifer’s book on Instagram Stuff I’d Only Tell God
Listen to From News Reporter to Writing “Good News” Stories with Jennifer Dukes Lee