Hi friends! Today I am very excited to invite you into my virtual living room to listen in on a special conversation between me and author Grace Mally. Grace has a beautiful heart for ministry and serving the Lord. I have been so encouraged and learned so much from her writing and example, and especially the conversation we share here. So go ahead and sip on your favorite coffee drink and take a listen in... Bella: Thank you so much for joining me here today, Grace! It’s an honor to feature you. Can you start off by sharing just a little bit about yourself and your writing background? Grace: Sure! As the youngest in my family, I grew up being included in whatever my family was currently doing. I’m grateful that I have had a godly family who invested much time into ministry projects. My involvement in these activities enabled me to grow much in the Lord, and I received a “taste of ministry” at a young age. I was saved when I was six years old. When I was seven, my sister began a girls’ discipleship group called Bright Lights. When I heard Sarah teach about dedicating your life to the Lord I recognized that this was something I wanted to do. I’m so grateful for the discipleship I received from my older sister. When I was twelve, my sister shared with me a big idea she had. She suggested that she and I, together with our brother, Stephen, write a book about brothers and sisters getting along. I agreed that it would be a good idea to do, recognizing that this issue was a huge need in families, but I figured it would be a lot of work to write a book—and it was! But in the end, Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends enabled us to minister to many families across the nation, and it was a springboard into a new season of speaking engagements at homeschool conferences and churches. A few years later, my sister wrote another book, Before You Meet Prince Charming, which also opened new opportunities. These books and speaking engagements also expanded the Bright Lights ministry and many groups began starting throughout the nation. During my teenage years, much of my time was spent helping to run Bright Lights conferences for girls around the country, together with my family and a team of girls. When I was about eighteen, I read a book on witnessing that impacted me greatly. I had been wanting to witness more, and this book added fuel to that fire. I began blogging about some witnessing conversations the Lord had given me, and I was surprised and encouraged by the enthusiastic reactions I received to these blog posts. I began to realize that many young people in my generation wanted to be sharing the gospel more, but they weren’t sure how—and they were encouraged by the practical tips and stories. This led me to an idea. “Maybe I should write a book on witnessing.” I shared the idea with my family and they liked it a lot. At first, I didn’t want to even begin this project, knowing how much work it is to write a book. However, as I saw the Lord providing stories and helping me begin the project, I became increasingly excited about it. This book project became a life-changing process for me. I saw the Lord provide in countless and miraculous ways. Will Our Generation Speak? A Call to Be Bold with the Gospel was finished in 2012, and since that time the Lord has continued to expand this ministry. We published an accompanying study guide, and hopefully a video series will be available in 2019. We recently ran our third witnessing training camp which takes place at the same time as the Iowa State Fair at a nearby camp. After training sessions in the morning, the whole group of us go over to the fair and put into practice what we have been learning. It has been thrilling to see the Lord work. Bella: That’s wonderful. So as a Christian, how does your faith affect your life and your writing? Grace: Becoming an author was never a dream of mine. Writing is simply the means by which the Lord has led our family to get some messages out. I do not know if I will continue writing books, or if He will direct me to use my time in other ways. I do have more topics in mind that I would like to write about, but I’m not sure if or when that will happen. How does my faith affect what I write? My desire is to write material that will help believers grow in the Lord—so that really narrows my topics. Life is too short to put time into things outside of the Lord’s work. There are other nice things that I could write about, but to me they are not very satisfying. Bella: I totally understand that as a fellow Christian writer. So, on that topic, if you were speaking to other young writers, what is the most important piece of advice that you would give to them? Grace: I would tell them to make it their number one priority in life to develop an intimate walk with Jesus, because if you want to be a mouthpiece of His to encourage others, it’s impossible without having a truly close walk with Him. This may mean sacrificing other activities in life to be seeking the Lord more fervently. It’s absolutely necessary to become very familiar with His Word. It should flow out of us as we write! It’s also important to incorporate the Word into our writing, while understanding it well, so as to use Scriptures in context. This means we must have a strong familiarity with the Word of God. If you are walking closely with the Lord and know the Word well, then what you write will be impactful to other lives. It would be better write only a small booklet—and that’s it!—and have it be grounded in the Word, then to write lengthy novels but not spend sufficient time with the Lord. Bella: I love it. So your book, Will Our Generation Speak?, is about boldly sharing your faith and the gospel with others. What would you say to someone who may be a little nervous when it comes to witnessing? Grace: First of all, you’re not alone. Fear is one of the main hindrances to witnessing. We learn in the end of Ephesians six that even Paul asked for prayer that he would be bold. However, I have found that my fear has decreased greatly as I have become more equipped to share my faith. After study and preparation, I found I had a new reaction when I saw someone that I thought I should share the gospel with. Instead of panicking, I would think through an appropriate plan for how I would start the conversation, and choose which tool to use. For example, sometimes I’d use an intriguing gospel tract. After handing it to them, I would then make a comment about it and see if a conversation would take off. Or sometimes I’d use a questionnaire to start a discussion. I’d simply approach a couple strolling in the park and say, “Hey, I’m working on a little project and taking a questionnaire. Do you have time to answer a couple questions?” This has opened countless good gospel discussions for me. Having a few good questions in mind to help keep a conversation going is another remedy for fear. Our goal is not to give speeches, but simply to have conversations. Remember, if the unbeliever is not interested or receptive, we can simply thank them for their time and move on to someone else. Prayer is also crucial. We should be praying for the Lord to open doors, like Paul did. “Praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains” (Colossians 4:3). The Lord is able to reduce our anxious nerves. Fear is not from Him. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). God can even make our witnessing efforts into a worshipful experience. We are doing something that is a little scary and hard, but we’re doing it with Him and He’s helping us. This makes it become a very special thing. There is such joy we experience when we know we’ve obeyed the Lord, and we know He has used us. I have seen witnessing become one of the greatest joy-givers in my life. Bella: Those are great thoughts, Grace! I think you already touched a little bit on my next question here when you talked about prayer, but what do you believe is the most important thing to remember when sharing our faith with others? Grace: Yes, I think prayer is an extremely important element. If the Lord is not at work, our efforts are useless. In reality, He does all the work and we are simply privileged that He lets us be involved. It brings peace to remember that the Lord can accomplish His work through flawed vessels like us. If we feel that we have to give a perfect explanation of the gospel, we will feel very intimidated. But if we recognize that we should merely do our best to point people to Jesus by a few questions or cheerful discussion and then leave the results in God’s hand, we will be at rest. Who knows? Maybe all the unbeliever will remember from the discussion is one point we made. But God can use that powerfully. Another reason that prayer is so critical is that it changes us. Jesus said, “You are my witnesses.” Not only should we witness, but we should realize that we ourselves are a witness. That’s our identity. Others are watching our lives. Perhaps what will impact them most is a comment about the comfort God gave us personally in a trial, or a humble comment about a lesson God is teaching us. Our lives are on display to an unbelieving world and we are His witnesses 24/7. Bella: Amen to that. Now, talking about making brothers and sisters best friends, why do you think it is so important to invest in the lives of our siblings? And what are some practical ways we can do that? Grace: Well, it’s important because it’s one way we can be faithful to the Lord where we are right now. And as we are faithful today, that will prepare us to be faithful five years from now, wherever we might be. But if we are not attentive to this “assignment” from God today (to be kind to our siblings), then how can we expect to be used by God in the future? Scripture says that he who is faithful in little is faithful in much. It’s also important to recognize the great significance and fruit that can come from investing in the lives of our siblings. I think of Amelia Taylor (sister of Hudson Taylor). She prayed and prayed for her brother Hudson. She probably had no idea how God was going to answer those prayers in such a big way, but she was faithful to pray. She doesn’t get a lot of recognition now, but in Heaven we will probably learn about the prayer warriors behind the famous Christians that we know. That’s one thing that we can all start doing today. Make it your goal to be praying every day for your siblings. Maybe pick out specific needs and write them in a journal and begin praying consistently for those things. Then take advantage of opportunities every day at home to grow in character and Christ-likeness. It is very hard to be humble in front of your siblings. But it is a valuable opportunity—because when we can learn to show humility before our siblings it will carry over into our future marriages, churches, adult relationships, and ministries. So many problems would be solved in the Body of Christ if people were only willing to be humble with each other. Bella: Switching topics just a little bit, but do you have any specific advice for young single ladies desiring to honor Christ with their single years? Grace: This is a great topic, because our single years can be such an exciting time. I’m 30 years old now, and for the most part, I’ve loved my single years. I’ve been very blessed. Though they haven’t always been easy, I see them as a blessing that the Lord has given me. I’ve often been told that in any season of life, whether a girl is twelve, or a young bride, or whether she’s a grandma, our need for love is only truly satisfied in Jesus. I think it is very important to understand this. Psalm 16 explains that “In His presence is fullness of joy.” If we conclude, “I’ll finally be happy when I’m married,” that’s not the right mindset. That’s not what Scripture says. We can truly be filled with joy now by walking with Jesus. If you talk with godly married women, they’ll tell you that every season of life is going to have trials, and every season of life is going to have joys, but when we are walking with the Lord and pouring our lives out for others, that’s really where satisfaction is found. As Jesus Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). So the advice I give other single girls is to pursue Christ with all of your heart, diligently. Make your Bible reading time a special “date” with Him, pursuing an intimate friendship with Him and pouring out your heart to Him. One practical idea is to write letters to Him in a prayer journal. Plan to go to bed sooner and get up a little earlier if you need to. I’m a morning person, so I love to get up, light a candle, make coffee, turn on soft music and then get my Bible and journals out. James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” This means that when we take a step closer to Him, He responds! He then draws near to us. Sometimes we sense it more than others. It doesn’t always mean we’ll feel differently, or Scripture will immediately pop out with tons of insights on every page. Sometimes it will seem dry. But we just keep reading, waiting for those moments we overflow with joy from what He shows us in the Word. Sadly, some girls waste the blessing of the single years by being consumed with boys, boyfriends, dating, and lots of drama. The truth is that our single years are one time we can actually have undivided devotion to the Lord like 1 Corinthians 7 tells us. A girl that is obsessed with boys misses this blessing. (Of course I’m not saying that struggling with a crush means forfeiting the blessings of singleness. We all struggle with our thoughts and desires, and that’s part of learning to trust God to provide in His way and time.) Bella: If you could give any piece of advice to your generation at all, what would it be? Grace: I would say to really make it your priority to be spending time with the Lord. This may mean cutting things from your life, like a certain hobby, social media or entertainment, or even cutting back on school or work. It could even mean not engaging in as many ministry opportunities as you would like! If you recognize that you’re not spending enough time with the Lord, then you’re too busy. You need to cut down on something so that you can spend adequate time with Him. Secondly, remember that the things that Jesus tells us to do are not exactly culturally normal. :) To really live a radical life for Jesus you may look differently, and it is worth it and it is okay. There’s more joy in being different with Jesus than trying to fit in. When you try to fit in, it brings stress. Proverbs says the fear of man brings a snare. If you want to be accepted by everyone, this will bring a snare into your life. But when you seek to fear the Lord—that’s the beginning of wisdom, and that’s going to bring great blessing. What others care about most is if you truly love them, not if you’re just like them. Bella: Thank you for sharing that, I think that’s just really important for our generation to remember. Now to end with just a fun question, if you could invent any ice cream flavor in the world, what would you create? Grace: Okay, I like this question. I would do organic, naturally-decaffeinated-double-espresso-dark-chocolate-chunk ice cream. I really love coffee, but especially organic swiss-water decaf. :) because I can easily get overly caffeinated. So there we go! A little bit of healthiness mixed with the sugar, haha. Bella: Haha, I love it! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts here today, Grace, and joining us. We are so grateful to see the ways God is using you, and also gain from your wisdom and insight. <3 Grace Mally, 29, is the author of Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends (2002) and Will Our Generation Speak? A Call to Be Bold with the Gospel (2012). She continues to work with the Bright Lights girls discipleship ministry with a focus specifically on evangelism. Were you encouraged by the conversation with Grace? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments! Thank you for sharing, Grace! This was a blessing. I have heard wonderful things about Will Our Generation Speak?, Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, and Before You Meet Prince Charming, although I have yet to read them. I will put them on my book list for 2019! :)
Sarah C
1/12/2019 02:16:53 pm
This interview made me so excited as Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends has been a book my siblings and I have loved for many years! Thank you Grace for all your amazing advice!! 1/13/2019 12:55:38 am
This was so interesting and encouraging, I throughly enjoyed reading ❤️ Loved this, I've read Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends, Will Our Generation Speak, and Before You Meet Prince Charming... Also, I've participated in a Bright Lights group for a few years, so I'm familiar with the Malllys... :) This was a really neat interview!!
Callie S.
5/15/2021 11:32:32 pm
Oh what a great interview!! I so loved reading through this <3 So much to absorb! I'll have to come back and reread this (probably more than once, lol ).... What a blessing! Comments are closed.
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