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WRBP Blog
This blog offers Scripture-centered teaching and prayerful reflection through two distinct callings. Each category below serves a different purpose, while remaining rooted in the authority of God’s Word and a deep respect for how women grow, heal, and meet the Lord over time.
Please choose the category that best fits your season.
Spiritual Direction with Jane
Written by Jane, this category focuses on Scripture-centered spiritual direction for women seeking to slow down, listen, and discern God’s presence in their lives. Posts are exegetical, reflective, and shaped to support steady formation, especially for those navigating anxiety, trauma, or spiritual overwhelm.
Encouragement with Tracie
Written by Tracie, this category offers prayerful encouragement and intercessory support through gentle reflections and Scripture-based prayers. This space is pastoral in tone and designed to help women rest, feel held before the Lord, and receive His care without pressure.
All Posts
Let the Words of My Mouth: Learning to Walk Slowly With God
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:14 As I sit here this morning, reading my devotions, preparing my Bible study for church, and praying over everything I am working on, the Lord keeps gently reminding me to move slowly and steadily. He is reminding me that depth matters more to Him than breadth. To go deeper, not wider, in my studies. So I am learning to condense everything dow
Tracie Mandel
4 days ago2 min read
The Voice You Are Listening To | Proverbs 5
Let’s sit gently with Proverbs 5 for a moment and listen to the tender voice of a Father who sees the weight we carry. This chapter is often taught as a warning about sexual sin, but if we slow down, we’ll see it’s much deeper. It’s about where we turn when our desires flare up, when we’re weary, lonely, overstimulated, or aching for something to quiet the ache. This passage is about attention, attachment, and appetite —and the way our hearts reach for comfort when we feel em
Jane Stoudt
4 days ago3 min read
Where Do You Go When the Waiting Gets Heavy?
Sarai had a promise from God, but the time between the promise and the fulfillment began to feel unbearable. Waiting did not just test her patience. It tested her sense of worth, her trust in God’s timing, and her fear that maybe she had misunderstood Him altogether. So she reached for control. And Abram went along with it. What looks like a practical solution was actually a spiritual shortcut. Scripture does not rush past that moment because God knows how familiar it is to u
Jane Stoudt
4 days ago3 min read
What Does True Surrender to God Really Look Like? A Biblical Guide to Obedient Faith
What does true surrender really look like? We can sing, “I surrender, I surrender, I want to know You more,” but do we actually mean it? Surrender is not a lyric or a moment of emotion. Surrender is submission to God in real life, in real choices, and in the places we would rather keep hidden. James 4:7 tells us plainly, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Submission comes first. Resistance only works when surrender is real. Prove
Tracie Mandel
Jan 253 min read
Altars in Scripture: Where God Meets the Honest Heart
From the earliest pages of Scripture, altars mark sacred ground. They are not ornamental or symbolic in the modern sense. They are places of encounter. Places where heaven and earth meet. Places where worship is not just expressed, but remembered and reoriented. For those of us walking through uncertainty, grief, fear, or return, understanding the role of altars in Scripture gives us a pattern for how God still meets us today. The Hebrew word for altar is mizbeach (מִזְבֵּחַ
Jane Stoudt
Jan 245 min read
When Fear Leads Us Astray, God Still Leads Us Home
One of the most overlooked moments in Genesis 12 is what happens after God calls Abram. Abram obeys. He steps out. He trusts the voice that asked him to leave everything familiar. But then fear creeps in. There's a famine in the land, and he goes down to Egypt. That decision wasn’t commanded by God. It was a survival move. And what happens next? Abram lies. He tells Sarai to say she’s his sister so he won’t be killed. He puts her in a vulnerable position to protect himself.
Jane Stoudt
Jan 242 min read
Learning to Listen Again: Letting God’s Wisdom and Word Rewire the Way You See
Most of us don’t need more input. We’re flooded with it already: texts, updates, noise, opinions, pressure. But what we do need, deeply and desperately, is clarity. Not just more information, but formation. Something that reaches the inner places, steadies our thoughts, and aligns us with the voice of the One who actually knows what we need. In Proverbs 4 , we overhear a father pleading with his child: “Pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words. Do not let them o
Jane Stoudt
Jan 243 min read
When You Don’t Know What to Do Next, Go Back to the Last Place You Met with God | The Altars of Abram and the Gift of Returning
Sometimes faith looks like moving forward with courage. Other times, it looks like going back to where you last heard God speak. In Genesis 12 and 13, Abram builds two altars. Not because life felt secure, but because God had met him there. The first altar comes after God appears to him in an unfamiliar land and makes a promise that seems impossible: “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7). There’s no deed in his hand. No children in his household. Just a whi
Jane Stoudt
Jan 242 min read
Held in the Middle of Grief
I have been thinking a lot lately about things in the past, mostly about the loved ones I have lost. I find myself wondering if they truly knew how much I loved them. Memories come flooding in. Vacations when I was a child. The beautiful places we saw. The fun we had. When I was younger, my dad could not always go on summer vacations because of work, so my uncle went with us. I remember the time he “bumblebee’d” into the front of a parade and told me to wave at the crowd like
Tracie Mandel
Jan 173 min read
What Happens When You Read the Word of God Out Loud (Spiritual and Scientific Benefits)
There is a difference between seeing Scripture on the page and letting it pass through your own voice. I did not expect that difference to be as profound as it has been. For years I read the Word quietly. Faithfully. Intentionally. And God met me there. But something shifted the first time I began reading Scripture out loud. Not for performance. Not for teaching. Just me. My Bible. My voice. The room quiet enough to hear myself breathe. What surprised me was how directly it s
Jane Stoudt
Jan 173 min read
Trusting with All Your Heart | Proverbs 3
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." —Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV) There’s a quiet war that happens in the hearts of women. On the outside, we look composed. Competent. Maybe even confident. But beneath that surface, many of us are carrying a constant hum of calculation: how to fix things, how to protect everyone, how to plan for every outcome. And most of us were ta
Jane Stoudt
Jan 163 min read
You’re Not Too Late | Grace for the Gaps
If you're feeling behind right now—if your Bible is closed more than open, if the tabs on your reading plan feel like quiet reminders that you’re not “doing it right,” if you’re watching others highlight and post and engage while you sit in silence, unsure how to reenter—I want to offer you this without pressure: you are not behind. You are human. And the invitation of the Well Read Bible Project was never about staying perfectly on pace. It was about staying near to the God
Jane Stoudt
Jan 162 min read
When It Feels Like Everything’s Falling Apart
There are seasons where the ground gives out beneath us. We don’t see it coming. Or maybe we did, but not like this. The loss, the betrayal, the diagnosis, the slow unraveling of something we thought would hold. And suddenly, the life we were building feels like wreckage. Not just hard—chaotic. Disorienting. We look around and don’t recognize the pieces anymore. And worse, we don’t always recognize ourselves. I think that’s why these chapters hit different right now. Because
Jane Stoudt
Jan 163 min read
Slowing Down to Discover What “Blessed” Really Means
This past week has been so spiritually fulfilling. The Well Read Bible Project officially started, and the practice of slowing down in Scripture has brought forth so many nuggets that I had not seen before. I have read Psalm 1 countless times over the years. It’s familiar. Comforting. Easy to move past quickly. But this time, I stopped. I slowed down. And I listened. Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sin
Tracie Mandel
Jan 122 min read
Seeking Wisdom Like Hidden Treasure: A Life Shaped in the Margins
There is something deeply countercultural about Proverbs 2. It does not describe wisdom as something obvious, immediate, or handed to us fully formed. Instead, it uses language that requires time, effort, and attention. Receive. Treasure. Incline. Call out. Seek. Search. These are not hurried words. “Seek it like silver. Search for it as for hidden treasures.” Hidden treasure is not found by accident. No one stumbles upon it while multitasking or rushing through their day. T
Jane Stoudt
Jan 103 min read
Still Crowned: Wisdom for Women Who Feel Overwhelmed | A reflection on Psalm 8 & Proverbs 2
There are seasons when faith feels loud and demanding, and then there are seasons when God seems to whisper, inviting us to slow down and listen. Proverbs 2 and Psalm 8 belong together in those quieter seasons. They speak to the woman who is tired of striving, overwhelmed by decisions, or quietly wondering if she is getting anything right at all. Proverbs 2 begins with an invitation, not a command. “If you receive my words. If you treasure my commands. If you incline your ear
Jane Stoudt
Jan 103 min read
A Warning Always Comes Before the Fall | A Reflection on Genesis 4–7
There are parts of Scripture that feel uncomfortably close to home, and Genesis 4–7 is one of them. This is not a distant story about ancient people making bad decisions. This is a mirror. It shows us what happens inside the human heart long before anything visibly falls apart. Genesis 4 opens with Cain and Abel, and what always stands out to me is how early God steps in. Before there is violence. Before there is irreversible damage. God comes close to Cain and asks a gentle
Jane Stoudt
Jan 103 min read
The Voice of Wisdom in Ordinary Places
In Proverbs 1, wisdom is not presented as an idea to master or a mystery to unlock. She is a woman with a voice. She cries out in public places. Streets. Markets. City gates. The places where real life happens. That alone tells us something important. Wisdom is not hidden from ordinary people. She is not reserved for the educated, the spiritually elite, or the ones who already feel confident in Scripture. She places herself right in the middle of noise, movement, and daily de
Jane Stoudt
Jan 72 min read
Slowing Down Into the Care of a Faithful Father
The hustle and bustle of the holiday season is now behind us. I find myself slowing down into a place of peace and comfort that comes from my Father above. He relaxes me as I lean more and more into Him and His Word. He calms my nerves and helps me keep my focus on Him. He reminds me to breathe and to enjoy His creation. As the birds chirp outside, I am reminded of His Word that tells me the birds do not worry (Matthew 6:25–34). He takes care of them, and I am so much more im
Tracie Mandel
Jan 62 min read
Still Standing, Still Trusting | An encouragement from Tracie
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 The year of 2025 has come and gone. I have seen pain, confusion, and loss. There have been struggles physically, emotionally, financially, and spiritually. But through it all, I can look at those things that could be considered bad, and I can see the hand of God shaping and molding me to see the good that comes out of them. Not to focus on the past, but to keep my eyes focused on Hi
Tracie Mandel
Dec 28, 20252 min read
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