Each month, you’ll hear from one of us on what we’re reading and a little bit about the book. This month we’re sharing book notes on Ellie Holcomb’s new devotional, Fighting Words. Enjoy!
Who doesn’t want to experience more spiritual freedom in their hearts, minds, and lives? Every single one of us desires to believe what’s true in our daily lives, but something gets in the way: lies. Lies that tell us we’ll always be stuck in this place. Lies that tell us we are forgotten by God. Lies that tell us all sorts of untrue things about who we are and whose we are.
Ellie Holcomb has walked through this very thing herself, and she’s walked alongside dear friends who are going through it too. If you hang around her long enough, you’ll know that over the past few years on social media, she’s dedicated the last day of every workweek to something called #FightingWordsFriday. What is this, you ask? It’s a digital banner of truth she hangs in front of anyone who might scroll by, full of God’s Word, God’s promises, and God’s truth. For Ellie, these posts are a way to offer balm to the weary soul and a reminder of God’s strong love for passersby.
But for Ellie, some social media posts weren’t enough. Why not put the truth in people’s hands for the moments they aren’t on social media? Why not give them a way to not simply scroll past some truth here and there randomly, but more than that, offer a way to intentionally start the day with what’s true? Wouldn’t that be something? Starting with the truth before the lies start closing in?
In her debut devotional, Ellie does just that. In Fighting Words, readers are given reminder after reminder of the truth—truth that shines over the darkness, kicks back against the lies, and nourishes the soul. Each page really does show what Ellie believes down to her core: that God’s Word is alive, and it can bring us to life when we openly receive its light, its wisdom, and its healing for our souls.
Here are some features you might want to know about this lovely devotional:
- It’s deeply encouraging. After reading through each of these entries, I left this devotional feeling like I was not alone in my struggles, I was loved by God, and that spiritual power for my everyday life was genuinely reachable.
- It’s gorgeous. Fighting Words offers a beautifully textured navy cover, gold foil, eye-catching design throughout, and fun extras too.
- It’s lyrical. As Ellie is a musical artist with so many wonderful albums in her wake, it should come as no surprise that this devotional reminds us of the truth not only in prose but in song lyrics sometimes too! (And on top of that, some of the tales inside this devotional tell you the story of how some of Ellie’s songs came to be. For me, it’s always a treat to hear the inspiration behind an artist’s song lyrics).
- It’s honest. Each of the verses Ellie includes in this devotional are the verses that actually helped her fight against lies. She doesn’t just pull random passages out of nowhere and force them to say something unrelated to her real life. These verses have stories that go with them—stories that reveal how this specific passage pulled her out of a misbelief or a hard time, and how it can help you, too. Vulnerability like that is so refreshing!
- It makes a great gift. Who doesn’t want a gorgeous, encouraging book to read throughout the holidays? Or something beautiful to display on their coffee table or nightstand? Fighting Words will infuse you with light and life, but as a gift, it can do the same for your loved ones!
- It offers reflection questions and prayers, too. While a verse and a reflection section are plenty to enjoy in most devotionals, Fighting Words gives you some helpful and poignant reflection questions to help you process on a deeper level and offers a closing prayer to help you approach God with both bravery and humility.
BONUS: It gives you a chance to memorize Scripture in a beautiful way, along with extra lines for processing. There are ten different memory verses Ellie asks you to join her in memorizing along the way so that God’s Word is hidden in your heart by the end of the experience. Each memory verse is custom-designed, spreading out across an entire golden-printed page as its own stand-alone art piece to make the memorization experience so fun and beautiful. And on the back of these art pieces, you get a full page of lines to process how God is using this memory verse in your own life!
I can’t say enough about this devotional, and I’d encourage you to join Ellie and pick up each of these 100 fighting words. Soon enough, you’ll see you are fighting against the darkness and enjoying the light of Jesus!
Ashley Marivittori Gorman serves as an associate publisher at B&H Publishing Group, an imprint of Lifeway Christian Resources. She holds an MDiv from Southeastern Theological Seminary and has been trained under The Charles Simeon Trust. Her passions are biblical literacy, women’s discipleship, foster care, theology, books, the local church, and teaching the Bible. Ashley and her husband, Cole, live in Nashville, Tennessee, with their daughter, Charlie. You can find her writing in various Lifeway Women Bible studies, books like World on Fire, and on digital venues like The Gospel Coalition, Lifeway Voices, ERLC, Relevant, Lifeway Women, and Christ and Culture.
