An interview with Jean Williams

Today we interview Jean Williams.

Jean, how did you come to Christ?

It’s not an exciting story, but in some ways, it’s the most exciting of all! Like Timothy, I knew the Bible from infancy (2 Tim 3:15). I was brought up by faithful, godly parents who read the Bible and prayed with us, who trained us to live God’s way, who talked about Jesus during the day (Deut 6:6-7), and who loved, disciplined and cared for us. They never talked down to us, and were always willing to discuss difficult doctrines like the Trinity, predestination and judgement, as well as God’s love and grace. I have no idea why we prefer dramatic conversion stories to the profound blessing of being brought up in a godly home where we’re faithfully taught God’s word; this is just as great a miracle!

That said, I remember deciding to become a Christian, and praying the ‘believer’s prayer’ many times as a child. When I was nine, I was on a beach mission, and I accepted the leaders’ invitation to pray the prayer. When I talked with the ‘counsellor’, she asked me if I’d ever made the decision to become a Christian before, and I said “Yes, many times”. I’ve never forgotten her answer: “You only have to pray the prayer once, you know”. That was the day I gained assurance. I am writing this with tears of gratitude in my eyes!

At university, like many young people brought up in a Christian home, I doubted and questioned my faith. Did I really believe it for myself? I read books like Is the New Testament History?, Who Moved the Stone? and Mere Christianity. The turning point came the day I decided to read the Gospel of Mark all the way through while pretending I hadn’t heard every story a thousand times. I did it to figure out if I really was convinced that this guy Jesus was the Son of God who died for us. Was he, to use CS Lewis’s language, lunatic, liar or Lord? As I read, I found Jesus to be the most wonderful, compelling, irresistible person I’d ever encountered, and that day, I fell in love with him all over again.

How do you occupy your time?

Loving my husband, raising four children, caring for our home, reading, listening to talks, blogging, writing, and teaching women about God. I’m trying to carve out the first part of each day to be a Mary, not a Martha, and spend some time sitting at Jesus’ feet, reading his word, reflecting on his grace, and praying for my family and others.

Tell us a bit about your other interests.

What other interests? That keeps me pretty busy! I love going for walks, reading novels, watching TV series on DVD with my husband, taking photos of the kids, and doing craft. These days, I manage to fit in everything except the last one.

What are some books (no more than five) that have really helped you grow as a Christian?

1. JI Packer, Knowing God: The first few pages (on knowing God, rather than just knowing about God, and on meditating on God’s truth) are etched on my mind.
2. John Owen, Communion with God: I studied John Owen for my PhD, and this book had the most lasting impact on me. It taught me that God delights in us, that he wants us to delight in him, and that union and communion with Christ are two different things.
3. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: An invaluable guide for anyone who wants to know how to deal with anxiety or discouragement from the Bible, or how to counsel their parishioners.
4. Don Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Someone told me to read this when I was young, before I faced suffering. I’m so glad I took their advice.
5. John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God: This is two books in one—a helpful summary of Piper’s teaching on the enjoyment of God, and the best introduction to the spiritual disciplines I’ve ever read.
6. CS Lewis, The Screwtape Letters: Lewis has taught me much about living in the light of heaven. He has a profound practical wisdom which lives on in the heart and mind.

Yes, I cheated: I know that’s six. But I couldn’t skip any of those authors, sorry!

What are you reading now?

1. John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress: I’m writing on this for the EQUIP book club at the moment. Charles Spurgeon thought it was a ‘must-read’: he read it nearly as often as the Bible. It’s a serious call to a persevering, courageous, holy Christian life and death—something we don’t hear enough these days.
2. Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal: I’m taking a group of women through this at the moment, and I’m writing on it for my blog ‘in all honesty’. We may believe in biblical womanhood, but we’ve forgotten how to teach and train young women in it, and how to live it. This book reminds us how.
3. Tedd Tripp, Shepherding a Child’s Heart, and anything else on parenting by Tedd, Margery and Paul Tripp: Their books provide a wise, biblical approach to loving, disciplining, teaching and training children of all ages. Their work is not to be taken as Scripture! But their insights are still profoundly helpful.
4. Ed Welch, Depression: A Stubborn Darkness, and anything else on biblical counselling by Ed Welch and David Powlison: I’d call these ‘must-reads’ for pastors, counsellors and anyone struggling with issues like depression, anxiety and addiction because they start and finish with God’s word, and call sin ‘sin’. But at the same time, they are sensitive, wise and pastorally experienced.

What websites do you check ‘religiously’?

Actually, I’m more a faithful blog writer than blog reader. But here’s my favourite sites:

• Desiring God
• 168 hours
• EQUIP book club
• Girl Talk
• Gordon Cheng’s blog
• Sola Panel (that’s called not biting the hand that feeds you.)

What would your friends say are your hobbyhorses?

• Teaching and training women in biblical womanhood, and encouraging women to fulfil their God-given responsibility to teach and train younger women.
• Recovering the forgotten spiritual disciplines of memorizing the Bible, meditating on God’s word and world, and preaching the gospel to yourself.
• Biblical counselling: trusting in the sufficiency of the Bible to deal with every spiritual and emotional problem. (Yes, there’s a place for medicine and human wisdom, but we undermine the sufficiency of God’s word when we fail to counsel people from the Bible.)
• Enjoyment of God: the subject of my PhD, and something I’ve been passionate about ever since, particularly because I think Australian evangelicals aren’t always good at this.

What’s something that makes you angry?

My own sin (that I’m not perfect), and perfectionism (that I feel like I need to be perfect). I preach God’s grace to myself every day.

This question made me realize that not enough things make me angry. The news makes me sad, rather than angry, most of the time. It should probably make me angry too. One issue gets my blood boiling: defending everyone who can’t speak for themselves except unborn babies.

Who is someone who inspires you?

My husband, with his faithful, patient, cheerful, self-denying, loving, daily service of Jesus, me, his children, and those God has given him to teach and train.

What is your ideal day off?

Staying with my family in a holiday house in Bright or Apollo Bay, playing with the kids, reading good books, going for walks, and staring at trees, mountains or waves while thoughts drift through my head.

Give us your top five quotes.

• “So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn’t it be the other way around?” (You’ve Got Mail)
• “People are so ready to think themselves changed when it is only their mood that is changed.” (George MacDonald, The Lost Princess)
• “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” (JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)
• “All your life an unattainable ecstasy has hovered just beyond the grasp of your consciousness. The day is coming when you will wake to find, beyond all hope, that you have attained it, or else, that it was within your reach and you have lost it forever.” (CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain)
• “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39, NIV)

Believe me, I could have kept going …

Any more questions? That was fun!