Putting Truth in Its Place: A Journey to Intimacy with God

By Dawn Walda and Julia Walda

By focusing on intimacy with God, the sovereign authority of scripture, and the divine empowerment of Holy Spirit, authors Dawn and Julia Walda encourage you to put truth in its place and to base your life entirely off the truth of the word.

In Putting Truth in Its Place, they present a practical guide on the renewing of the mind and its importance in overcoming sin and lies. Dawn presents her personal experiences, metaphoric insight, and the practical tools she used as she encountered the life-changing truths of the Bible. Julia offers those same ideas in a more in-depth understanding to ensure you walk away confident as you pursue God and the renewing of the mind in your own life.

Dawn and Julia teach you how to use your tool box of resources to live in freedom, tools like intimacy with God, putting truth in its place, intentionality, and more. The authors seek to awaken people to their God-given identity, to liberate them to see the truth for themselves, and to break free from the bondage of deception, lies, and deadly thoughts that have blinded the bride of Christ.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664229426

Dawn Walda

Dawn and Julia Walda are a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law pair new to the writing scene. They have combined their unique insight, blended writing styles, and expertise in Putting Truth in Its Place, their first collaborated book.

Book preview

Copyright © 2021 Dawn Walda and Co-writer Julia Walda.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author

except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher

make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book

and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the

views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,

Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from The Holy Bible, New

International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by

Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked ESV taken from The Holy Bible, English

Standard Version® (ESV®), Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing

ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked GNT are taken from the Good News

Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition). Copyright

© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ASV are taken from the American Standard Bible.

Interior Image Credit: Michaela Walda

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2943-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2944-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-2942-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021906640

WestBow Press rev. date: 04/07/2021

When I think of the word dedication, I am struck by the ideals of

its twins, commitment and partnership. Their united front offers

and gives strength to that which has been given to. And so it’s here

that I am giving a shout out of thanks to those who have been

committed in partnership with this book writing task. I cannot

articulate in detail each of your contributions, but know that as

you are listed, I am tearfully giving thanks for your unending love,

support, care, and encouragement you have so faithfully offered.

So, in no particular order I present to you my cheering squad:

John, Jacob, Courtney and Michaela, Alex,

Trish, Eilish, Steve, and Ellen.

And my beloved,

Jesus.

Disclaimer

I do not claim to possess a recognised authorisation to speak to the whole subject of mental health. For its subject is vast, complex, and requires much learning and understanding. Its field of study is beyond that which I have experienced, but I have been privy to my own personal journey in and through mental health as well as family and friend’s experiences.

I do not profess that I am qualified in any way to speak about any medical means for treatment of mental health disorders or diseases.

So, in lieu of all things discussed, projected, and declared within the pages of this book, I will limit my context of the term mental health to be that which is seen, experienced, and understood through one’s mind, the mind being that which is seen as involving behaviours, thinking and mood. In general, mental illness a condition that impairs a person’s ability to think, feel, process, and respond to life’s situations (www.gotquestions.org) in ways that are deemed as normal and healthy. The term health being defined simply as the state of being free from illness (dictionary.com).

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Contents

Disclaimer

Chapter 1     Let Us Introduce Ourselves

Chapter 2     Introduction to the Renewing of the Mind

Chapter 3     First Things First: Love

Chapter 4     Intimacy with God

Chapter 5     Intimacy with God: The Practical Application

Chapter 6     I Am Who You Say I Am

Chapter 7     Who Do You Say I Am?

Chapter 8     Being Intentional: Being Deliberate and Purposed within Your Intentions

Chapter 9     Repentance

Chapter 10   Change

Chapter 11   Challenge Accepted?

Final Thoughts

One

Let Us Introduce Ourselves

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Together, Julia and I want to invite you into our

journey. To a place of sweet intimacy. Beginning

at my kitchen table over a hot cup of tea.

Dawn Walda

Welcome! I’m so excited for you to join us on our first book adventure. My daughter-in-law and I have been on a rather exciting journey of preparing these thoughts, experiences, and truths for you, our readers. Neither one of us have written a book before, and truth be told, we both thought the whole concept was just scary and, well, incredibly daunting. I thought my thoughts and experiences were just that: mine. No one really needed or wanted to read them; that was until the onslaught of encouragement from my Facebook friends and family, who said, You should write a book. After hearing that for years, I finally sat down to attempt such a feat. And a feat it has been. I have to say that I had no clue how to write a book. For the past five years, I have been posting a few lines or a few thoughts, and encouraging the readers to think on those thoughts and perhaps implement them into their lives. But to pen thousands of words and make it fluid and coherent? Impossible. For me, anyway. I only finished high school with basic-level English. And while I wanted to play every instrument in the band and be on every sports teams I could, English was not my strong suit.

Over the past five years, God has been teaching me how to write, how to pen thoughts in a way that encourages, builds up, and teaches the church, His beloved Bride. I learned to write only what’s necessary, leaving out the unnecessary (our world has enough of that). I even learned to love the dictionary. I know, right? To love words and put them into expressions that encourage and enlighten as well as to teach and showcase God’s incredible love story is something that I am honored to be able to do, for Him, and now for you. So how did I really go about writing a book? One step at a time. I took favourite books of mine and went over them page by page and duplicated them (without plagiarising), writing down what I needed to do, literally, from cover to cover (cover ideas, dedication, foreword, table of contents, chapters, conclusions; I am not kidding when I say it was literally step by step).

I would have to write another book to share the entire journey up to this point, as I’m in some circles considered a senior (by age, not by behaviour), but I am going to focus on the past ten or so years, that which I learned and grew to love and became passionate about: Jesus, my sweet Jesus. I watched Him transform my life, my path and direction, my heart, my family, and my mind. No longer in bondage. No longer held and imprisoned by lies and deception. No longer overcome by guilt, shame, and condemnation, but walking through my life in Jesus, free. And it’s this freedom journey that I can’t wait to share with you. From bars of bondage on the dark cell of depression, I am liberated to dance in complete freedom. Free from me. Alive in Him.

Are you ready to embark on my adventure? I can guarantee that you will see yourself in some, part, or all of my story. It is my prayer that you will come away from these pages into your own experience in the transforming power of Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the beloved Jesus Christ. Let’s begin.

It all began for me about seven years ago. I grabbed a book at a second-hand shop, for no other reason than the title caught my eye: Who Switched off My Brain? by Dr. Caroline Leaf. Thinking that it was perhaps a mind-over-matter book, I was quick to return it to the shelf. I think I was mistaken on that; I have since found that this book, and some of her other teachings through videos and podcasts, encouraged me and taught me that through the use of science (and other scientific means, which I know nothing about; remember my English grade? Yep: Biology and chemistry followed far behind that with grades of 28 and 32, respectively) that renewing our minds is both scientifically and scripturally proven. It was at this point, this place of knowing that I needed to have my mind renewed, that I prayed a simple prayer: "God, if this is truth, if you desire to renew my mind and it’s been proven through science, then I ask that you’d renew my mind