The Living Epistles
If you’re a frequent reader of The Grassy Laine, you know that The Weekly Pages have been my private prayers turned into public journal entries - a quiet, genuine space where I try to map out my memories, stitch together my own mistakes, and hunt for God’s extraordinary grace in the ordinary of daily life. Writing, for me, has always been the way I make sense of the world.
But I knew from the day God gave me the idea for this blog that all the stories I share shouldn’t be just mine.
There is an ancient, beautiful truth found in the scriptures that calls our lives living epistles - letters penned not with ink, but by the Creator Himself, meant to be read, shared, and witnessed by the world.
“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
2 Corinthians 3:2–3 (ESV)
The epistle letters of Paul quickly became a place of great comfort for me in my quiet time with just the Lord, my Bible, and I. Specifically Romans - no matter how many times I read it, I just keep crawling back.
I think that Paul’s story just resonates with me on a deeper level than most. He’s a sinful man, who deeply betrayed God more times than he can count, and a writer at heart who took that gift and made the most of it to share God’s grace with those he was writing to.
Paul’s not perfect, and neither will I ever be, but his efforts bring forth great hope and motivation to someone like me who is also just trying to proclaim God's glory in spite of my human weakness.
I started that pursuit by just sharing my stories of failures, putting the thorns in my side on display in hopes that others will feel less alone, and even the moments of success and joy that God has granted me.
Through that pursuit, I had to take great inventory of my life, and who all is in it as well. As I look around at the people in my life, I don’t just see friends and family; I see living, breathing books of holy text in real time. I see survival, deep-seated roots, and breathtaking testimonies that deserve a wider shelf than just a casual conversation over coffee.
After all, we’re all just jars of clay, trying to imitate God’s glory despite our ridiculously cracked compositions - but I’ve found that those cracks are exactly where God’s light shines through us in the most phenomenal way.
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies.”
2 Corinthians 4:7–10 (ESV)
So, today marks a massive, (slightly terrifying), and beautiful new era for The Grassy Laine.
I am officially pulling back the curtain on a brand-new branch of the website: Testimonies. While the Weekly Pages will remain our safe and cozy, solo mid-week tradition, the Testimonies tab will serve as a multimedia archive dedicated entirely to amplifying the raw, messy, and glorious backstories of other Christians that are finding their way.
We are launching today with Chapter I, featuring a woman who carries a piece of my own heart, Izzie Ziemba. We sat down to trace her journey through family brokenness, military life, devastating loss, and the sudden, quiet moments where the veil gets thin and God proves exactly who He is.
I’m gratefully stepping out of the spotlight today so you can read a letter written by the Creator through someone else’s life.
Pull up a chair, open your heart, and step into the very first chapter of The Living Epistles.
The video interview drops along with this edition of The Weekly Pages at 3:00 PM, and the corresponding interview piece for The Living Epistles / ‘Testimonies’ will publish at 6:00 PM. I can’t wait to see you there!
Thank you in advance for your support, and for following along on this journey with us! <3
Until next week,
— E. Byers, author of The Grassy Laine
