It Starts with Me: Devotions to Listen Better, Love Wider, and Live More Like Jesus

If you want the world to change, that change starts with you. Return to the kind, curious, empathetic way of living that Jesus modeled. In her first devotional, bestselling author and podcaster Jamie Ivey shares stories from her own life and from her popular podcast, The Happy Hour.

What if in a noisy world, we offered gentleness? What if in a cynical world, we asked questions? What if in a world that is tearing apart at the political and social seams, we found a way back to each other?

Join Jamie in a transformative devotional experience to help you put in motion kindness and compassionate curiosity.

Each devotion, paired with relevant Bible verses and prayer, reminds us that as we listen to one another's stories, in all their richness and complexities, we begin to see each other as God does. We find empathy and gratitude taking the place of anger and anxiety, and discover connection taking the place of loneliness. We delight to love one another as neighbors, no matter what boundaries once stood in the way. In short, being in close community with others changes us for the better.

This devotional will challenge you to:

• Realize that the way you listen matters as much as the way you talk
• Let go of the cynicism, assumptions, and fears that keep you from loving as Jesus loved
• Ask questions instead of shutting down
• Understand that to grow in your relationship with Jesus, you must grow in your relationships with others
• Live with an open heart so you can embrace God's purpose for you

In It Starts with Me, Jamie calls us to know the freedom of loving people as Jesus did: compassionately, deeply, and with great joy. Let this be your gentle nudge to participate in the joy you want to see in the world, to lead with kindness, and to take the sometimes uncomfortable first step to build relationships and interdependence in a fiercely individualistic world. And as you infuse the world with vulnerability—as hard as that may be—may you begin to experience glimpses of freedom and deep connection like never before.