Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

Episode Summary: Slowing Down to Embrace God

Date: April 2, 2026
Guest: Jennifer Dukes Lee
Hosts: Jim Daly and John Fuller

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt episode, Jim Daly and John Fuller welcome Jennifer Dukes Lee, author of Growing Slow: Lessons on Unhurrying Your Heart from an Accidental Farm Girl. The conversation centers around the importance of slowing down to experience God’s presence and purpose in a culture obsessed with busyness and achievement. Drawing from Jennifer’s personal journey from a fast-paced professional life to rural farm living, the dialogue explores practical and spiritual rhythms that can restore our sense of peace, family connection, and faith.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

The Problem of Hurry in Modern Life

• Opening Tone:
  Jim and John reflect on the prevalence of hurry and the "fear of missing out" in modern culture, lamenting how it impacts emotional, spiritual, and physical well-being.
  • Jim Daly [00:57]: "In this common era, we are moving so fast, we've got that FOMO...and that really impacts our well being and our soundness, emotionally, spiritually, I think even physically."
• Personal Confessions:
  Both hosts admit their own struggles with busyness and the challenge of achieving a healthier, slower rhythm.

Jennifer's Journey: From Hustle to Slow Growth

• Ambitious Beginnings:
  Jennifer describes her early career as a political reporter and her husband's legal pursuits, illustrating the intensity of their ambition in their 20s.
  • Jennifer Dukes Lee [03:28]: "Both Scott and I had zero intention of ever moving back to rural Iowa. We did have our sights set on success, achievement, scaling, hustling, climbing the ladder..."
• The Move to the Family Farm:
  The shift from city life and career ambitions to the slower rhythms of a fifth-generation family farm was sparked by a desire for family and sustainability. Initially, this decision was questioned by everyone—including themselves.
  • Jennifer [03:58]: "When we started to think about having a family, our priorities began to shift...we made this unexpected decision to move back to the fifth generation family farm."

Slowing Down is an Interior Work

• Hurry is a Heart Issue:
  Jennifer emphasizes that hurry is not only external but also an internal struggle—"hurry sickness" lingers no matter the setting.
  • Jennifer [09:06]: "Hurry isn't just an external issue. Hurry is something that hangs around your heart. You can have a kind of hurry sickness..."
• Faith Over Hustle:
  Transitioning to a slower pace required Jennifer to let go of the "spectacular" and embrace the holiness of ordinary life.
  • Jennifer [07:00]: "The quieter way, the slower way, the family way, isn't screaming and shouting at us all the time...regular life is holy ground."

Lessons from Farming: God’s Rhythms in Creation

• Daily and Seasonal Rhythms:
  Life on the farm is built on natural, God-designed rhythms—sunrise and sunset, seasons of planting, growth, harvest, and dormancy.
  • Jennifer [10:34]: "God created our world with a rhythm...and each day offers us this new opportunity to rise again with the Lord and with the sun and to close out the day."
• The Power of Small Things:
  Slow, persistent actions—like a gentle wave shaping rock—are often more transformative than dramatic efforts.
  • Jim Daly [12:10]: "Water is stronger than rock."
  • Jennifer [13:05]: "That's a growing slow process...it's happening incrementally...The same is true in our lives."

Grieving, Winter, and Allowing for Sorrow

• Allowing Grief:
  Both Jennifer and Jim open up about the damage of unprocessed grief and the need to slow down and feel loss.
  • Jennifer [16:58]: "I describe myself in the book as the queen of unexpressed grief...I became busy doing things...so I don't have to really deal with what is hurting."
  • Jim Daly [18:00]: "That may be one of the golden nuggets out of our discussion today...this issue of unprocessed grief is a killer for us..."
• Winter as a Time of Healing:
  The metaphor of winter allows for rest, healing, and the surfacing of deep-seated "rocks" in our lives—areas needing God’s attention and removal for future fruitfulness.
  • Jennifer [21:25]: "What would it be like in the winter seasons of our lives? To let God pick rock, to let him take those things out of the field of our life..."

The Model of Jesus’ Unhurried Life

• Jesus Never Hurried:
  Throughout the Gospels, Jesus is seen moving at a purposeful, unhurried pace—providing a model for living in God’s timing.
  • Jennifer [25:03]: "Jesus was never in a hurry, that's for sure...we should model the behavior of Jesus. And I never see him running in scripture..."
• Contentment in the Present:
  Embracing the present moment and trusting God in all seasons leads to peace.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Trap of Spectacle

"God works in the unspectacular ordinary life, regular life is holy ground...it's just really hard to see it when you're in the midst of it."
— Jennifer Dukes Lee [07:00]

On Being Present

"I've never once seen a corn plant freaking out...we don't have to freak out either. So just be right here and right now."
— Jennifer Dukes Lee [23:20]

On Scripture and Seasons

"To everything there is a season...not every season gives us exactly what we want, but each help us to become all that we might..."
— Jennifer Dukes Lee [24:23]

On Grief and Emotional Health

"Let your kids cry when there is loss...David King David, he was a man in touch with his emotions...He wants us to feel life. He wants us to slow down and understand those seasons."
— Jim Daly [18:00] "The shortest verse in the New Testament, we all know, Jesus wept so we can look to our Savior to know that it's okay to cry."
— Jennifer Dukes Lee [19:20]

Important Segments and Timestamps

• [00:32] - Nature’s rhythms unhurry our hearts.
• [03:28] - Jennifer recounts her high-powered career days.
• [07:00] - The challenge of embracing ordinary life as holy ground.
• [09:06] - "Hurry isn't just an external issue."
• [10:34] - God’s rhythms in creation and on the farm.
• [13:05] - The power of slow, small things—“water is stronger than rock.”
• [16:58] - Grieving losses and the importance of feeling emotions.
• [19:43] - The lessons of winter; letting God “pick rock” in our hearts.
• [22:50] - Five things to never forget for growing slow.
• [25:03] - Modeling Jesus’ unhurried way of life.

Jennifer's Five Things to Never Forget

(Practical Takeaways for Listeners, starting at [22:50])

1. Be Right Here, Right Now:
   Savor the present; don’t let hurry make you “late for your own funeral.”
2. Nature Never Hurries:
   Experience God’s work through the patient cycles of seasons—get out and observe creation.
3. Scarcity vs. Peace:
   A scarcity mindset breeds panic; a “growing slow” mindset breeds peace—trust God’s provision.
4. To Everything a Season (Ecclesiastes 3:1-11):
   Embrace each season, whether joyful or painful, as formative and necessary.
5. Jesus Was Never in a Hurry:
   Model your life on Jesus’ calm, relational pace—He didn’t rush, even after the resurrection.

Tone and Atmosphere

The conversation is warm, authentic, and grounded in real-life experience. Jennifer’s gentle wisdom and the hosts’ openness to self-reflection and vulnerability create a comforting, encouraging space—ideal for any listener seeking to slow down and embrace God’s rhythms.

Final Thoughts

This episode invites listeners to trade the tyranny of hurry for the freedom found in God’s faithful, orderly rhythms. Jennifer’s practical insights and personal stories offer encouragement for anyone overwhelmed by life’s pressures. Whether you’re considering a major reset or simply longing for more peace, Growing Slow and the lessons from this episode provide a pathway back to relational, spiritual, and emotional flourishing.