Skip to content Elizabeth Thompson: In Season: A 90-Day Devotional for Female Student Athletes to Build Faith, Strengthen Confidence, and Train a Growth Mindset Oct 12 · 20 min ...more
Elizabeth Thompson: In Season: A 90-Day Devotional for Female Student Athletes to Build Faith, Strengthen Confidence, and Train a Growth Mindset
October 12, 2026 · 20 min
Discover your ultimate playbook for faith and athletics with In Season, a 90-day devotional for young female athletes. With interactive features such as goal setting, progress check-ins, reflection questions, and journaling prompts, In Season offers busy athletes everything they need to prioritize their spiritual growth while balancing their sport, academics, and relationships.
Series Children's Collection
You will find our host, Eden Gordon Hill, at the intersection of media and patriotism. Hill is the founder and owner of Eden Gordon Media, LLC, and a morning
October 12, 2026 · 20 min · Children's Collection
Discover your ultimate playbook for faith and athletics with In Season, a 90-day devotional for young female athletes. With interactive features such as goal setting, progress check-ins, reflection questions, and journaling prompts, In Season offers busy athletes everything they need to prioritize their spiritual growth while balancing their sport, academics, and relationships. ...more Show the full description Show less Discover your ultimate playbook for faith and athletics with In Season, a 90-day devotional for young female athletes. With interactive features such as goal setting, progress check-ins, reflection questions, and journaling prompts, In Season offers busy athletes everything they need to prioritize their spiritual growth while balancing their sport, academics, and relationships.
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In this video 0:00 Introducing In Season: A Devotional for Female Student Athletes5:31 The Structure and Purpose of the Devotional10:59 Growth Mindset and Its Impact on Avery15:37 Challenges Facing Teenage Girls Today17:42 Parenting Tools for Social Media and Building Resilience
Introducing In Season: A Devotional for Female Student Athletes 0:00 Good morning, America. Welcome back to the All American Book Club. I'm Eden Gordon Hill. It's an honor to be here for pray TV and pray dot com along with w m a l dot com. Today, we get to bring over to the0:12 show for the 1st time, Elizabeth Lang Thompson. She writes at lizzie life dot com and has a brand new book out called In Season, a 90 day devotional for female student athletes0:24 to build faith, strengthen confidence, and train a growth mindset. And the book has been and the devotional has been endorsed by Jackie Joyner Kersey, a 6 time0:36 Olympic medalist. She said this devotional beautifully captures the heart of what sports can teach us, not merely about competition, but about purpose, faith, and the strength of the human0:48 spirit. And for all of those who are tuning in, you guys know how much I advocate for our women of faith in the public square. So this is an ideal book for all those who are raising teenage girls and who are0:59 raising this next generation. So please help me welcome to the show Elizabeth Lang Thompson. I'm so glad to meet you. Thank you for being here.1:07 Oh, thank you so much for having me. I've been so excited about our conversation.1:11 Sure. Sure. So 1st, I love that fact that you are literally in my backyard, and we just discovered this. So great place to visit for all those who are tuning in around the world, around the globe, Wilmington, North1:23 Carolina. Best beaches in the world. Best place Totally. And I have to say most of my people from up north have retired to North Carolina and Wilmington to be specific. So so glad to have
1:35 you here, and I'm excited to dive into this devotional. And you being the mother of 4, I'm guessing that was a little bit of the inspiration.
1:44 It really was. So, yes, I have 4 amazing children. 3 of them are girls, and my 3rd child, Avery, sports are a huge
1:56 part of her life. They're just... They are where she shines, where she lights up, where she feels full and happy. Like, when she's out of season, she gets a little grumpy. You know? It's like her Oh, yeah. Yeah.
2:08 I get that. This book is really a book not just for my Avery, but for all of the, quote, unquote, Avery's out there. The girls who love,
2:21 love Jesus and love sports, who their faith is really important to them, and they're trying to honor God and pursue faith while pursuing sports. And, so, yeah, it it really comes
2:32 from a deeply personal place, that's very close to my heart.
2:37 Well, I love that you are for... Focusing on girls sports as we know. And I will bring it up. But as we know, this is something that the devil is having a field day with in our backyard of attacking girls
2:48 sports. And so you bring to the table the mental, the spiritual, the emotional, the physical component for our... For this generation that we're raising who want to play sports, who wanna be a part of
3:00 sports, and who may pause and say, well, this is happening right here in my backyard. Do I really wanna do this? And so you really bring to life what it can be for those who absolutely love
3:12 being a part of a sport. And it's not just that physical component. There's so many other aspects to that. The kind of, can you walk me through the devotional and what it looks
3:24 like for a mother, a daughter, or a father and a daughter to sit down and go through this devotional?
3:31 Yes. I really want this devotional to feel like the spiritual playbook that a girl needs to see her through the season because, you know, sports
3:43 are are a lot more intense than they were even even when I... Than when I was doing them not that long ago. I mean, I'm not that old. I'm old ish. But they've gotten so intense.
3:55 They are year long. They are very much... They've always been outcome oriented, but I think even more so now with social media and this tendency that our culture has to push
4:07 this 1 interpretation of success and performance. And so I really want this devotional to be the tool that girls could turn to to say, okay, how do I walk closely with God? How
4:19 do I manage this stress? How do I manage these pressures with the the tools that the Bible has given me? How do I learn to pray about these things? How do I learn resilience? How do
4:30 I cultivate coachability? How do I how do I learn a growth mindset instead of just, you know, falling down and and giving up the minute things get hard? Because sports are hard. They're
4:42 fun, but they are hard. And so I really hope that it is the playbook that girls need. Yes, to walk along, as you said, with a parent or a mentor or just on their own so that they can
4:54 stay close to God and have all that they need.
4:57 What are the chapters look like? How do you have it broken down?
5:00 So we have 12 different weeks. And 1 of my favorite things about this book is that it starts with a real story from an athlete's life. And I got to interview a bunch of
5:12 different athletes competing at every level of sport from, just casual middle and high school competition all the way to professional level. I interviewed a WNBA
5:24 player. I interviewed a professional women's hockey player, Jinsy Dunn. Right? And these women were generous enough to share their stories with me. And these are not stories of glamour
The Structure and Purpose of the Devotional
5:36 and success and look how awesome I am. They were stories of... Let me invite you into my own struggle and my own learning process. And so each week
5:47 opens with a story that that really introduces that week's theme, and the themes are things like your identity. Is your identity in what you do or who you are? It's it's
5:59 coachability, growth mindset, complications and frustrations, being Christ like. And so we have 12 different themes. We've got little journaling
6:11 prompts along the way, a time out, and a weekly check-in that invites girls to be super proactive and intentional about getting their own needs met and identifying any areas where they may need
6:22 additional support.
6:25 What... After you wrote this with your daughter, Avery, you said, what really struck a chord with her at where she is in her walk?
6:34 You know, I think what has meant the most to her is really the theme of that growth mindset because that's the thing that she's grappling with every day
6:45 is when I face adversity, when things don't go my way, when I face a setback, when I face even just weird interactions on a team where the vibe is off today or, you
6:57 know, hey. Is coach mad at me today? I messed up that play. Those situations that can get a girl super, like, in her head and in her feelings, I think that has really helped Avery to find
7:09 language for how do I work myself through this with god's help, with scripture, with prayer so that these become stepping stones to make me stronger
7:21 and more confident in the person God made me to be.
7:25 Has she come alongside of her teammates? Have they started doing it together collectively, almost like in a bible study?
7:33 So her season is in the spring, and she has big plans to do that with them in the spring. But in the meantime, she has she has been so sweet and so fun. She has, like, posted on her social media. She recruited
7:45 a bunch of her teammates and friends to help me with my launch team. It's been a really fun, special bonding thing for us. This is her senior year in high school. So, it's really special to get to do
7:57 this alongside her and her friends.
8:00 So talk to me about this. I noticed your bio. You you write for so many different publications. You have such an amazing platform. But even before being a mom, did you
8:12 see things on the horizon that said, I really wanna tap into this audience type just because I see all of these... You see all these things that they're
8:24 combating against. You know, you have the social media comparence. You have, comparable aspects. You have all of those things that they're constantly fighting. Did you see that that really
8:36 kind of brought you to this place along with the children component?
8:40 Yeah. You know, my favorite humans are teenage girls and preteen girls. I just... They are like my heart. I I love, I have always mentored young girls
8:51 through my churches and, you know, wherever I am or or even gotten involved in my community through volunteerism. And I just love the the the madness and the mayhem
9:03 and the emotional time of that, but also all the hope and the excitement and the anything is possible that you feel as a preteen and a teen girl. And so I
9:15 have always gravitated towards writing for the needs of girls in different ways. And, my 1st book for teenage girls would was called All the Feals for Teens, helping girls just
9:27 manage emotions more broadly. And then in this book, I got the chance to really drill down into, hey, what does this look like for for a female student athlete who's juggling all the demands of academics
9:39 and and getting into college and that that that that that that. So so yes, it really comes from that deep place of just loving teenage girls and wanting to walk alongside them as they journey into young
9:50 womanhood and adulthood.
9:53 Yeah. I almost feel like the pressures that they are up against today, you and I never even came close to in our... Yeah. Yeah. I mean, give me the rotary phone, give me a bicycle,
10:05 give me a book, but... And, you know, I did sports in high school. I I was a setter for the volleyball team. I played softball, was, the manager for the wrestling team, but I don't
10:17 remember those types of pressures that we see now happening in girls sports.
10:24 Yes. And I think that's a great point. I I think that social media has just blown everything up so much bigger. I mean, every teenager since the beginning of time
10:36 has struggled with insecurity and self doubt and who am I and where do I fit in and those kinds of questions. You and I dealt with that. But when you are constantly being
10:48 flooded with this endless scroll of people looking successful and beautiful and perfect and only posting the highlights and the good things from their lives, you just feel
Growth Mindset and Its Impact on Avery
11:00 like, well, what's even the point? Like, why am I trying? Where do I fit in this? And and you... I do think our girls can get a very warped perspective of what success
11:12 is and what a meaningful life is and what real friendship is. And so as a mom, not just as a writer, but as a mom, that is 1 of my big missions in life is to help my kids sift through
11:23 what's true and what's not true. And, what's worth taking into your heart and your eyeballs and what's not. So it it takes a lot more wisdom to grow up these days.
11:36 Well, they have to grow up a lot faster and we're so connected but, yeah, we're disconnected.
11:42 Yeah.
11:42 In so many different ways. What what are the, tools that you give to parents that you do with your kids yourself when it comes to social social media and just the, I
11:54 always say it's an unintentional isolation tool. Yeah. Because we feel like we're just so connected to everything. Why do we need to connect to anything else? And I've noticed
12:06 that for such a long period of time.
12:08 Yeah. 1 of the analogies that I use with my girls and, have even used in my writing before is that social media feels like trying to fill a bucket with holes in it.
12:21 You just keep pouring in and pouring in and pouring in thinking you're gonna get full and thinking your your confidence tank is gonna be full. Your your joy
12:32 bucket is gonna be full. Your friend bucket is gonna be full, but it just keeps leaking out, and it always wants more and more of your time, more and more of your energy. And it tells you, more and more that you are not
12:44 worthy and you're not, you know, matching up to where you should be. And so I think as parents, it's really important for us to help our girls in particular to
12:56 understand that, to understand that social media makes a lot of false promises. And it has its purposes, and there are ways to have healthy relationships with it. You know, for
13:08 me, I've decided I've gotta teach my kids while they're in my house how to engage with this. I don't want their 1st interaction to be, hey, go off to college and then dump... Dive in the deep end of social media for the
13:19 1st time. I need to shepherd them through it, walk them through, hold their hand, but in very intentional ways. So it's a challenge and to all the mamas and grandmamas out there, I feel your pain
13:31 and, you know, walking through it with you.
13:33 Yeah. There have been many times I just wanna take my phone and throw on the ocean and we live so close. Same.
13:40 I would I would happily throw them all away.
13:44 Yeah. And and the thing is even with us and the work that we do, you being in the publishing industry and I'm in the media industry, we have to stay connected
13:56 Yes.
13:56 To know to know. Yes. But then there is that that doom scroll component. And you being, you know, a testament, a testimony to your family and to your
14:08 girls, you know, them seeing what is mom doing. Okay. So let's not... Let's do what mom's doing. Let's follow that example kind of a thing, which is a
14:20 big deal.
14:21 Yeah. I do think it's up to us to set a great example and, and then to set a great... Just to help our girls set their own guidelines and have their own self awareness.
14:33 Like, with my girls, I had them write 5 different, like, sort of mini essays for me before they ever even got on social media answering 5 key questions. Yeah. I have them
14:45 up on my Instagram. I don't remember them all, off the top of my head, but it was things like, why do you wanna join this platform? What are the potential benefits? What are the potential pitfalls? What guidelines do you
14:57 think you should have in place? I don't wanna just police you. What do you think is gonna be healthy for you? And what would be signs, that that maybe you need to make an adjustment that it's not going well. And
15:09 we talked that through extensively. You know, and that came into play even with Avery and athletic recruiting. Social media became a complicated place for her because everyone's
15:21 posting, I committed, I committed, I committed. And then she's sitting there scrolling going, why haven't I committed to college yet? Well... So we had to even at that point revisit some of those essays. Hey. What's a
15:32 healthy relationship? Where does comparison come in? How do we rejoice for our friends? Do you need to take a break? All those kinds.
Challenges Facing Teenage Girls Today
15:38 Yes. All of the above and more. Yeah. Absolutely. So 1 thing I wanna highlight, we have about 4 minutes left but you mentioned 1 of the topics in the devotion, more focusing in
15:50 on resilience. Mhmm. I think that... I love that word because being in in the military community, being in the veteran community, that is a term that we hear often. Yeah. Talk to me about how you
16:02 translated that for these teen girls who are in sports. Mhmm.
16:07 You know, I talked a lot in this book. The Bible has so much to say about, about us growing as people and how we don't just come out of the womb having everything figured out that
16:19 life is meant to be a growth process and we're supposed to build. There's a really great, great scripture in 2nd Peter 1 verse 5 where, Peter writes about we add to different
16:31 character traits over time. We add to our faith goodness and goodness knowledge. And so 1 of the important things that I try to get across to girls in this, devotional is, hey,
16:43 every setback, every moment of confusion or defeat or, just, you know, ambivalence is an opportunity to grow. You can turn that into,
16:55 hey. You know, I messed up today, but that's okay because I just haven't learned that yet. Now I know. And next time I'll be stronger and next time I'll be better
17:06 equipped. So this is a building block. It's not a defeat. It's a learning opportunity and helping girls to reframe Yes. What the world would call defeat, what the world would use to discourage them, but
17:18 reframe it and use it to empower their future growth. I think that's a huge thing that isn't just about sports, but you will use that in your career, in your life as a mom if you have children, in
17:30 your marriage, in whatever... Wherever else life takes you, you're gonna use those lessons of resilience down the road.
17:37 Absolutely. So we have about a minute left. I wanna say, let's talk what is your call to action for all of those who are listening in. You got grandmas, you got military spouses, you got veteran spouses, you got
Parenting Tools for Social Media and Building Resilience
17:49 it all. What would be your call to action on such a powerful source that you have created for our teens?
17:56 You know, I would just encourage you whether you use this devotional or not, if you have a young female student athlete in your life to point her to her identity
18:09 in God, her identity and confidence in him and not in her sport only. Yes, support her sport. Yes, encourage her in what she does and be her
18:20 biggest fan, but help her know that you love her for who she is and not just what she does.
18:27 Elizabeth, thank you. So where can my audience go hang out with you? I'm sure you're on all the socials even though we love social media. And, where can they go and hang out
18:39 you... With you? Do you have a newsletter? And then do you have any other books that you wanna sneak peek while you're here?
18:45 Sure. Well, I do love, even though I have joked about throwing, you know, my phone into the ocean, I do genuinely love engaging with readers because, you know, that's what this is
18:57 all for is to help people and get to know people. So you can find me on my website, lizzie life dot com. I am on Instagram, very active there, YouTube. And I do have a newsletter, which you can
19:09 sign up for on my website. And I send out bible studies. I send out encouragement and news. I do have another book for teens called All the Feals for Teens. I have another book called When God Says Wait for those times
19:21 in life, which teenagers know a lot about when you're waiting on answers, you're waiting on life to turn out. So, yes, definitely, you can find all about my books at my website, and I would love to meet any of your
19:32 listeners.
19:33 Oh, thank you. Lizzy Life. I love it. I love the sound of that. That sounds great. Elizabeth Thomas... Thompson, thank you so much for being here at the All American Book Club. Thank you for what you're doing for our
19:42 next generation. Thank you for
19:44 Thank you
19:44 for having
19:45 me and digging into this topic.
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