7 min read ⭑

Liz Bell Young is a writer, experience designer and collaborator in the Midwest. She’s written a book called “Let There Be Havens: An Invitation to Gentle Hospitality” that centers around the beauty of taking care of others with what we already have on hand. 

Liz describes some of her own experiences around the table with family and friends in this interview.  She shares about her fascination with riding a dirt bike, how wearing a mask can be her kryptonite and how the Holy Spirit took over the direction of her book during a tough bout of writer’s block.

QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT

There’s much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?

It was a table set on gravel, set on a hill, set with roasted rabbit, polenta, bitter greens and fruit. I could probably find my way back to that farm restaurant table, maybe not. It’s been years now, and it was the outskirts of some Italian town that was a few towns over from the Italian town where we lived. We were there — living in Italy — because my husband was with the military. We had packed our plates and bedsheets that we hadn’t even used yet. We had just been married and were just starting off. 

We’re back home now in Cincinnati — the place my husband and I are both from and where we circled back to after those years away. We have three children now. Last night our family sat in my in-laws’ pop-up camper and ate off the grill in their backyard. It wasn’t rabbit and polenta in the Italian hills this time, but something struck me as just the same: that pre-dinner communion and commotion. The up and down preparation, the food decked over fire, the silverware clanking down on an outdoor table. Holding hands to sing prayer. A dog looking for scraps. A mother laughing. A bowl being passed around. 

We’ve promised our kids we’ll show them the country where we used to live, but in some ways, they’ve already experienced it.

QUESTION #2: REVEAL

We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So, what are yours? What so-called "nonspiritual" activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?

I’ve only done this a few times, so I’m not sure it’s fair to say it’s one of my activities, but I think it points to the bigger thing. It’s when I got on a dirt bike in a field. Even though I’d ridden bikes a handful of times, just cranking the engine and shifting into gear made my heart race all over again. I was both thrilled to get going and terrified that I would fall. I’d already rolled off the back of one and slid down the side of another. But I was out in the open and got a spark of the brave, and I wound my way up a big hill to watch the sun set. I was alone but felt in absolute company with my God. I think it’s the full rush of wind, the power of rapid movement and sound. It’s such an all-senses experience. I used to feel the same on a horse. It happens, too, on a boat. I can nearly get there, but just nearly, if I’m sprinting on my own two feet. Or if I’m driving fast with the windows down. All that overtaking of wind. I was reading that story in Acts about Jesus’ friends who were crowded together in a room after He died when the Holy Spirit pummeled through. It was inside. All that ruckus of wind and flame and voice. No wonder things changed.

QUESTION #3: CONFESS

Every superhero has a weakness. Every human, too. We're just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?

That’s a powerful question, especially the “how do you hide it,” because I suppose that’s how you really know when it’s your kryptonite. My weakness is hiding how I feel. It’s an old, old habit. My first-grade teacher told my parents it was like I was sometimes wearing a mask. Partly, I think I was swimming in this deep internal world. It’s a lot to unpack, and I’ve spent years learning and leaning into others to help me shake that stuff out. But I can still, once in a while, feel it happen. I go back to the mask. And I need someone who knows me to look me in the eyes and say, “You don’t have to fake it.”

QUESTION #4: FIRE UP

Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?

I just released a book called “Let There Be Havens: An Invitation to Gentle Hospitality.” It’s about creating space to take care of one another and be taken care of yourself. It’s an attempt at pulling off that pressured, spot-lit, unsustainable direction that “hospitality” has often been taken (and pressed upon us) and learning to take care of another and create with what you have. So it’s about campfires, grocery stores, garages, neighbors, homecomings, building a house, opening the door, daydreams, naps. When I told my publishers I wanted to fill this book with stories, how-tos and recipes, immersive photographs and illustrations, they said, “We’re on board,” and they trusted. 

I didn’t know if I could pull it off, but I wanted the book to feel like a haven itself. I wanted it to be the thing I was trying to teach. So when I hear it’s becoming this for the people who open it, I am profoundly thankful. But whether or not you read the book, what I hope here is that you’ll spark to this idea of “take care of others with what you have,” and feel freer every day to live this way. I believe it’ll help us break through the unnecessary walls between us, the habit of retreating, the divisions. And I believe this way of life will get us back to turning on lights and opening doors for one another. 

(P.S. Tyndale is my publisher; they are wonderful. Joy Eggerichs Reed is my literary agent, and she is also wonderful. I wanted to note that here because I know as an emerging author, I always wanted to know these things from other authors.)

QUESTION #5: BOOST

Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it's God when it happens?

I hit a wall at the end of writing the “Let There Be Havens” book. I’m used to blocks and walls as a writer — it’s just part of the gig. But this one was as if I was absolutely missing the final direction, and I was getting more and more concerned. I needed the Holy Spirit to take over, to funnel an answer through me. But I tried so many times to write my way out of it — fresh transitions, new scenarios, reworked scenarios. Nothing, nothing, nothing. I asked friends to pray and told them I was at the end of my rope. I was ready to ask for a deadline extension from the publisher. Then one morning I did that sink-to-the-floor, giving-up thing. I started talking directly to the Holy Spirit again. I don’t know what made this moment different from others when I had begged for direction, but suddenly I knew exactly what to do. It was a strange knowing — a very specific solution that I felt in my mind. It was the title of an old children’s book my mom used to read to me, so I ran upstairs to get it from a shelf. I knew I was going to retell that story in mine. I didn’t know exactly why, but I had to do it. The relief as I was writing was so intense, I nearly laughed my way through putting that old story into place. It was as if that title (“The Runaway Bunny”) glowed outside of my own attempts and regular ideas. And this, I think, is how I’ve most often experienced the Holy Spirit. Outside of me, but for me.

QUESTION #6: inspire

Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So spill it, which spiritual practice is workin' best for you right now?

I thought about this on the highway the other night. I was driving home after hanging out with a group of women, all believers in Jesus. I felt very much in the presence of God as I drove. The way it felt was really soft and intimate, and I think it was like that with God because I’d just been sitting in a house listening to other women’s stories, praying, confessing stuff, being honest and willing. So when I got into my car, I was primed to be in that sort of company with God. I wonder if there’s something to that sequence? For a few years, I had let go of that small, weekly community, and even though I made time to connect with God on my own, it was getting pale. I was getting pale. I didn’t know at first what was “off” until I stepped back into those kinds of gatherings. We say it and hear it a lot: we need people. We need each other. My word, we do. We need other believers in our company as often as we can get there. Then when we’re driving highways late at night, we’re already home, and with him.

QUESTION #7: FOCUS

Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources — lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are some resources that have impacted you?

1. The new book, “Practicing the Way” by John Mark Comer. It’s just incredible. So much was new to me. 

2. The old book, “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.” I loved it as a kid, but it was the re-reading as an adult that shook me awake. It’s Aslan, to cut to the chase. It’s when Lucy is asking about him, before they’ve met, and she asks Mr. Beaver if he’s safe. “Safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” 

3. The tiny book, “The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness” by Tim Keller. It rocks the huge boat.

We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season — and tell us what it's done for you.

The song “I AM,” by Judah. I am continually playing it and finding solace and security in it. I think certain songs just lead us straight to the source, and this one does that for me. I also drop into YouTube for the live version of “Perfect Peace” by Steffany Gretzinger and Amanda Cook.

QUESTION #8: dream

God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?

I’ll be at Woman Camp this September in Ohio and doing a Haven training in a barn. I’m so curious how it’ll go. I’ve also been toying with the idea of magic tricks. And I’ve been getting on podcasts recently, and I like them. I like the breeze of conversation, especially when it isn’t scripted and you fall into something that you hope will matter to listeners. I think I’d like to make a film of sorts, too. Probably a small one. Maybe that’s where the magic trick comes in.

Liz talks about the “pressured, spot-lit, unsustainable direction” that hospitality has taken in recent years. Sometimes we feel the pressure of perfection and grandiose presentations when inviting others into our spaces and our lives. Take some time and ask God to give you his view of hospitality. What do you have on hand that you could use to offer to others to create a space for connection right where you are?

Liz Bell Young is a writer, experience designer and collaborator in the Midwest. A grad of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and University of Cincinnati, LBY takes a multidisciplinary approach to her work and home. Favorite pairings: words on index cards, words next to rolling film, words covering real paper inside real books. She also adores rocks, oyster shells, the smell of hay and gasoline, old Austrian boots, coffee in small cups. But above all: her life with Ryan and their children.

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