Every decision has a price tag, and most of us never stop to read it. In this episode, Dot and Cara sit with Luke 14 and get honest about the cost of following Jesus, the cost of our daily choices, and what we're quietly giving up when we say yes to the wrong things. From forgiving the unforgivable to waiting on a miracle you can't control, this conversation is for anyone who has ever felt the weight of a decision they couldn't quite make. Pull up a chair, grab your Bible, and lean in with us.

Got a question about today’s episode or something else you’d like to hear us talk about on the show? Let us know! 

• Intro (00:00)
• Write this down: Luke 14:27-30, counting the cost of following Jesus (00:00)
• Cara introduces the theme: every decision carries a cost and a gain, and sometimes we only look at what we're losing (00:47)
• What does it actually cost to follow Jesus? Dot reflects on the moment she realized salvation was free but discipleship is not (01:40)
• Every decision costs something, even neutral ones, and the question is whether your yes is leading you toward what matters most (04:19)
• On forgiveness: it costs you something to withhold it, and it costs you something to give it. Which cost are you willing to carry? (07:50)
• Cara shares her word of the year, miracle, and what it means that the cost of the miracle she is waiting on is surrender (10:59)
• Dot on waiting: being still is one of the hardest and most costly things women are asked to do (12:07)
• Dr. Stanley's principle: "You reap what you sow, later than you sow, and more than you sow" (14:11)
• Dot gets practical: her daily practice of asking whether her yes is leading her toward what she loves most, and whether she could tell Jesus about it at the end of the day (21:49)
• Cara closes the loop: counting the cost is not about controlling outcomes. It is about being honest with yourself and with God about what each decision is actually taking from you (20:55)

Are you interested in having Dot come and speak to your community? Email us at [email protected].

Watch Write this Down! on YouTube

Find Dot Bowen on Instagram and Facebook 

Luke 14:27-30 (ESV) — "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'"