The personal stories, Scripture passages, and inspirational quotes in this 10-day reading plan will lift women up and remind them that God is bigger than the trials they face.
DAY 1
Love Revealed
Part 1
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. —1 john 4:9
When a series of pink “I love you” signs mysteriously appeared in Welland, Ontario, local reporter Maryanne Firth decided to investigate. Her sleuthing turned up nothing. Weeks later, new signs appeared featuring the name of a local park along with a date and time.
Accompanied by a crowd of curious townspeople, Firth went to the park at the appointed time. There she saw a man wearing a suit, but he had cleverly concealed his face. Imagine her surprise when he handed her a bouquet and proposed marriage! The mystery man was Ryan St. Denis—her boyfriend. She happily accepted.
If you think Ryan’s expression of love for Maryanne is neat, think of God’s expression of love for us! “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 John 4:9). Jesus willingly gave up His life so anyone who believes in Him can have an everlasting relationship with God.
Nothing can separate a Christian “from the love of God that is in Christ” (Romans 8:39). Now, that’s true love!
DAY 2
My Friends and I
Part 2
And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. —1 samuel 18:3
“Such is friendship, for as . . . flowers drop their sweet leaves on the ground around them, so friends impart favor even to the places where they dwell” John Chrysostom (347–407).
Jonathan and David illustrate the sweetness of a true friendship. Theirs was an immediate bond (1 Samuel 18:1), and they kept their friendship alive through loyalty (18:3; 20:16, 42; 23:18), and by nurturing it through expressions of concern. Jonathan gave gifts to David (18:4) and watched out for him in many difficulties (19:1–2; 20:12–13).
In 1 Samuel 23:16, we see the highest moment of their friendship. When David was a fugitive from Jonathan’s father, “Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God” (nkjv). Friends help you find strength in God during life’s low points.
In a world where many relationships are about what we can get, let us be the type of friends who focus on what we can give. Remember, “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).
DAY 3
Writing Letters
Part 3
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. —2 corinthians 3:2
My mother and her sisters engage in what is becoming a lost art form—writing letters. Each week they pen personal words to each other with such consistency that one of their mail carriers worries when he doesn’t have something to deliver!
As I reflect on this weekly exercise of the women in my family, it helps me appreciate even more the apostle Paul’s words that those who follow Jesus are “a letter from Christ,” who were “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God” (2 Corinthians 3:3). Paul encouraged the church in Corinth to keep on following the true and living God as he had previously taught. In doing so, he memorably described the believers as Christ’s letter. Their transformed lives were a more powerful witness to the Spirit’s work than any written letter could be.
God’s Spirit in us writes a story of grace and redemption! It is our lives that are the best witness to the truth of the gospel, for they speak volumes through our compassion, service, gratitude, and joy. What message might you send today?
DAY 4
Free from Fear
Part 4
I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. —Psalm 34:4
Fear sneaks into my heart without permission. It paints a picture of hopelessness and steals my peace. What am I fearful about? Safety of my family or the health of loved ones. The loss of a job or a broken relationship. Fear turns my focus inward and reveals an untrusting heart.
When these fears and worries strike, how good it is to read David’s prayer in Psalm 34: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears” (v. 4). And how does God deliver us from our fears? When we “look to him” (v. 5), we trust Him to be in control. Then David mentions a different type of fear—a deep respect and awe of the One who surrounds us and delivers us (v. 7). We can take refuge in Him because He is good (v. 8).
This awe of His goodness helps put our fears into perspective. When we remember who God is and how much He loves us, we can relax into His peace. In seeking the Lord we can be delivered from our fears.
DAY 5
Nothing Is Useless
Part 5
Nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless. —1 Corinthians 15:58 (nlt)
In my third year battling discouragement and depression caused by limited mobility and chronic pain, I confided to a friend, “My body’s falling apart. I feel like I have nothing of value to offer God or anyone else.”
“Would you say it doesn’t make a difference when I greet you with a smile or listen to you?” she asked. “Would you tell me it’s worthless when I pray for you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why are you telling yourself those lies? You do all those things for me and for others.”
I thanked God for reminding me that nothing we do for Him is useless.Because God promises we’ll be resurrected through Christ (1 Corinthians 15:43), we can trust Him to use every small effort done for Him to make a difference in His kingdom (v. 58).
Even when we’re physically limited, a smile, a word of encouragement, a prayer, or a display of faith during our trial can be used to minister to others. When we serve the Lord, no job or act of love is too menial to matter.
DAY 6
Face-to-Face
Part 6
The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. —exodus 33:11
Although we’re all connected electronically like never before, nothing beats time together in person. Those who love each other, whether family or friends, like to share with each other face-to-face.
We see this face-to-face relationship between the Lord and Moses, the man God chose to lead His people. Moses grew in confidence over the years of following God, and he continued to follow Him despite the people’s rebelliousness and idolatry. After the people worshiped a golden calf instead of the Lord (see Exodus 32), Moses set up a tent outside of the camp in which to meet God, while they had to watch from a distance (33:7–11). As the pillar of cloud signifying God’s presence descended to the tent, Moses spoke on their behalf. The Lord promised that His presence would go with them (v. 14).
We no longer need someone like Moses to speak with God for us. Instead, just as Jesus offered His disciples, we can have friendship with God through Christ (John 15:15). We too can meet with Him, with the Lord speaking to us as one speaks to a friend.
DAY 7
Everything Comes from God
Part 7
Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. —1 chronicles 29:16
By the time I was eighteen, I had worked and saved until I had enough money for a year of school. Then my mom had emergency surgery, and I realized I had the money in the bank to pay for her operation.
My love for my mother suddenly took precedence over my plans. These words from Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot took on new meaning: “If we hold tightly to anything given to us, unwilling to let it go when the time comes to let it go . . . , we stunt the growth of the soul.” She was saying that what we have “is ours to thank Him for and ours to offer back to Him.”
I saw my savings as gift from God! I could give to my family because I was sure God could get me through school another way, and He did.
Today, think about David’s prayer from 1 Chronicles 29:14, “Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us” (nlt).
DAY 8
Rules of Disengagement
Part 8
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. —john 8:36
In her book Throw Out Fifty Things, Gail Blanke outlines four “Rules of Disengagement” to help people clear the clutter from their lives. The first rule states: “If it . . . weighs you down, clogs you up, or just plain makes you feel bad about yourself, . . . let it go [and] move on.”
I think this Rule of Disengagement has a spiritual application too: We don’t have to stay connected to past sin. Joseph’s brothers struggled with this. Years after they sold Joseph into slavery, they recalled their cruelty and feared revenge (Genesis 50:15). So they sent a message to Joseph, begging for forgiveness (vv. 16–17). They did this despite previous merciful actions and reassurances from their brother (45:4–15).
Many of us remain connected to age-old offenses despite mercy and forgiveness from those we may have hurt. However, true freedom comes when we confess our wrongdoing to God. He forgives it (1 John 1:9) and separates us from it (Psalm 103:12). Because of this, we can remind ourselves that the Son has made us free, and we are free indeed (John 8:36).
DAY 9
Life, Love, and Chocolate
Part 9
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. —ephesians 5:1–2
An entry on a favorite blog caught my eye. It was the morning of the writer’s ninth wedding anniversary. Not having a lot of money, he ran out (literally; no car) to get his wife their favorite French pastry—pain au chocolat. He arrived home, exhausted, to find her in the kitchen just pulling a chocolate-filled croissant out of the oven. It was pain au chocolat.
That husband compared his life with his wife to the lives of the people in O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi.” It tells of a man who sold his lone valuable possession—a pocket watch—to buy hair combs for his wife, who had sold her long, beautiful hair to buy a gold chain for his watch.
We sometimes need a reminder that acquiring “things” is not as important as appreciating the people God has placed in our lives. When we put others’ interests before ours (Philippians 2:3), we learn what it means to love, serve, and sacrifice—and how to pattern Christ in our relationships (Ephesians 5:1–2).
Life, love, and chocolate taste better when shared with others.
DAY 10
Spoonful of Sugar
Part 10
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold, they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. —psalm 19:9–10
Where is Mary Poppins when you need her?
I know this sounds as if I’m longing for the good old days when cheerfully unrealistic movies featured characters like this fictional nanny, but what I’m really longing for are people with a vision for the future that is realistically optimistic. I yearn for joyful, creative people who can show us the positive side of what we consider negative, who can remind us that “just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”
David wrote a song that expressed a similar truth. In his words, “the decrees of the Lord” are “sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19:9–10). Often we hear that it is bitter or hard to swallow. But truth is a gourmet meal that should be presented as a culinary delight, enticing the hungry to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (34:8).
“Jesus is the sweetest name I know,” says the song. Pure truth, untainted by pride, is the sweetest, most refreshing taste of all to those who hunger for spiritual sustenance. We have the privilege of serving it to a starving world.