Devotions to Calm an Anxious Soul

From my previous post, Life in Time of Quarantine, I have mentioned that I have read appropriate devotions to calm my anxious soul. They were all from YouVersion, a Bible and devotionals app which you may download for free from the Play Store and the App Store. I’ve been using YouVersion for years already and it has made Bible reading more accessible for me especially when I am breastfeeding my little one, putting them to bed at night, and on rare occasions when I am awake very early in the morning.

I am sharing below, the three reading plans that have helped me out during those challenging times. The shortest can be done in days while the longest provides daily readings for up to 40 days. You can go through these plans at your own pace — either one each day or having two to three days worth at once.  What I like about YouVersion is the privacy feature of its reading plans. You may want to do the devotionals with your friends and family by simply clicking on the With Friends option when you start the plan. Notifications will be sent to your chosen devotional buddies. Alternatively, you can opt for By Myself should you want to go over the plan on your own.

Get Out of Your Head is a five-day devotional written by  Jennie Allen which was based from her New York Times Bestseller bearing the title, Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts. Jennie is a Bible teacher, author, and founder and visionary of IF:GATHERING. What I like about this devotional is that Jennie points out the thoughts and behaviors that we’re having but were unaware of. She then links to passages from the Bible that will help us conquer our thoughts and shares how we can prevent these thoughts from being toxic and blowing up. She ends each daily reading with a short but specific prayer on how to have a peaceful mind.

Breaking Anxiety’s Grip by Dr. Michelle Bengtson is a week’s worth of devotionals. Dr Bengtson is a board certified clinical neuropsychologist with over 20 years of experience in the diagnosis and treatment of medical and mental disorders in children and adults. She is also a sought-after international speaker and author. In this reading plan, Dr. Bengtson indicated how worry, anxiety, and fear have the power to imprison us. That’s exactly how I felt when the pandemic started! I was in distress of how everything will unfold because of COVID-19. I was so anxious of what was happening in the present and worried about our family’s future. When I read this plan, I have learned how excessive worrying put a grip on my mind and affect my actions as well as my relationships. Dr. Bengtson, being a neuro expert and follower of Christ, encourages readers to allow God’s Word to set us free from the imprisonment of worry, fear and anxiety. She points to stories in the Bible where people were able to overcome their fear and the uncertainties of life by putting their trust and hope in GOD. 

Broken & Redeemed is the longest reading plan that I went through. This 40-day devotional was suggested to me by my friend, Viviene of The Fulfilled Women, and was written by the team from a Women’s Ministry called Love God Greatly. This ministry creates Bible study tools and has a global community of women who meet together, virtually, to encourage, inspire and equip one another in the faith. The Broken & Redeemed plan follows the S.O.A.P. method — Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. To know more about this method, check out the ministry’s page on How to SOAP. This devotional features the stories of suffering of notable people in Bible such as Moses, Naomi, Sarah, and Paul among others. Throughout their lives, they have experienced hopelessness and even persecution but they did not give up and remained faithful to the Lord. 

I hope that you check out the reading plans that I have mentioned above. I pray that you would also find a sense of calm and be encouraged that no matter how uncertain our lives are right now, GOD will deliver us from this pandemic and from the inconvenient consequences that it has brought upon us.