January 23, 2026

CT has traditionally covered devotionals in very brief roundups, which is why I’m so excited to introduce a bimonthly column from Bible teacher Elizabeth Woodson that more robustly reviews Bible reading companions. Woodson, who writes devotionals herself, highlights both new Scripture study guides and some classics. This month’s roundup includes three devotionals for finding sustenance in difficult seasons.

Happy Reading,

Kara Bettis Carvalho

Senior Features Editor, Christianity Today

Three Books for Devotional Life

BY ELIZABETH WOODSON

Donna Barber, Enough for Today: Forty Reflections for Surviving the Wilderness (InterVarsity Press, 2025)

Wilderness seasons tend to expose the truth about where we are finding our strength, revealing whether it is in God or ourselves. I experienced this a few years ago during a challenging season in vocational ministry. I had let busyness crowd out my time with God, making my to-do list a higher priority than my time in Scripture and prayer. Eventually, I grew distant from God and spiritually weary, tired from carrying my burdens all by myself. But in order to find spiritual relief, I knew I needed a guide, a spiritual companion who had survived life in the wilderness and could help me reconnect with God.

Donna Barber’s book offers this kind of spiritual companionship, written with the honesty and vulnerability of someone who knows the wilderness intimately. Each devotional pairs a moment of Israel’s story with a related moment in her season of hardship and weariness. What stood out to me the most was her resilience, a steadfast commitment to remain present enough to continually encounter God—even in the silence.

"I have met God again and again … when I have made room and come to him with hopeful expectation," she writes. "When my heart is clear, and my mind is at rest, he has met me in the depth and mystery of silence."

Organized by the route we all take through the wilderness, Barber’s book invites us to meditate on our experience of discovering God, hearing his call, facing our fears, and eventually finding our renewed selves, freshly refined by fire.

My favorite devotionals give voice to the complex emotions that arise in the valley, emotions we fear are evidence of a weak or inauthentic faith but are actually evidence of our humanity in a broken world. Through her eyes, readers gain a new vision of the wilderness, seeing it as a place where God meets us in unexpected ways, showing us aspects of his character we couldn’t see otherwise.

Tara Beth Leach, The GREAT Morning Revolution: Daily Spiritual Practices for Meaningful Moments with God (Zondervan, 2025)

If Barber helps us find God in the wilderness, Tara Beth Leach provides structure for our journey with him. Drawing on a method she developed during her own wilderness season, she presents a morning prayer practice that will transform not only our day but also our entire being.

Leach’s simple format—gratitude, reflection, exaltation, asking, and trusting—helps readers center their morning on God and begin to see the whole day differently. For Leach, "the morning is only the beginning … these practices set the tone for a life that remains open and available to God’s movement throughout the day."

A key strength in her book is its focus on grace. Instead of pushing a "just try harder" mindset, she roots the practice of the morning routine in God’s unconditional love and our desire for communion with him. "It’s about returning to God, not getting it right," Leach writes. "God delights in your presence, not your performance."

Richard J. Foster, Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home (HarperCollins, 1992)

Richard J. Foster’s book completes this triad of spiritual companioning by addressing the intimacy with God that prayer develops. From the beginning, he makes it clear that his book is not designed to define prayer but is rather an exploration of our "enduring, continuing, growing love relationship with the great God of the universe." For Foster, this love demands a response, and prayer is that response.

He organizes the book as a progressive journey of connection with each person of the Trinity, starting with inward transformation from communion with the Son, moving to intimacy with the Father, and culminating in missional life empowered by the Spirit.

Each chapter is a mix of Scripture, personal stories, and the wisdom of saints such as Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Avila. Foster uses this unique combination to stir the reader’s imagination. As he unpacks each prayer type, he leaves space for us to reflect on the contours of our divine conversations and the personal formation they cultivate in our lives. Additionally, with each compounding reflection, the reader is drawn to see how prayer, even in the wilderness, ultimately leads to greater love for God.

For lost and weary souls, these books serve as a much-needed spiritual guide, helping reveal the beauty of the wilderness. For when traversed with intentional spiritual practices in hand, seasons of desolation can become bridges to deep, life-changing transformation and intimacy with God.

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in the magazine

Cover of the January / February 2026 of Christianity Today.

When Jesus taught, he used parables. The kingdom of God is like yeast, a net, a pearl. Then and today, to grasp wisdom and spiritual insight, we need the concrete. We need stories. In this issue of Christianity Today, we focus on testimony—the stories we tell, hear, and proclaim about God’s redemptive work in the world. Testimony is a personal application of the Good News. You’ll read Marvin Olasky’s testimony from Communism to Christ, Jen Wilkin’s call to biblical literacy, and a profile on the friendship between theologian Miroslav Volf and poet Christian Wiman. In an essay on pickleball, David Zahl reminds us that play is also a testament to God’s grace. As you read, we hope you’ll apply the truths of the gospel in your own life, church, and neighborhood. May your life be a testimony to the reality of God’s kingdom.

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Three Books for Devotional Life

What to Do About Reparations

It’s Not Just What We Teach, but How