I Read the Entire Bible in a Year — and Here’s What God Taught Me in One of the Hardest Years of My Life
2025 was not an easy year for me. (But let’s be honest…are they ever?)
It was a year marked by anxiety I didn’t expect, pressure at work, and a level of stress that often felt relentless. There were weeks where I felt exhausted — emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
And yet, in the middle of all of it, I kept a quiet commitment: to keep coming back to God’s Word.
Reading the entire Bible in 2025 wasn’t something I did from a place of strength or spiritual discipline. I did it from a place of need and a deep desire to know Him more. I needed grounding. I needed truth. I needed something steady when everything else felt shaky.
This is not a post about perfection or productivity.
It’s about God’s faithfulness meeting me in the middle of a very hard year, and continuing to meet me every day since.
What Staying in God’s Word Gave Me This Year
I didn’t set out to make 2025 a “Bible in a year” highlight reel. Some days, opening Scripture felt peaceful. Other days, it felt like the only thing I could cling to.
To my surprise, I worked through A Beautiful Year in the Bible using two full notebooks — not because I was trying to be thorough, but because I apparently needed somewhere to put everything I was carrying and learning all at the same time.
Some pages were filled with notes about historical events, timelines, kings, and context. Other pages were raw prayers — about anxiety, marriage, identity, exhaustion, and asking God to meet me where I was.
Staying in His Word gave me:
A place to bring my questions instead of my conclusions
Language for prayers when I didn’t know what to say
Perspective when my circumstances felt overwhelming
Reminders of who God is when my emotions felt loud
Daily…Then Weekly (& Why That Worked)
When I first started, I was fully in my daily devotional era. I loved the rhythm of reading every single day; it felt grounding and intentional.
But as the year went on (and life happened: work, travel, full days, full seasons), I realized I needed flexibility. Instead of quitting or falling behind, I shifted to a weekly rhythm.
Here’s what I loved about this plan: it allowed that.
Each week includes:
A clear reading structure
A breakdown of each week’s theme in a few short pages — this really helped me incorporate the readings into my daily life and “make sense of it all”
Reflection questions at the end of the week
Space to process what you’re reading, not just rush through it
Even when my schedule got busy, I could carve out intentional time once or twice a week, catch up, reflect, and still stay aligned with the 365‑day timeline.
And I finished…right on time!
What I Learned by Showing Up Anyway
There were weeks I read daily, and weeks I barely kept up.
But what surprised me most was this: God met me in both.
Through Scripture, I learned:
God’s faithfulness does not depend on my consistency
Struggle does not disqualify me from growth
God works just as powerfully in quiet obedience as He does in breakthrough moments
The Bible didn’t magically fix my circumstances, but it did reshape how I walked through them.
Reading about God’s patience with His people, His nearness in uncertainty, and His long-term redemptive plans helped me trust Him with my own unfinished story. And how BLESSED am I to be able to lean on Him and His perfect promises through everything I know I can’t navigate on my own?!
Seeing God’s Faithfulness Woven Throughout Scripture
One of the most impactful parts of reading the Bible this way was seeing how consistent God is — even when His people aren’t.
Because the readings were theme-based, I kept noticing the same truths repeated across different books and seasons:
God remains faithful when people fail
God keeps His promises, even when the timeline is long (and unknown)
God is present in both suffering and celebration
Those themes weren’t abstract — they mirrored my own year.
When my life felt disjointed, Scripture showed me a God who is steady, intentional, and always at work, even when I can’t see it.
Why I’m Grateful I Stayed in God’s Word
I’m not sharing this because I have everything figured out now, or because He wrapped up my year perfectly in a pretty little bow. I’m sharing it because when so much felt uncertain in 2025, God’s Word became a constant. A place I could return to again and again. A place I’ll continue to turn to in moments of peace, uncertainty, stress, celebration, and everything that is still to come in my life.
Reading the Bible this year reminded me that:
God is not intimidated by my questions
His faithfulness does not waver with my circumstances
He makes all things work together for my good
And if you’re walking through a hard season of your own, I hope this encourages you…not to do more, but to draw nearer.
And if you’re curious about starting this journey yourself, I’ve linked A Beautiful Year in the Bible throughout this blog post for easy access. This is the exact devotional I used, wrote through, prayed through, and would wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who’s craving more depth, consistency, and grace in their time with Scripture.
If you’re someone who:
Wants to deepen your relationship with the Lord
Feels intimidated by reading the entire Bible
Needs flexibility for a busy, real-life schedule
Or simply wants a more reflective, intentional approach to Scripture
This devotional is truly a beautiful place to start.
You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to read every single day. You just have to keep coming back!
And if you do? You might just find yourself a year from now, holding a finished Bible and a heart that’s been quietly, steadily transformed.
Final Encouragement
Reading God’s Word isn’t about speed, streaks, or structure — it’s about presence.
Whether you’re in a daily rhythm, a weekly one, or somewhere in between, A Beautiful Year in the Bible meets you where you are and gently invites you deeper.
If you’ve been feeling that nudge to spend more time in The Word, consider this your permission slip to start imperfectly, and trust God to do the rest.
A Short Prayer If You’re Starting
Lord,
Thank You for Your Word — it’s living, active, and full of grace. Help me not to rush through Scripture, but to sit with it, learn from it, and allow it to shape my hearts and my life. Give me consistency where I feel scattered, peace where I feel overwhelmed, and joy as I seek You more intentionally.
Amen.
Want to Save This or Share It?
If this post encouraged you, feel free to save it, share it with a friend, or bookmark it for later. And if you decide to start A Beautiful Year in the Bible, I’d love to hear about your experience!
Sometimes the most life-changing journeys begin with a simple yes.