At His Feet β 7-Day Women of the Bible Reading Plan
Christian Book Digest Β· Women of the Bible
At His Feet
A 7-Day Reading Plan on Devotion and Presence
Devotion is not a discipline. It is a response. The women in this plan were not trying harder to love Jesus. They had encountered Him β and what they found at His feet was worth returning to, again and again, through grief and uncertainty and the long in-between years.
Anna. The woman with the alabaster jar. Mary of Bethany. Martha. Mary Magdalene. Seven days. Seven encounters. One invitation: come, and stay.
This is the final plan in the Women of the Bible series β and the one that underlies all the others. Before the courage, before the surrender, before the faithfulness: there is this. A posture. A returning. Feet. Presence. The willingness to come close and stay close to the one who makes all the rest possible.
Anna never left the temple. The woman in Luke 7 came uninvited and wept. Mary of Bethany fell at His feet even in her grief. Martha confessed her faith before the tomb opened. Mary Magdalene followed Him village after village, giving from her substance. Two of these women watched a dead man walk out of a tomb β because their devotion had brought Jesus to the door.
Each day: read the passage slowly, sit with the reflection, pray the written prayer, and write honestly in your journal. There is no right way to come to His feet. There is only coming. Seven days. One posture. Come close.
Anna Β· The Long Devotion
She Never Left
Luke 2:36β38
Today’s Scripture
Luke 2:36β38
“Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
Reflection
Anna had been a widow for most of her adult life β married for seven years, then widowed, and then she spent the following decades in the temple. The text says she “did not depart from the temple.” Not she went frequently. Not she made it a priority. She did not depart. The temple was where she lived, where she worshipped, where she fasted and prayed night and day. When Simeon held the infant Jesus in the temple courts and proclaimed Him the consolation of Israel, Anna was there. Of course she was there. She was always there.
Eighty-four years is a long time to wait. Her devotion was not the bright-burning devotion of the young and eager β it was the settled devotion of someone who had made God her permanent address. She had not left when she was widowed. She had not left when the wait stretched from years into decades. She had not left when nothing visible seemed to be happening. And then the moment arrived β the moment all her decades of prayer had been pointed toward β and she was present for it. Not rushing in from elsewhere. Already there. Devotion is not a discipline you start when things get exciting. It is the thing you do in the in-between, so that when the moment arrives, you are already in the room.
Prayer
“Lord, I want to be someone who does not depart β who makes You my permanent address, not my occasional visit. Teach me the long devotion of Anna. Let me be found on the ordinary days, in the place where You are. And let me be there when the moment arrives β not rushing in from somewhere else, but already present. Amen.”
Journal prompt: Anna waited decades in the temple β and was there when the Messiah arrived, because she had never left. What does “not departing from the temple” look like in your own life? What is the specific practice of presence β the daily returning β that keeps you close to God during the ordinary in-between years?
The Woman with the Alabaster Jar Β· She Loved Much
She Wept at His Feet
Luke 7:37β48, 50
Today’s Scripture
Luke 7:37β38, 47β48, 50
“And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood behind Him at His feet weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.” … “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much… Your sins are forgiven… Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
Reflection
She came uninvited. She came knowing what every person at the Pharisee’s table thought of her. She came anyway β because she had encountered Jesus, or heard something about Him, or been seen by Him, and what she had received from Him was so far beyond what she had ever been given that she could not manage it. She stood behind Him, weeping. She had brought perfume, but the tears came first. She washed His feet with her tears before she anointed them with oil. Her love and her grief were inseparable β poured out together on the One who had, somehow, made her new.
Jesus told the parable of the two debtors β one forgiven much, one forgiven little β and said: “she has been forgiven much, therefore she loves much.” Not the reverse. The love is the response to the forgiveness. Extravagant love is the signature of a person who understands exactly how much they have been given. The room was scandalized. Jesus was moved. He called what she did faith. He said it had saved her. She did not speak a single word in this passage β everything she expressed, she expressed at His feet. Sometimes devotion is entirely wordless: just the coming, just the weeping, just the fragrance filling the room.
Prayer
“Lord, let me love the way she loved β not carefully, not proportionally, not with one eye on how it appears to the room. She came uninvited and wept, and You said it was faith. Let me come to You today the same way: without managing the grief, without worrying about the impression. Just the coming. Just the weeping. Just the fragrance. Amen.”
Journal prompt: “She has been forgiven much, therefore she loves much.” Write an honest accounting of what you have been forgiven β not as a spiritual exercise, but as a real reckoning with the size of the gift. How does the scale of what you have received shape the scale of how you love? Where in your life is your love currently proportional and careful β and where is God inviting something more extravagant?
Martha Β· Devotion That Declares
Yes, Lord, I Believe
John 11:20β27
Today’s Scripture
John 11:20β27
“Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him… Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.'”
New King James Version (NKJV)
Reflection
Martha is usually seen as the less spiritually attentive sister β the one who was distracted and complained, who needed to be gently corrected. But in John 11, Martha is the one who runs to meet Jesus while Mary remains seated, and she speaks one of the great confessions of faith in the New Testament. She voices the same grief as her sister β “if You had been here” β and then says the line that distinguishes her: “But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” Even now. Before the tomb is opened. Before anything has changed. In the irreversible fact of her brother’s four-day death, she believes.
When Jesus asks “Do you believe this?”, Martha does not answer with a theological treatise or a condition. She answers with a Person: “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God.” She does not claim to understand. She does not pretend she is not in grief. She makes a choice β in the middle of her devastation, before a single thing has been resolved β to confess who she believes Jesus is. This is devotion that does not depend on circumstances: the declaration of faith made at the worst possible moment, not in the resolution. Martha’s great confession is not the victory speech. It is the prayer at the tomb.
Prayer
“Lord, in the middle of what I cannot resolve, let me say what Martha said: Yes, Lord, I believe. Not that I understand β not that I am at peace β not that I have the answers. I believe that You are the Christ. That is the confession I can make even in this. And that is enough. Amen.”
Journal prompt: Martha’s confession came before the resurrection β in the middle of her grief, before anything had changed. What is the confession of faith you are able to make right now, in the middle of your present circumstances, before they are resolved? Write it as Martha wrote it: “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are…” Complete that sentence with what you genuinely believe, today, from where you are.
Mary of Bethany Β· Devotion in the Dark
She Fell at His Feet
John 11:28β35
Today’s Scripture
John 11:28β35
“And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, ‘The Teacher has come and is calling for you.’ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him… Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, ‘Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.’ Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping… He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’… Jesus wept.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
Reflection
When Jesus called for Mary, she arose quickly β the same Mary who sat at His feet while her sister worked, who chose the good part, who was accused of not helping. When He called, she moved immediately. And then she fell at His feet. Not in peaceful worship this time β in grief and the most intimate form of accusation: “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” She is devastated. She is at His feet. Both things are true simultaneously. Devotion does not require peaceful emotions. It only requires coming.
Jesus saw her weeping. He groaned in the spirit β the Greek word suggests a deep interior agitation, something between sorrow and indignation at death’s existence. He was troubled. He asked where the body had been laid. And then the two shortest, most extraordinary words in the Gospel of John: Jesus wept. He did not answer Mary’s accusation. He did not explain the delay. He entered her grief β and wept. This is what devotion draws out of God: not immunity from loss, not immediate answers, but the God who weeps with you at the tomb. Your grief, brought to His feet, brings Him to yours.
Prayer
“Lord, let me fall at Your feet even in the moments when I do not understand what You have allowed. Mary’s devotion was not conditional on favorable circumstances β she came to You in grief, with her accusation still in her mouth, and You wept with her. Let me bring You the unresolved grief. Let me be at Your feet even when I have no peaceful words. Amen.”
Journal prompt: Mary fell at His feet holding both her love and her accusation: “Lord, if You had been here…” Is there something you have been carrying toward God that is both devoted AND wounded β a prayer that holds love and confusion together? Write it honestly. Then sit with this: the response Jesus gave Mary was not an answer. It was tears. What does it mean to you that He weeps?
Mary Magdalene Β· Devotion That Travels
She Followed and She Gave
Luke 8:1β3
Today’s Scripture
Luke 8:1β3
“Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities β Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
Reflection
This is the quiet verse that tells us everything about where Mary Magdalene came from and where she went. Out of her had come seven demons. We don’t know what those years looked like from the inside β what captivity felt like, what she lost, what she became in that time. What we know is that Jesus cast them all out. And then she followed Him. Not home. Not back to her previous life. She followed Him β city after city, village after village β and she provided for His ministry from her own substance.
The word for “provided” β diakonΕ β is the same word used for ministry, for deaconship, for serving. Mary Magdalene was a minister to the Son of God. She used her resources, her time, her presence, to sustain His work. This is not heroic in the conventional sense β it is faithful in the daily sense: showing up, traveling, giving what she had, staying connected to the One who had set her free. Devotion in its most durable form is not the feeling or the dramatic gesture. It is the showing up, road after road, village after village, from a life that has been changed and cannot stop giving back.
Prayer
“Lord, let me be someone who provides for Your work from my substance β my time, my resources, my energy, my presence. Not when it is dramatic or recognized, but consistently, on the ordinary roads, in the villages no one names. Let gratitude for what You have done in me produce devotion that looks like showing up every day. Amen.”
Journal prompt: Mary Magdalene’s devotion was expressed through consistent, resource-giving presence β following Jesus from city to city, giving from her substance. What does “providing for Him from your substance” look like in your specific, ordinary life? What time, energy, capacity, or resource has He freed you to give β and where is He asking you to travel with it?
Mary & Martha Β· When Devotion Draws the Resurrection
“Lazarus, Come Forth!”
John 11:38β44
Today’s Scripture
John 11:38β44
“Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’… Then they took away the stone… And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘…Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes… Jesus said to them, ‘Loose him, and let him go.'”
New King James Version (NKJV)
Reflection
It was the devotion of Mary and Martha that brought Jesus to Bethlehem. They had sent word: “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” Not a command. Not a demand. Just the name and the need, spoken to the One who could act. And Jesus came β deliberately, with purpose, later than they had hoped β and He stood in front of the sealed tomb. Martha’s honest worry: “Lord, there is a stench; he has been dead four days.” Jesus: “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then: “Lazarus, come forth.” And he came out.
There is a detail in Jesus’ final command β “Loose him, and let him go” β that deserves attention. He raised Lazarus. But He gave the loosing to the people standing there. What God resurrects, the community is invited to unwrap. The graveclothes that bound what had been dead are removed by human hands. This is the pattern of how God works in the lives of the devoted: He commands the stone to roll. He speaks the name. He calls what was dead to life. And then He invites the people who love the person to help loose them from what bound them. Devotion does not only receive the miracle. It participates in the unwrapping.
Prayer
“Lord, I believe that You call the dead to life. Stand at the tombs in my world β the things I have given up on, the people I have stopped praying for, the areas of my own life that have the stench of too many days sealed in β and speak. Lazarus, come forth. And then use me to help loose what You have raised. Amen.”
Journal prompt: “Loose him, and let him go.” Is there someone in your life β or something in you β that God has called out of death into new life, but still needs loosing from old graveclothes? Write about what resurrection has begun that still needs unwrapping. And: what graveclothes is He calling you to help remove in someone you love?
The One Thing β The Heart of Devotion
Come, and Stay
Psalm 27:4 Β· Matthew 11:28β30 Β· Revelation 3:20
Today’s Scripture
Psalm 27:4 Β· Matthew 11:28β30 Β· Revelation 3:20
“One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.” Β· “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Β· “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
Reflection
Seven days. Five women. And beneath every story, the same heartbeat: one thing. David named it in Psalm 27 β not safety, not success, not even the resolution of his enemies. “One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD.” Anna lived it for eighty-four years. The woman in Luke 7 couldn’t stop coming back. Mary of Bethany fell at His feet in joy and in grief and in worship. Martha ran to Him with her accusation and her faith. Mary Magdalene traveled the roads with her substance. What they all understood, through entirely different circumstances: there is one thing that holds everything else.
And He is the one who initiated it. “I stand at the door and knock.” Devotion is a response β but it is a response to an invitation already extended. He stood at the door of every woman in this plan and called her name: come to Me. And the one who hears and opens will find Him already at the table, ready to dine. This is what the posture “at His feet” is ultimately about: not discipline, not performance, not earning presence. It is responding to the One who is already knocking. He is knocking now. The only question is whether you will open the door β and stay.
Prayer
“Lord, this is the one thing I desire: to dwell with You. Not to perform, not to produce, not to be visibly faithful β to dwell. To behold the beauty. To inquire in Your temple. Come in, as You promised You would. I am opening the door. And I am staying at the table. That is the whole of what I want to give You today, and every day: presence for presence. Come, and I will not depart. Amen.”
Your Devotion Declaration β Day 7
In your journal, write: “One thing I have desired…” Complete the sentence with what you have discovered this week β the one thing that this plan has clarified as the centre. Then write the specific practice you are committing to: the way you will “not depart from the temple” in the weeks ahead. Name it. Make it concrete. Date it.
Final journal prompt: Look back over the seven days. Which woman’s posture β Anna’s faithful waiting, the sinful woman’s extravagant love, Martha’s confession before the tomb, Mary’s grief at His feet, Mary Magdalene’s traveling service β most describes where you currently are in your own life with God? Write her name, and why. Then write what it looks like for you to be “at His feet” today, specifically, in the life you are actually living.
“One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life.”
Psalm 27:4 Β· NKJV
He is at the door. He is knocking.
Open, and stay.
β¬ Download the Full PDF
