I shared a few books recently that have genuinely impacted my walk with the Lord, but these three absolutely belong on the list too. They’ve each met me in really practical places: learning to forgive when it isn’t easy, praying intentionally for my husband, and learning how to recognize where God is working and follow Him there. These aren’t just books I’ve read. They’re books I’ve used.

Forgiveness: Breaking the Power of the Past

Kay Arthur, David Lawson & BJ Lawson

Forgiveness sounds pretty straightforward until you’re actually the one who has been hurt. Then the questions start. What does biblical forgiveness actually look like? Does forgiveness mean everything goes back to the way it was? What if they never apologize? What do I do when I’ve forgiven someone, but the hurt is still there?

This little study is SO good because it doesn’t just tell you that you need to forgive and send you on your way. It takes you straight into Scripture and helps you understand what God actually says about forgiveness. If you’re carrying something from your past, wrestling with an old hurt, or even wondering whether you’ve truly forgiven someone, this is such a good study to work through with the Lord. It’s practical, deeply biblical, and short enough that it doesn’t feel overwhelming.

Find Forgiveness: Breaking the Power of the Past

A Wife’s 40 Day Fasting & Prayer Journal

Kaylene Yoder

If you’ve ever thought, I want to pray more intentionally for my husband, but I don’t really know what to pray, this is such a good place to start. Kaylene walks you through 40 days of focused prayer over your husband, your marriage, and your own heart, with Scripture and the opportunity to incorporate fasting along the way.

What I love about this one is what happens when you spend 40 days consistently bringing your husband before the Lord. You begin praying about things you might not normally think to pray about, and instead of carrying everything yourself, you’re intentionally placing him in God’s hands. His relationship with the Lord, his decisions, his struggles, his purpose, your marriage, all of it. And somewhere along the way, God begins working on your heart too. This is one I would especially reach for during a season when you find yourself worrying, fixing, pushing, or trying to carry things that ultimately belong to God.

Find A Wife’s 40 Day Fasting & Prayer Journal

Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God

Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby & Claude King

If you’ve ever wondered, How do I know what God wants me to do? How do I recognize when He’s leading me? What does walking with God actually look like in ordinary life?… read this one.

One of the biggest things Experiencing God helped me understand is that I don’t have to manufacture something big for God. He is already at work around me. I want to know Him well enough to recognize what He is doing, pay attention when He invites me into it, and trust Him enough to obey. That sounds simple on paper, but it will absolutely stretch you!

If you’re in a season where you keep thinking, Lord, I want more. I want to know You better. I want You to use my life, but I don’t know what that looks like, I would put this one in your hands. It will teach you to start looking for God’s activity in places you may have been overlooking all along.

Explore Experiencing God

The Books That Stay With You

I think that’s what earns a book a spot on this list for me. I can read a good book, underline half of it, dog ear the pages, and tell everybody I know to buy it. 😂 But then there are the books that show up again later, when you’re hurt and have to choose forgiveness, when you’re worried about your husband and realize you can pray instead of trying to fix everything, or when you sense God doing something and realize He may be inviting you to trust Him and step into it.

Those are the books worth keeping on the shelf.