I Led a Women's Bible Study for Nine Years. Then a Coworker Asked Me One Question I Couldn't Answer (Check Your Devotional Right Now)

Go grab the devotional you read this morning.

I'm serious. Go get it. Or open the app on your phone. I'll wait.

Now read today's page.

A verse. A warm story. A short prayer. "Rest in Him today."

Looks good. Comforting. Like it should be enough.

Now look for one sentence that tells you WHY it's true.

Not how to feel about it. Why it's true.

Find it?

Read it again.

There isn't one.

Now let me tell you why that one missing piece explains so much. Why so many faithful women go quiet the moment someone asks a real question.

We've been given comfort.

Nobody gave us reasons.

And you are not the only one.

1 in 3 women raised Christian eventually walk away from their faith.

One in three.

Most of them did not leave because of one big argument. They simply never had the reasons to hold on when the hard questions came.

Here's what nobody tells us:

It is not a lack of faith.

It is a lack of reasons.

→ See what a WHY-first workbook looks like here

I Had Every Verse Except the One Answer That Mattered

My name is Jennifer. I'm 46. I've been a Christian since I was a teenager.

For nine years I led the Tuesday morning women's Bible study at our church. Coffee, a devotional guide, prayer requests, a highlighted Bible with my notes in every margin.

I could find any verse you asked for.

Then a woman at work lost her sister.

At lunch she asked me, gently, not trying to argue: "You really believe all of it? How do you actually know any of it is true?"

I opened my mouth.

And I gave her a verse.

She nodded politely. I could see it did not land. Of course it didn't. She was asking why the verse was true.

I drove home and sat in the driveway with the engine off.

Nine years of leading other women. And I could not explain why I believe what I believe.

That night I told my husband. He said: "Honestly, I couldn't either."

Two weeks later, at a friend's barbecue, I was telling that story to another woman from church.

A pastor's wife standing near the grill heard me and walked over. She has taught a class on the reasons for the faith for over twenty years.

She asked what our study had been using.

I pulled up the devotional guides on my phone and scrolled. Book after book.

She smiled kindly. "These are lovely. But they're all comfort. Nobody has given you the reasons."

What Women's Ministry Leaders Say When No One's Listening

She told me what she hears from other ministry leaders all the time:

"Our women know how to pray. They know the verses. But ask them why they trust the Bible, and the room goes silent."

"The women who stay steady through grief and doubt are the ones who did the work of knowing WHY. Feelings come and go. Reasons stay."

"Most women don't drift because their questions are too hard. They drift because nobody ever answered them."

I asked her: "So why doesn't every women's study cover the why?"

She laughed a little. "Because comfort is easy to write. Evidence takes real work. Most devotionals are made to fill five pleasant minutes, not to hold up on the worst day of your life."

→ This is what she told me to get

Why Reasons Hold (and Feelings Alone Don't)

She explained it in about thirty seconds.

"A verse is something you remember. A reason is something you can stand on."

"Knowing Jesus rose from the dead is a belief. Knowing why historians take the empty tomb seriously is a reason."

"When you only have the feeling, the first hard question wins. When you have the reason, the question becomes a conversation."

Then she described the method she uses in her class:

One real question someone might ask you.

The evidence, from Scripture, history, philosophy and science.

Then you write your own answer, in your own words, on paper.

"Once you've written the why yourself," she said, "it's yours. Grief can't take it. A clever argument can't take it."

I asked: "Why did no one ever teach me this?"

"Because most of us were raised on comfort too. You're not behind. You're just finally asking."

Why Nobody Tells Christian Women This

Next time you're in the women's section of a Christian bookstore, look around.

Pastel covers. Gold lettering. Journals with flowers on them.

Pick one up. Flip through it. Count the pages that tell you WHY it's true.

Nobody is doing anything wrong. Comfort is simply easier to sell than evidence.

But it means so many of us carry a faith built for quiet mornings, not for the hospital waiting room or the hard question at lunch.

We fill that gap by:

Hoping we'll "just know."

Assuming the sermon covers it.

Thinking the questions will never come.

You just stopped doing that.

The Workbook This Pastor's Wife Actually Recommends

Before I left the barbecue, I asked her one more question.

"If a woman wanted the WHY, where would you tell her to start?"

She didn't hesitate.

"The Systematic Theology workbook. 52 weeks, one core truth a week. It does the hard part for you."

She pulled up a sample week on her phone. The evidence. How to respond. Three questions with space to write.

Here's what makes it different:

• ✅52 core truths in one year: from "Does God exist?" and "Can we trust the Bible?" to the empty tomb and why suffering exists.
• ✅Evidence first: every week starts with real proof from Scripture, history, philosophy and science, with the thinkers and sources named.
• ✅Made for real life: each week shows how the truth meets anxiety, grief, motherhood, doubt and everyday conversations.
• ✅Your own words on paper: three reflection questions every week, so the reason becomes yours.
• ✅About ten minutes a day: three pages a week, alone, with a friend or with your women's group.

I ordered it on my phone right there at the barbecue.

→ See if it's still available at the fall sale price

My First 12 Weeks (Week by Week)

Week 1: Does God Exist?

I expected a theology textbook. Instead it read like a friend walking me through the evidence.

I wrote three full lines on the first reflection question. I hadn't written that much about my faith in years.

Week 2: Can We Trust the Bible?

For the first time I understood how the Bible was copied and preserved. I underlined half the page.

I texted my sister: "Did you know this?" She didn't.

Week 5: Is Faith Blind?

This was the week. I'd always thought faith meant not asking.

It turns out the opposite is true. I wrote my answer in my own words and read it twice.

Week 8: My Tuesday Group Noticed

I brought one of the reflection questions to our Bible study. We went forty minutes past our usual time.

Three women asked me where I got it.

Week 12: Lunch Again

My coworker asked how I was doing. I told her about the workbook.

She asked me the same question as before.

This time I didn't give her a verse. I gave her a reason.

→ Join the Christian women giving their faith a foundation (while the fall sale lasts)

What Women Are Saying (The Bible Study Group Doesn't Lie)

The women's groups tell the real story. Women who believed for years, until someone asked them why.

→ Check if it's still available at the fall sale price

⚠️ A Quick Note Before You Go

This is where I have to be honest with you.

The fall sale price won't last forever. When it ends, it goes back to full price.

Most women I know got two: one for themselves and one for a friend, a sister or a daughter, so they can go through it together.

What happens if you wait:

• ❌Another year of comfort without reasons
• ❌The next hard question comes before you have an answer
• ❌The fall sale ends and the price goes back up

If you're reading this and the sale is still on, I'd grab it now.

→ Check if the fall sale is still on

Two Paths Forward

Path 1: You close this page.

Nothing changes.

Tomorrow morning, another devotional. Another warm page. Another "rest in Him today."

Next month someone asks you something real. You give them a verse. Again.

Next year you still believe it, but you still can't say why.

Path 2: You check if the workbook is still on sale.

Takes 30 seconds.

This week you sit down with your coffee for ten minutes.

This month you write your first answer in your own words.

Next time someone asks how you know it's true, you have a reason.

The choice is yours.