'Worry Less, Pray More' by Joanne Simmons is a practical devotional guide tailored for teenage girls struggling with anxiety and stress. With readings and prayers, this book offers accessible strategies for managing worries and finding inner peace.

Worry Less, Pray More is a great gift for a graduate and a student heading to college. It is comfort in a book. Highly recommended

This book gives daily devotional geared towards teen girls who are struggling with anxiety and it was perfect. It gave lots of many different bible verses and topics that were related to anxiety and was written in a manor for teens and young adults to understand and follow along very easily. Instead of reading this like a book, I used it as my daily devotional doing one or two a day and it really helped me. It is a great gateway into learning more about the bible and what verses say what. My favorite has always been 1 Peter 5:7 and it's one of the very first one listed which made me all excited.

If you need a book starting devotional for teens with anxiety, this is a perfect place to start and will help with where to start for asking God for help and love in your life.

Thank you to Netgally and the Publishers for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

This was pretty good! I honestly read about half of it and then stopped because I got a general idea. It covered a range of important topics for teens. However, there were a few drawbacks for me:

1. The title. "Anxiety-Free Living?" There's no such thing. We can't get rid of all anxiety in our lives. Yes, we need to trust God, but you can't totally be Anxiety-Free, especially if you have an anxiety disorder like I do. The book actually handled anxiety pretty well, but I guess they're not approaching it from an anxiety disorder point of view.
2. The Scripture quotes. They felt really, really simple. Granted, this story is for a range of teens, not just older teens like me. I just didn't feel a depth to the quotes, but maybe that's because they're a different translation than I'm used to.
3. The explanations. Most were pretty good, but other times they just... restated the Scripture quote, word for word. If they had used a more complex translation, they might have been able to break it down.


But, this whole thing was about God, so it can't be bad. 😊

About this book:

“Worry-Free Devotional Guide Offers Calm for an Anxiety-Filled Soul
This purposeful devotional guide features 180 readings and prayers designed to help alleviate your worries as you learn to live in the peace of the Almighty God, who offers calm for your anxiety-filled soul. Inspired by this promise from God's Word: "Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life” (Philippians 4:6-7 MSG), Worry Less, Pray More reinforces the truth that with God, you can live anxiety-free every single day—whether you worry about your friendships, school, fitting in, the future, or something more.”


Series: No. A stand-alone devotional.


Spiritual Content- Each devotional has a theme that is backed with a Scripture or two (or more), a bit of discussion, & a prayer; 'H's are capital when referring to God (but not in the Scriptures when the Bible version used does not have the ‘H’s capital); Bible versions NIV, MSG, NLT, and ICB are used in the devotionals; A prayer of salvation is written; All about many talks about & many mentions of God, Jesus, seeking a relationship with Him, & learning to worry less and pray more; Many mentions of those & events in the Bible; Mentions of the Holy Spirit; Mentions of Bibles & Bible reading; Mentions of prayers, praying, thanking God, & blessings over food; Mentions of Heaven; Mentions of church going & finding a Bible-teaching church; Mentions of being Blessed & blessings; Mentions of sin; A few mentions of miracles; A couple mentions of worship songs & ones that “praise God and share biblical truth”; A couple mentions of Christians; A mention of a Sunday school lesson;
*Note: A devotion quotes Matthew 18:10 and mentions that some people wonder if guardian angels are real, this devotion goes on to say that based on this Scripture, there are & quotes a few more Scriptures; A devotion compares God to the fake gods of the world (saying that “people often make fake gods because they don’t really want to serve or worship anyone but themselves”; Another devotion mentions not wanting to follow any type of false god that “will lead us into the ways of the devil”); Mentions of Satan/the devil (who “fights for our attention and wants to keep it on the world and meaningless things instead of on God and the truth He wants us to hear.”; There is also a devotional that talks about “why does evil happen” and the answer given being that “the whole world is under the power of the devil. But for all of us who believe in Jesus as Savior, we belong to God and the devil can never defeat us”); A mention of not worshiping celebrities.


Negative Content- A devotion about the sudden loss of a loved one; A few mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of bullies at school; A mention of crimes; A mention of cheating; A mention of injuries; A mention of jealousy; A mention of peer pressure; A mention of gossip;
*Note: Mentions of social media (none are named) & how that and living in a world of unbelievers can sometimes tempt us to sin; A few mentions of makeup and that God doesn’t focus on outward appearance (makeup is neither implied as a negative or positive thing); A few mentions of devotions mention about how popular things in the world goes against the truth and guidance of God’s Word (no examples given); A devotion focuses on identity, saying that a lot of people try to “figure out their identity”, the author writes that “if we look to God, that’s where we find it! His Word is clear in Genesis 1 that God made people either male or female in His likeness”; A devotion focus on equality and that we hear that word lot, so it can be stressful to figure out who to listen to about it, so “we need wisdom about who alone gives real equality—it’s Jesus! There will always be bad people trying to say some groups of people are better than others. But don’t ever listen to or join them. In God’s eyes, because of Jesus, every single person is the same in value”; A mention of Guinness World Records; A mention of the slang ‘GOAT’ (“the athletes considered the greatest of all time”).


Sexual Content- N/A.
Devotional
192 pages

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Pre Teens- Four Star
New Teens- Five Stars
Early High School Teens- Five Stars
Older High School Teens- Four Stars
My personal Rating- Four Stars

This is an encouraging little devotional. It gives ideas for other ways to add to your prayers and was good overall. It was pretty solid and had little-to-none of pop-culture or fluff within it, which I appreciate! There was a lot of good notes that I can’t say I’ve seen in other teen-age devotionals—and we all know I’ve reviewed a bunch of those—like praying for your parents, your extended family members, your country, and such. I will say that I’m not personally a fan of the versions used, but the point of a devotional is to get you in your Bible more, though, so it’s not a deal-breaker for me.
Some of the devotionals felt a bit young (for younger teens), but overall, I think it would work for all ages of teen girls.

{A couple notes:
There’s more than ten mentions of school-like settings (& a few devotionals about praying at school), but they aren’t the only examples used, so I think this devotional could work for a homeschooled teen as well, though, some parts might not fit well.
There’s a couple devotionals about praying for your country/state, it’s president/leaders, and politics and a couple that mention about the American flag or being American. The message is still true for those in other countries/states and the prayers would still stay the same.}


See y’all on Friday with a new review!




*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.

*I received this book for free from the Publisher (Barbour) for this honest review.

What I liked most about this book was how each devotional directed you to the Lord for your peace. These devotionals were short yet powerful! The verses at the beginning set up what the topic was going to touch on. Each day's paragraph was easy to read and got right to the point. I also felt the prayers at the end of each one will really help the young girl reading them. A young person who is just starting out with their Christian life will find these to be a great guide for effective prayer. I liked the simplicity, organization and spiritual emphasis of this devotional. I think it would be a great gift for the young girl in your life.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher Barbour Publishing, for the temporary digital ARC that I read and gave my honest opinion of.

These devotionals are relevant and relatable for teen girls.. My daughter read through some with me and was actually engaged in the content. We liked that each one is short and hits on varying topics throughout.

A collection of great devotionals and prayers to ease worry and anxiety through His love and message.

I enjoyed Worry Less Pray More as the author used Scripture as encouragement and exhortation making the Bible relevant to every situation.

Worry Less Pray More is a great resource for teen girls and their caregivers--even if they're not experiencing anxiety.

Readers will be encouraged to draw nearer to God and to take every worry and fear to Him, even ones that may seem inconsequential.

I received an advanced reader's copy from the publisher through NetGalley; a positive review was not required.

I received a free copy of, Worry Less, Pray More (teen girl), by JoAnne Simmons, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I so wish I had a book like this when I was a teen. I really enjoyed this book, and trying to worry less and pray more.

Life is stressful, regardless of your age. As a parent of a teen, I see the toll the stressors take on a young heart. I remember being young and worrying about the days ahead but seeing it through the eyes of my own teen has been enlightening. I wanted to find a resource that could bring daily encouragement and inspiration on her own time. Worry Less, Pray More by JoAnne Simmons is written with young women in mind and provides wonderful nuggets of truth, wisdom, and encouragement. There are 180 readings with prayers that can be worked into any part of their day. I can imagine this being great for individual readings or even in a group setting. The life stressors will not go away but having the right perspective can guard your heart and mind with His peace. This collection of Scripture, prayers, and meditations is a great tool to remind all young women of that perspective.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, and all opinions expressed are solely own, freely given.

This is a great devotional for teen girls. Each one is short which is great for young readers. There is a bible verse, short message and a prayer. I think my favorite part of this devotional was the prayers. Highly recommend this one.