Almost every Christmas list has one name on it that’s harder to shop for. Not because they’re picky, but because this year has been heavy for them. A friend who lost her husband in the spring. A brother between jobs. A daughter-in-law who spent the year caring for her mom. A coworker whose marriage ended.
A candle or a mug is kind. But sometimes you want to give something that says, “I see what you’re carrying, and I’m praying for you.”
That’s one of the reasons we make the studies in our Held series for women and Solid Ground for men. Each one is a short Bible study for one specific hard season, written to be worked through alone, at the reader’s own pace, with room to write. They cost $7.99, and you can send one straight to someone’s inbox with a note from you.
If someone you love is in crisis right now, a study isn’t the first step. Please help them reach a person: in the US, call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
How Giving One Works
On any study’s page, check “This is a gift” before you check out. Enter their email address, your name, and, if you’d like, a short note. We’ll email them the study with your note as soon as you check out, and send you a confirmation. Nothing extra to pay, and no account for them to set up.
Every study is a printable PDF, so you can also buy it for yourself, print it, and tuck it into a card. Some people would rather hand someone a few stapled pages than an email.
Not sure it’s the right one? Each study has a free first session you can read before you buy.
A word of care before you shop. These are Bible studies, so they’re best for someone who already finds comfort in faith. And some seasons are private. If you only heard about someone’s loss secondhand, a card that says you’re thinking of them is kinder than a study about it.
For Someone Who Is Grieving
Christmas has a way of making an empty chair louder.
- For a widow: After Goodbye is six gentle sessions for life after losing her husband, written for the grief, the questions, and the decisions no one prepared her for.
- For a man carrying a loss: The Weight of Grief gives a man permission to grieve, lament, and bring hard questions to God. “You don’t get over it. You learn to carry it.”
- For a mother who lost a baby: Carried is for miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss. It treats her child as her child. Give it only if she has told you about her loss herself.
For the Caregiver
Caregivers are often the people who get forgotten at Christmas, because they’re the ones making sure everyone else is okay.
Strength to Carry is for the woman caring for an aging parent, a child with ongoing needs, or a husband whose health is failing. It reminds her she isn’t the one who has to hold it all up.
For Someone Living With Chronic Illness
Strength in Weakness is for the woman whose body keeps failing her: autoimmune disease, chronic pain, invisible illness. It never pretends the cure is more important than she is.
For Someone Starting Over
- After divorce: Beginning Again for women and Starting Over for men. Both help separate what was lost from who they still are.
- Between jobs: Laid off this year? The Ground That Holds takes on the question he won’t say out loud: what he’s worth now.
- Under money pressure: If he’s lying awake over the numbers, give him Enough.
For Someone Who Is Waiting
- Waiting for a baby: The Longest Wait names infertility as the real loss it is. Give this only if she has told you about it herself, and think twice about Christmas Day, which is often the hardest stretch of the wait.
- Waiting for a child to come home to faith: Praying Them Home is for the mother of a prodigal, especially at a holiday when one chair might be empty. It’s best from a friend she has already talked to about it.
For a New Season
- A new mom: New Every Morning is for the postpartum season, including the parts nobody warned her about.
- The empty nest: Her kids are grown and she’s asking who she is now. Still Becoming starts there.
- A dad who wants to pass on his faith: Raising Them helps a dad disciple his kids, even if he doesn’t feel qualified to.
- Retirement: Finishing Well is for the man in the second half of life who’s retired from the job, not from the mission.
A Few We’d Suggest Offering, Not Giving
We also have studies on singleness, setting boundaries, church hurt, recovery from addiction, anger, coming clean about something a man has done, and being falsely accused. They’re good studies, but they’re personal enough that receiving one unasked could feel like an accusation. If someone has talked to you about one of those struggles, it’s better to share the free first session and let them decide.
The Whole Set
For a pastor’s wife, a women’s ministry leader, or someone who likes to have the right study ready for a friend, the full sets are $79: all 12 Held studies for women, or all 14 Solid Ground studies for men.
What to Write in the Note
If you’re stuck, simple is best. You don’t have to fix anything or explain the study.
“I’ve been thinking about you this year. I thought this might be a quiet thing to work through when you’re ready. Praying for you.”
Honestly, the note may matter more than the study.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does the recipient get the study?
We email it to them with your note. The download link is good for a year, so they can save it and start whenever they’re ready.
Can I print it and give it in person instead?
Yes. Buy it for yourself (leave “This is a gift” unchecked), print the PDF, and give it in a card or folder.
Are these studies for a group?
They’re written for one person to work through alone, at their own pace. A friend could work through the same study alongside them.
What Bible translation do they use?
The Berean Standard Bible, quoted in full where each session needs it.
Will they get marketing emails if I gift them a study?
No. A gift doesn’t sign them up for our email list. They’ll only get the email with their study.