From Genesis to Revelation, One Cup of Coffee at a Time
Okay, set your coffee down for a second, because you are not going to believe what I did yesterday.
Where Do I Even Begin?
Most of you know I lead a women's Bible study, and you have heard me talk about our time in the Word together. What you may not know is the question that keeps coming up. Not from the women who have been studying for decades. From the ones just starting. Where do I even begin?
I remember that feeling. I used to read Scripture the way you check a box. Read the chapter, close the app, open social media. It took slowing down, really slowing down, for the Word to open up to me. That slow way of studying became the Lyric and Letter Study Method, and it changed how I meet God on the page.
But a printed guide can only travel so far. So I built an app.
A Year Through the Bible, Slowed Way Down
Here is the simplest way I can describe it. You know those chronological read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plans? And you know the Going Deeper sections in studies like She Reads Truth, the part where you slow down and actually sit with the text? The Companion Study App marries the two. It takes the full chronological journey, Genesis to Revelation, and breaks it into bite-sized passages, a few chapters at a time. Then instead of rushing you to the next box, it invites you to go deep right where you are.
Because here is what I have learned at my own table. Reading plans give you information. Sitting with the Word gives you transformation. You can read the whole Bible in a year and come out the other side with facts about God. Or you can slow down, passage by passage, and come out knowing Him. That is the whole aim of this app. Not information. Relationship.
What You Will Find Inside
So each passage becomes a guided study session, the same eight steps I use every week. Here is some of what you will find inside. It opens with Pray First, because before you open your Bible, you open your heart and invite the Holy Spirit, your Teacher, into this time. Then Read It Cold. No commentary, no study notes, just you and the text, read fresh and then again in a second translation. Study the Narrative comes next, because every passage is a scene, and context is the frame that makes everything make sense. Then you ask the questions. Who, what, when, where, why, asked slowly, like the story depends on getting it right. In Go Deeper on the Words you choose two or three words that stood out and trace them back to the Hebrew or Greek, following the threads across Scripture. The How questions are where the study becomes a conversation, walking you from the page to the presence of God to your actual life. How is God's character revealed here? How is the Holy Spirit speaking to me through this? And then the step most people skip, the one that makes everything else matter. Surrender. You stop, get honest, and hand something specific to God.
Your Notebook Still Comes First
You do not need any experience. You do not need a seminary degree. Every field is optional, so you can type as much or as little as you like, or just use the prompts as a guide while you write in your own notebook. There is also a page of free, trusted study tools like Blue Letter Bible, Precept Austin, Enduring Word, and The Bible Project whenever you want to dig further.
And let me be clear about something, because you know how I feel about pen and paper. This app was never meant to replace the beauty of writing in a notebook. There is something sacred about slowing your hand across a page, and I would never ask you to give that up. Keep journaling. Keep your bunny ears and your margins full. If you want your handwritten notes in the app too, your phone can do that for you. Most phones now let you point the camera at a handwritten page, scan the text, and copy it. Then you simply paste it into the app, and your notebook and your study history live side by side.
A Quiet Place to Study
I also want you to know what it feels like to be in there, because I built it to be a quiet place. No ads. No feed. No noise. The design is warm and simple, soft cream and gold, like a favorite study notebook. One step fills the screen at a time, with a gentle progress bar at the top so you always know where you are. Your work saves automatically as you type, so you never have to worry about losing a thought. Scripture links to the ESV, Bible Gateway, and Blue Letter Bible are right there on every step, so you are never more than a tap away from the text itself. The app never rushes you and never scolds you. You open the next passage when you are ready, and not a moment before.
Between You and the Lord
Now, a word about safety, because I know what you will be writing in there. Prayers. Honest questions. Things you are handing over to God. Your notes are private to you. They are stored securely behind your own sign-in, never shared, never sold, and never used to train AI. There are no comments, no followers, and no one reading over your shoulder. Nothing you write is ever visible to anyone else. You sign in with a free account, and what you write stays between you and the Lord.
Free, Brand New, and Where You Come In
The app is completely free. It is also brand new, and that is where you come in. It lives on the web today at https://app.lyricandletter.com, and Lord willing it will come to the App Store down the road. I would be so grateful for testers who will actually use it in their time in the Word, whether you are on day one of your journey or year forty, and tell me honestly what works, what is confusing, and what is missing.
Visit the link, sign in, and begin with Genesis 1 through 3. Then leave a comment or email me with anything you notice.
"Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path."
That is the whole heart behind this. Wherever you are on the road, I hope it serves you well.
