I’m Kayla, and I’m a mom who loves words. I’ve tried a bunch of ways to bring Scripture into my daughter’s day—before school, during soccer jitters, and on those nights when the dark feels loud. If you’d like to dig further into the journey, I lay out every trial and triumph in this detailed post. Some tools helped a lot. Some were just pretty. I’ll tell you what I actually used, what my kid liked, and the verses that landed.
And yes, I’ll share the exact verses. Real ones. The ones we kept reading.
The setup: anxious mornings, big feelings, and a messy kitchen table
My daughter is 10. She’s brave, and also a little nervous, like most kids. Tests worry her. New friends take time. Sleepovers? We’re working on it. I wanted a gentle way to remind her she’s not alone. Not with me—and not with God. So I brought in verses at breakfast and bedtime. Not a lecture. More like a little note with her toast.
For anyone walking a similar tightrope with morning jitters, I leaned on this brief roundup of 5 great Bible verses for kids to memorize about anxiety as an extra resource.
Here’s what we tried.
Product 1: Pastel Scripture Cards for Girls (Etsy set of 40)
I bought a small pack of Bible verse cards from an Etsy shop. Pastel colors. Clean font. About the size of a playing card. They looked sweet, but not babyish. We kept them in a mug by the toaster.
How we used them:
- Monday mornings, she picked the card. Not me. That part mattered.
- I’d read the verse out loud while she tied her shoes.
- She taped favorites inside her school binder. One card still lives on her water bottle under peeling stickers.
What I loved:
- Short verses that fit a child’s pace.
- Sturdy cardstock. Coffee drips didn’t smudge the ink.
- The stack made it easy. No scrolling. No stress.
What bugged me:
- A few cards had long verses that ran small. Hard to read before coffee.
- Shipping took a week and a half. Not awful—just slow when your kid’s going through a thing.
Would I buy again? Yep. It wasn’t magic—but it started calm morning talks. That’s gold.
Product 2: YouVersion Bible App (free) with “Verse of the Day”
I’ve had YouVersion for years. For my daughter, I used two features:
- Verse of the Day image. I saved it and set it as her lock screen when she asked.
- Highlights and notes. I made a color just for “Kid Courage.” Bright coral. Easy to spot.
What helped us:
- No cost, and no ads.
- Lots of translations if a verse felt too complex. I’d read the King James Version first, then I’d paraphrase in kid words.
- Daily nudge. The phone buzzed; we paused; we read.
What could be better:
- The community notes can feel noisy. I turned them off on her iPad.
- Some plans aimed at kids felt cheesy for a fifth grader. We skipped those and stuck to single verses.
Would I keep using it? Yes. It’s simple. It follows us to the minivan and back.
Real verses that helped my daughter (with exact words)
These are the lines she went back to. I’m quoting from the King James Version, since that’s safe to share. We kept them short, and we kept them close.
- Isaiah 41:10 — “Fear thou not; for I am with thee … I will strengthen thee.”
- Joshua 1:9 — “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid … for the LORD thy God is with thee.”
- Psalm 139:14 — “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
- Proverbs 31:25 — “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.”
- Proverbs 31:26 — “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”
- Philippians 4:6 — “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer … let your requests be made known unto God.”
- 1 Timothy 4:12 — “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example … in charity, in spirit, in faith.”
Tiny note: we didn’t read them all at once. One verse. One moment. Then we moved on—lunch, math, life.
If you’d like another concise list aimed straight at worried little hearts, this collection of Bible verses for a child with anxiety gave me quick options to rotate through.
How we matched verses to real life moments
- Night-before-a-test nerves: Isaiah 41:10. We said “God is with you” more than once. Repetition helped her breathe.
- Mean group chat drama: Proverbs 31:26. Kindness is not weak. It’s hard—and it’s strong.
- Soccer tryouts: Joshua 1:9 on a Post-it inside her cleat bag. Sweaty, but it stuck.
- Body image stuff (hello, middle school whispers): Psalm 139:14 taped to her mirror.
- Summer camp homesick: Numbers 6:24–26. I wrote, “The LORD bless thee, and keep thee … and give thee peace.” She folded it into her pillowcase.
You know what? Those scraps of paper felt small. But they steadied her. And me.
A small splurge that surprised me: a tiny verse necklace
I bought a simple silver charm with “Be brave” on the front and “Josh 1:9” on the back. Not fancy. She wears it on big days—first day of school, piano recital, stuff like that.
Pros:
- Quiet reminder. No big speech needed.
- She reaches for it when she’s nervous. You can see the shift.
Cons:
- We had to remove it for soccer. It got lost once under the bed for a week. Cue tears.
- The chain snagged on a sweater. We swapped it for a smooth cord.
Worth it? For us, yes. It turned a verse into a habit.
What didn’t work for us (and that’s okay)
- Long reading plans aimed at “tweens.” She rolled her eyes. Felt like homework.
- Verse posters with lots of cursive. Cute, but hard to read from bed.
- Too many verses at once. It turned sweet words into noise.
I thought more would be better. It wasn’t. Less, but steady—that was the move.
Simple ways to start, if you’re busy and tired (like me)
- Pick one verse for the week. Tape it by the light switch.
- Let your daughter choose the card. Ownership matters.
- Use the lock screen trick. One tap, there it is.
- Keep a dry-erase marker in the car. Write a word on the window: “Courage.” “Peace.” “Kind.”
- Pray it short: “Lord, help her be brave today.” That’s enough.
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If you need fresh prompts beyond these, I’ve found quick inspiration on the free parent guides at Barnabas, which gathers bite-size devotion ideas you can use in three minutes flat.
Little things stack up. That’s true in faith and in laundry.
My take, mom to mom (or dad)
If you want something tactile, get the verse cards. If you want portable and free, use YouVersion. If your kid likes special tokens, try a small necklace with a verse reference. None of these fix life. But they gave us words when we ran out of ours.
We still have rough mornings. We still forget. And yet—these verses keep coming back, like a song you know by heart. They calm the room. They guide our tone. They point us to Someone bigger.
And that’s the whole point, right?
— Kayla Sox