Unlike Christmas, which is always on December 25, the timing of Easter Sunday depends on things like Equinoxes and new moons. This year, Easter will be on April 5. It seems that we were just celebrating Christmas, but all of a sudden the season of Lent has come upon us!
In this period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday, we examine our lives and adjust our life’s walk to bring bring us closer to God. We consider the roadblocks in our spiritual lives and look for the Spirit’s leading to find new paths.
Use this booklet of Lenten Devotionals, written by “non-professional” members of a variety of churches, to help guide you through this special time of the year.
Daily Devotions for Lent 2026
The devotional is presented in PDF format. Instead of presenting the entire booklet in one file (and forcing you to scroll through the whole thing to find the current date’s article), the booklet is broken up into separate week-by-week files. 
To read the article for any given date, scroll down to the desired month, and click on the button for the desired week. Except for week 1 (which begins with Ash Wednesday) and week 6 (which includes Easter Sunday and Easter Monday), all the files begin with Sunday and run through Saturday of the indicated week.
Enjoy; and may God bless your devotional time!
February 2026
The Lenten season (and first devotional) starts out with Ash Wednesday (February 18). Week 1 is this short “week” from Wednesday through Saturday. Week 6 continues past Saturday April 4 to include Easter Sunday (April 5) and Easter Monday (April 6)….
Week 1 Ash Wed. 2/18 through Saturday 2/21
Week 2 Sunday 2/22 through Saturday 2/28
March 2026
Week 3 Sunday 3/1 through Saturday 3/7
Week 4 Sunday 3/8 through Saturday 3/14
Week 5 Sunday 3/15 through Saturday 3/21
Week 6 Sunday 3/22 through Saturday 3/28
Week 7 Sunday 3/29 through Easter Monday (4/6)
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If you’re looking for a specific article or author, open the below box to view the list of articles.
Table of Contents
The following list shows the booklet page numbers, article date, article title, and author. Click on the “Week number” to open the corresponding file…
Week 1
- 5- Feb 18: What Are You Giving Up?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Glenn Conaway
- 6- Feb 19: Sure and Certain. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . Linda Turk
- 7- Feb 20: Hope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kathy Chando
- 8- Feb 21: What Should I Build?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Larry Bakely
Week 2
- 9- Feb 22: Returning to God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Kim Wecht
- 10- Feb 23: When God Forgives, It Is Finished. . .. . . . . Kayt Marra
- 11- Feb 24: Be Like Duct Tape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ted Frett
- 12- Feb 25: A Tale of Two Brothers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ginny Green
- 13- Feb 26: Trip of a Lifetime. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angele Cooper
- 14- Feb 27: The Blessing of Listening and Obeying. . . . Diane Sizemore
- 15- Feb 28: It Don’t Come Easy. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . Gilda Picioccio
Week 3
- 16- Mar 1: We Have an Inheritance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom Bennett
- 17 – Mar 2: Triangles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Kim Tortella
- 18 – Mar 3: Radical Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . Pastor Shirley Goodman
- 19- Mar 4: Keeping God in All We Do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Price
- 20- Mar 5: Helpful Wanderings. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . Barbara Buck
- 21- Mar 6: The Lord Loves Your Enemies. . . . . . . . . . . Jeremy Andrade
- 22- Mar 7 : What Is Your View? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MaryAnn Diorio
Week 4
- 23- Mar 8: Zero Your Weapon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Kellie Heisler
- 24- Mar 9: God’s Handiwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claudia Cuddy
- 25- Mar 10: The Words of Jesus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michelle Levesque
- 26- Mar 11: True Freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Martin
- 27- Mar 12: Decluttering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brenda Freitag
- 28- Mar 13: The Pecking Order. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Erica Salmon
- 29- Mar 14: Hang on Tight! It’ll Be All Right!. . . . . . . . . . Sharon Constantine
Week 5
- 30- Mar 15: Step Out in Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Still
- 31- Mar 16: Silence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Christine Day
- 32- Mar 17: Sharing the Blessing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lee Duffield
- 33- Mar 18: What and Why. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deb Mongiardo
- 34- Mar 19: God Gives Us Rest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kayla Harrison Kessler
- 35- Mar 20: Miracles Do Happen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Connie Norton
- 36- Mar 21: Easter Eggs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lacy Haynicz
Week 6
- 37- Mar 22: Dedicated Discipleship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Strittmatter
- 38- Mar 23: Slowly Fading. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Judy Frett
- 39- Mar 24: Walking with a Friend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terri Ganderton
- 40- Mar 25 : God Equips the Called. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Perrin Scott
- 41- Mar 26: Of Green Pastures and Still Waters. . . . . . . Pastor Gary Turk
- 42- Mar 27: How and When to Pray. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jackie Bowers
- 42 – Mar 27: Share Your Prayer Requests. . . . . . . . . . . . . Judy Ferguson
- 43- Mar 28 : Living God’s Word. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Betty Little
Week 7
- 44- Mar 29: Let the Cross Change You. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pastor Mike Chapman
- 45 – Mar 30: The Primary Source. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beth Price
- 46- Mar 31: Our Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jane Koponick
- 47- Apr 1: Because He Lives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marsha Hahn
- 48 – Apr 2: Prone to Wander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Corine Ingles-Elliott
- 49- Apr 3: The Sacrificial Lamb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diana McMillion
- 50- Apr 4: It Is Finished. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . Bill Schober
- 51- Apr 5: I Know That My Redeemer Lives. . . . . . . . . Char Gaylord
- 52- Apr 6: The Road You Travel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ted Frett
To learn more about the origin of this booklet, open the below “drop down” box….
About the Booklet
Introduction (a Note from the Editors)…
It was 27 years ago that we began printing and distributing the Lenten devotional booklet in this format. We printed a few hundred in those early years; this year we printed 1,800. In addition, the pages are posted on a website for more outreach (https://pitmanumc.org).
We have always called this God’s project. He knows the spiritual needs of the readers, and He nudges various people to contribute their stories. We just never know who will send us a story or when it will come. Each season, whether Advent or Lent, we wait with anticipation as submissions come in, mainly by email now. It’s so exciting to see it all unfold. For example, 5 days before the deadline, we had 28 submissions. Would we really get 19 more in the next 5 days? Of course we would. For 27 years, the Lord has provided us with the number of devotionals we need — or more. The 47th entry was promised to us on the deadline and came in the next day. Praise God!
This year’s stories come from 47 different authors representing 22 different churches. We welcomed 7 first-time contributors this year. It takes courage to bare your soul and put your thoughts out there for 1,800 people to read. We thank these writers for acting on the Spirit’s nudge.
What makes this devotional booklet so special? It is written by ordinary people who are sharing their personal stories of faith. As we read these stories, we are able to see a glimpse of God at work in their lives, and as a result, we are encouraged and built up in our own faith. Sometimes one of the stories feels as if it was written “just for me and just when I needed it!”
Something we especially noticed this time is the different perspectives offered on the same topics. For example, two people discuss in two different ways how the Lord equips someone He calls to do something. Hope is addressed in various ways. Reading the Bible is discussed with different ideas on why and how. Other messages include resting and restoring one’s soul, trusting God, praying, and serving. May you be encouraged as you read through these messages.
To God be the glory, and may we continue to serve Him.
Where Did these Books Come From?
The articles in this booklet were written by members of 22 different churches located in NJ and across the country. The booklets were published in hardcopy form and distributed within the participating churches.
The articles were written by members of the following churches: (“UMC” stands for United Methodist Church):
- Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Delmar, NY
- Church of the Risen King, Pennsauken, NJ
- Clayton Baptist Church, Clayton, NJ
- Evangelical United Methodist Church, Clarksboro, NJ
- Fairton Christian Center, Fairton, NJ
- Fellowship Alliance Chapel, Medford, NJ
- First United Methodist Church Collingswood, Collingswood, NJ
- First United Methodist Church of Glassboro, NJ
- First Methodist Church Myrtle Beach, Myrtle Beach, SC
- Illuminate Church, Elmer, NJ
- Lititz United Methodist Church, Lititz, PA
- North Raleigh United Methodist Church, North Raleigh, NC
- Pitman Church of the Nazarene, Pitman, NJ
- Pitman Manor, Pitman, NJ
- Pitman United Methodist Church, Pitman, NJ
- Richwood United Methodist Church, Richwood, NJ
- Shehawken United Methodist Church, Starrucca, PA
- St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Paulsboro, NJ
- Trinity United Methodist Church, Mullica Hill, NJ
- Wellspring Church, Mays Landing, NJ
- Wesley Church of Elkton, Elkton, MD
- Zion United Methodist Church, Clarksboro, NJ
How can I get a Printed Booklet?
It’s convenient to be able to view the devotionals electronically, but if pinching, zooming, and scrolling aren’t for you, printed booklets are available. The printed booklets contain the same material that’s presented on this website page, and they’ve been distributed to most of the above churches. If you would prefer to have the printed version and your church doesn’t have any copies available, please contact one of the editors:
- Claudia Cuddy • editorcuddy@mac.com
- Beth Price • eprice7@comcast.net
- Marsha Hahn • mhahn16@comcast.net
Continual Devotions after Lent 2026
Easter will come and Lent will end, but the year will continue. How can we continue to grow closer to God throughout the entire year? Here are some thoughts on moving from Ash Wednesday to the rest of the year.
What is Ash Wednesday???
The first day of Lent is always a Wednesday, called Ash Wednesday. This originated from the ancient times when people marked times of fasting, prayer, repentance, and remorse by placing ashes on their foreheads (2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, Jeremiah 6:26). This scriptural custom entered the Church from Judaism. Receiving ashes on the forehead on Ash Wednesday symbolizes that the person is going to begin a period of sober reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection. Traditionally, the ashes for the Ash Wednesday service come from burning the palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration.
For more about Ash Wednesday, check out the following “Chuck Knows Church” video…
What’s Next?
Devotionals like these are great ways to learn how to apply the Bible to your life. The personal stories are inspiring and help you to grow. But even after Easter, you’ll still need to be constantly reading and studying the Bible. At Pitman UMC, we offer the following opportunities (and your own church likely offers similar ones if you’re not from Pitman UMC). Use the below buttons to learn more:
Share Your Stories…
If you’ve found these devotionals to be useful, tweet the link or share this article with your Facebook Friends. Use the below buttons to share on any social media.
As you read these devotionals, you are opening yourself up to hearing from the Holy Spirit. If something in an article hits you, please share it and let us know how God has spoken to you. Post a comment in the form at the end of this article (your email address won’t be published).
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For other daily devotionals , visit our Devotionals Page:
Daily Devotionals
