I read and enjoyed Bessey's spiritual formation book Spiritual Practices for Soul Care: 40 Ways to Deepen Your Faith. To explore my journey of faith with this new book is a privilege. NOTE: it will be published in February 2024 ... so put it on your advance reading list and set up a "notification of publication" with your bookseller.

It's worth it. Why?

If you feel like your journey of faith has landed you in the wilderness - scrub-land and deprivation on every hand, or maybe even in the desert - where it seems there is no life, nourishment, or water for you, this set of 2 books will provide sustenance and refreshing along the way.

You'll see the path behind and around you as it is: God's provision for developing in you depth, character, and trust. I highly recommend the book but then also hope you pick up the journal and work through it. If you yourself are not in this season, you will gain empathy, words, and a spiritual companion (the author) to give solace others who walk through their grief, pain, and doubts.

The journal offers prompts, prayers, and questions to guide you through an honest appraisal of where you are and where the Holy Spirit is leading you.

I may not agree with all of Bessey's theology, but that's ok. Her understanding of God-among-us in the unlovely times, in the times we feel unwanted and unwelcome, is unmatched. Get the book. Remember, it's coming soon.

A wonderful journal full of prompts to help believers understand their beliefs. There are prompts that help you deconstruct your faith and pit the pieces back together again. Sarah Bessey takes the person who is journaling through a wonderful maze of faith.

I received a pre-read advanced copy of this book and I didn't even realize this was the book I needed. I love Sarah Bessey and follow her and evolving faith but this book broke me open. I have been struggling internally with my faith but it isn't really my faith I am struggling with, it is the expectations and contradictory behaviors of the church in recent years. Perhaps I was lucky before to not see it as much as the past couple of election cycles and covid 19 but it has been so overwhelming. She speaks the words that I have been feeling with so much grace and love and I have worked through and processed so many of those emotions because of this book. I feel that I am turning a corner back to my faith and prayer and love for Jesus. Thank you Sarah for naming and helping me feel that I was not alone. I know others feeling similar ways and cannot wait for this book to come out to the world.

This is a perfect companion to Bessey’s new book. I can see reading this book with friends and using the journal as we read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This guided journal is a companion piece to the upcoming book of the same name, which I have not read. I didn't realize there were two books when I first opened this volume, but it quickly became apparent that this is intended to be part of a set. The journal is meant to help those deconstructing their faith think through and process some of the elements that have helped the author's faith evolve - presumably in hopes that the questions and answers will help the journaler as well. Key quotes and breath prayers frequently appear within the chapters. I feel that this book will be more helpful in print - and for someone who feels themselves working through deconstruction - but I did enjoy some of the quotes within. I don't fully align with the author's worldview, but I hope this book will be helpful to those who engage with it, taking in what's helpful and letting the rest return from whence it came.

Great questions. Best to get it in the form of a physical book so that you can jot down points and note down things. It would be great to go through the book slowly. Answer a couple of questions each morning and you will have a foundation for the day.

Thanks to Netgalley for a free copy of the book.

A lot of the questions were thought-provoking and helpful; some were less so. I like that the format includes quotes from the book, "breath prayers" (although some of them would require looong breaths!), and a variety of different types of questions (e.g., name someone who can help, describe something that happened, imagine what could happen). I took a lot of notes, because I have a feeling I will be returning to this questions to help me get through my season of being in the spiritual wilderness.

Thank you to Convergent Books via NetGalley for the free eARC; I was not required to provide a positive review in exchange.