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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Field Notes for the Wilderness is a courageously hopeful collection of practices set to encourage Christians in their faith. Written specifically to those who feel like they are wandering in the wilderness, disconnected from community and are in the process of deconstructing their faith, Sarah shares from her own experience and the principles she's gently put into practice to find inner healing as well as build spiritual community.
As someone who has recently left the Church and is wrestling with their faith, I find Sarah's writing to be like a beacon of hope and a helpful reminder that although entering and living in the wilderness is painful and grief filled, it doesn't have to always be that way. Sarah oh so kindly reminds us wanderers that there is a great invitation for us to find healing, belonging and to learn how to faithfully orient ourselves toward Love. While not a step-by-step guide book, the principles shared are important foundational values for the faith journey and prepare the way for the accompanying journal mentioned in the book.
As always, Sarah writes in such a relatable way, and reading Field Notes is like receiving a hug from a trusted friend at the time you need it most.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
---------------
(original thoughts)
I just consumed this ARC in one sitting. So much of the book rang true for me in this part of my faith journey. I will need more time to process and reflect on Sarah's writing, but for now I will say that each page is filled with such courageous hope. It is mentioned several times that there will be a companion journal with spiritual practices for the reader. That, in combination with this will be such a beautiful and helpful pairing. I can't wait to see it!
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.
As someone who has recently left the Church and is wrestling with their faith, I find Sarah's writing to be like a beacon of hope and a helpful reminder that although entering and living in the wilderness is painful and grief filled, it doesn't have to always be that way. Sarah oh so kindly reminds us wanderers that there is a great invitation for us to find healing, belonging and to learn how to faithfully orient ourselves toward Love. While not a step-by-step guide book, the principles shared are important foundational values for the faith journey and prepare the way for the accompanying journal mentioned in the book.
As always, Sarah writes in such a relatable way, and reading Field Notes is like receiving a hug from a trusted friend at the time you need it most.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.
---------------
(original thoughts)
I just consumed this ARC in one sitting. So much of the book rang true for me in this part of my faith journey. I will need more time to process and reflect on Sarah's writing, but for now I will say that each page is filled with such courageous hope. It is mentioned several times that there will be a companion journal with spiritual practices for the reader. That, in combination with this will be such a beautiful and helpful pairing. I can't wait to see it!
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.
hopeful
inspiring
Although I've long aimed to read authors I disagree with, Sarah Bessey is a good example of someone I would've written off as a heretic just a few years ago without even examining what she actually believes. Thank God for growth.
With that growth and curiosity has come an element of fear and grief for me. Anyone who can relate would likely find FIELD NOTES FOR THE WILDERNESS as helpful and transformative as I did. As I mentioned in a previous book review, I haven't gone through a "deconstruction" process (at least not yet), and I haven't left the Church; I've merely let my intellectual and spiritual curiosity compel me to ask bigger questions and seek good answers.
But this book is a blessing and the foremost guide for those deconstructing, reconstructing, or reconsidering their Christian faith. FIELD NOTES FOR THE WILDNERNESS isn't a book of answers, though—it's a book that offers comfort, hope, belonging, acceptance, exhortation, and encouragement. It's filled with gentle nudges to be gentle with ourselves, invitations to consider what we're for now and not just what we're against, affirmations that the loving and sovereign God is with us on the journey, encouragement that faith evolutions are healthy and normal, and wisdom Bessey has gathered through her own experiences "wandering in the wilderness."
I got from this book what I thought I would get from her book OUT OF SORTS, which turned out to be more of a memoir. FIELD NOTES FOR THE WILDNERNESS is a guide, and exactly the type I needed at this time in my life. It's written with such clarity and grace. I'd recommend this to anyone who has ever struggled with the Church or wrestled with faith and anyone who'd like to understand the pain and
predicament of those who have.
*This review is based on a digital ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
With that growth and curiosity has come an element of fear and grief for me. Anyone who can relate would likely find FIELD NOTES FOR THE WILDERNESS as helpful and transformative as I did. As I mentioned in a previous book review, I haven't gone through a "deconstruction" process (at least not yet), and I haven't left the Church; I've merely let my intellectual and spiritual curiosity compel me to ask bigger questions and seek good answers.
But this book is a blessing and the foremost guide for those deconstructing, reconstructing, or reconsidering their Christian faith. FIELD NOTES FOR THE WILDNERNESS isn't a book of answers, though—it's a book that offers comfort, hope, belonging, acceptance, exhortation, and encouragement. It's filled with gentle nudges to be gentle with ourselves, invitations to consider what we're for now and not just what we're against, affirmations that the loving and sovereign God is with us on the journey, encouragement that faith evolutions are healthy and normal, and wisdom Bessey has gathered through her own experiences "wandering in the wilderness."
I got from this book what I thought I would get from her book OUT OF SORTS, which turned out to be more of a memoir. FIELD NOTES FOR THE WILDNERNESS is a guide, and exactly the type I needed at this time in my life. It's written with such clarity and grace. I'd recommend this to anyone who has ever struggled with the Church or wrestled with faith and anyone who'd like to understand the pain and
predicament of those who have.
*This review is based on a digital ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
"Sometimes one of the greatest gifts God gives to us is losing our religion. We have to be committed to unlearning the unhelpful, broken, false, or incomplete things if we want to have space to relearn the goodness, joy, and embrace of God."
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I would say that this book is a case of reading exactly what I needed at the right time. And that would certainly be true, yet somehow it seems that whenever and whatever I read of Bessey’s work feels as if it was meant for that moment. So I think the truth is simply that Sarah Bessey has a gift with words. My mother introduced me to @sarahbessey’s writing before my daughter was born, (more than thirteen years ago!) and I never fail to be moved by her ability to speak truth in the most gracious, compassionate way.
As someone who has been battered and beaten by a church family I loved and have seen the best and worst of Christianity and the Church during my almost forty-two years, I found this book to be healing and restorative in ways that I didn’t know still needed a balm. In the last handful of years I have found myself to be sort of a misfit in spiritual circles—too progressive for some, too conservative for others. Too charismatic in this setting but too liturgical in another. My faith has changed and grown over the last six years, and it’s not been an easy journey. I am simply so thankful for the gift that Sarah Bessey offers all of us with this book.
Even if you don’t necessarily see yourself in a place of spiritual disentangling or deconstruction, I highly recommend you read this book. There is so much truth to be gleaned for every believer. And if you do find yourself in the midst of a spiritual journey, please, please, please read this book. I loved it. I am refusing to quote a single word from it because I want you to read it for yourself. I will say that I wept, and I mean WEPT with tears pouring down my face, reading Sarah’s benediction for her readers at the end of the book. I read it again today thinking I could casually look through it for a quote, and nope…full-fledged tears again. It is a beautiful, beautiful book. I intentionally placed this cozy blanket up against the book because every single chapter felt like a comforting hug from God to me. This book is not just a “feel good” sort of book—there are some challenging truths, but Sarah’s words are gentle and kind.
I want for everyone to read this book and then come talk to me about it. ❤️
As someone who has been battered and beaten by a church family I loved and have seen the best and worst of Christianity and the Church during my almost forty-two years, I found this book to be healing and restorative in ways that I didn’t know still needed a balm. In the last handful of years I have found myself to be sort of a misfit in spiritual circles—too progressive for some, too conservative for others. Too charismatic in this setting but too liturgical in another. My faith has changed and grown over the last six years, and it’s not been an easy journey. I am simply so thankful for the gift that Sarah Bessey offers all of us with this book.
Even if you don’t necessarily see yourself in a place of spiritual disentangling or deconstruction, I highly recommend you read this book. There is so much truth to be gleaned for every believer. And if you do find yourself in the midst of a spiritual journey, please, please, please read this book. I loved it. I am refusing to quote a single word from it because I want you to read it for yourself. I will say that I wept, and I mean WEPT with tears pouring down my face, reading Sarah’s benediction for her readers at the end of the book. I read it again today thinking I could casually look through it for a quote, and nope…full-fledged tears again. It is a beautiful, beautiful book. I intentionally placed this cozy blanket up against the book because every single chapter felt like a comforting hug from God to me. This book is not just a “feel good” sort of book—there are some challenging truths, but Sarah’s words are gentle and kind.
I want for everyone to read this book and then come talk to me about it. ❤️
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
There are few books that I read and instantly know that I will come back to time and time again like a reference manual to my own heart. And this is one of those.
Sarah Bessey has a way of writing that feels like coffee with an old friend. We’ve never met, and yet her books make me feel seen (I’d like to think this is the Spirit at work in her).
Church and faith for me have felt like wrestling matches with God the past few years. And not even the romanticized movie battles—I’m talking the nasty, staged and dramatized WWE-style knockdown, drag out fights. I have felt like I have no hope in winning. Yet here comes Sarah with words that clean off the dirt and bandage the wounds. The pain is still there, but the sting is gone.
After reading this book and Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness closely together, I highly recommend pairing them. These two strong women have reminded me over and over and over than I’m not fighting alone. My limp from wrestling with God isn’t shameful. My faith isn’t weak just because it doesn’t look like l was taught it should. God is here loving me despite it all, even (and especially) when I debate if I even believe anymore.
Thank you to NetGalley and Convergent Books for an advanced copy.
Sarah Bessey has a way of writing that feels like coffee with an old friend. We’ve never met, and yet her books make me feel seen (I’d like to think this is the Spirit at work in her).
Church and faith for me have felt like wrestling matches with God the past few years. And not even the romanticized movie battles—I’m talking the nasty, staged and dramatized WWE-style knockdown, drag out fights. I have felt like I have no hope in winning. Yet here comes Sarah with words that clean off the dirt and bandage the wounds. The pain is still there, but the sting is gone.
After reading this book and Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness closely together, I highly recommend pairing them. These two strong women have reminded me over and over and over than I’m not fighting alone. My limp from wrestling with God isn’t shameful. My faith isn’t weak just because it doesn’t look like l was taught it should. God is here loving me despite it all, even (and especially) when I debate if I even believe anymore.
Thank you to NetGalley and Convergent Books for an advanced copy.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
challenging
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
inspiring
reflective
Sarah Bessey provides a guide to those who are deconstructing their faith and are wanting to know they are not alone. Her book is tender and thoughtful.