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Field Notes for the Wilderness

Practices for an Evolving Faith

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Field Notes for the Wilderness

By: Sarah Bessey
Narrated by: Sarah Bessey
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About this listen

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A nurturing and hopeful collection of practices to help an emerging generation of Christians reconnect to their faith, find inner healing, and build spiritual community—from Glennon Doyle’s “favorite faith writer” and the author of Jesus Feminist and editor of A Rhythm of Prayer

“This is the perfect guide for all those of who need to be reintroduced to a faith full of grace, mercy, and love.”—Kate Bowler, author of Good Enough

It’s hard to leave a faith that has raised us. Maybe it’s even harder to stay. But what can feel impossible is living in the tension. Living with a faith that evolves.

Sarah Bessey is an expert at faithfully stumbling forward. As a New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of Evolving Faith, the foremost community for progressive Christians, she has been trusted by thousands of people to pursue a reconstruction of faith centered on compassion, truth, and inclusion. Bessey has found a deeply underserved and underestimated remnant in the wilderness of Christianity who are still devoted to Jesus, deeply rooted in the Gospel, fascinated with Scripture, and committed to reimagining their faith.

Field Notes for the Wilderness guides us through multiple principles to live by for an evolving faith, including

• practicing wonder and curiosity as spiritual disciplines

• mothering ourselves with compassion and empathy

• making space for lament and righteous rage

• finding good spiritual teachers

• discovering what we are for in this life, and moving in that direction

In this groundbreaking and nurturing book, Bessey becomes a shepherd for our curiosity, giving us a table for our questions, tools to cultivate what we crave, and a blessing for what was—even as we leave it behind.

©2024 Sarah Bessey (P)2024 Random House Audio
Christian Living

Critic Reviews

"I have had a lot of fathers in faith, but never a mother—at least until I met Sarah Bessey. Now she is the writer I recommend to anyone who needs to be seen, loved, and held before they ever say why. Reading her new book is like opening a boxed lunch in the wilderness packed by someone who knew just what would get you through—along with a note that says, ‘Your soul is just fine.’ The only difference is that this book keeps feeding you after you have finished the last page (the one you hoped would never come). Take heart! You can start all over again whenever you want, safe in the embrace of a very wise mum.”—Barbara Brown Taylor, author of An Altar in the World and Learning to Walk in the Dark

“In a time when so many of us feel like we are spiritual wanderers, Sarah Bessey reaches out a hand and offers wise and careful company on the journey. Through the tenderness and intimacy of letters, this book shows us the many ways we might survive together in the liminal.”—Cole Arthur Riley, New York Times bestselling author of This Here Flesh and creator of Black Liturgies

“Sarah Bessey shines. A book full of gentle wisdom and stunning empathy for all those of us who are bruised by the faithful but want to keep our faith. Faithful without being pious. Useful without being bossy. This is the perfect guide for all those of who need to be reintroduced to a faith full of grace, mercy, and love.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Good Enough

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Brilliant exploration of faith and searching

Loved the authenticity and heart for God and his people. I laughed, I cried and I listened with every part of my heart. Thank you, Sarah.

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Balm for my weary soul

For the longest time now I’ve felt so alone in the wilderness. This book reminded me that I’m not. It felt like a cup of tea with a good friend. I finished reading it feeling hopeful.

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