Watering the Garden: A Review of Cultivating Spiritual Growth

Whether it hitches a ride in your on-the-go bag, rests on your nightstand, or graces your bathroom’s magazine basket, Cultivating Spiritual Growth is a book that should be kept close.

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Every woman needs a sister-in-Christ who will lift her up and ask the hard questions. These relationships can be formed through coffee dates or founded on a Bible study in a living room. Jennifer Quinn makes herself available for sisterly adoption through her book Cultivating Spiritual Growth: 40 Devotions to Challenge and Encourage. Her sincere passion to see women united and inspired is evident in this time-friendly devotional.

Each section is a pot full of spiritual soil for readers to stop, reflect, and plant positivity and intentionality. As is common in numerous devotionals, Quinn provides space for readers to journal their thoughts. This “Heart Application,” a series of questions and a prayer, creates a stronger reading experience.

As I drew deeper into the roots of the book, I felt that my soul was being fertilized with truth and love—both the tough and the gentle kinds. Quinn exudes vulnerability in various areas, including her sinful nature, lukewarm tendencies, personal comparisons, family ties, and more. Her authentic nature allowed me the grace to be who I am and, at the same time, look forward to who I want (am meant) to be. It made me evaluate her words, God’s Word—which is generously sprinkled throughout—and their applicability to my life. I felt as though I was walking alongside a family member who simply wanted to share her experiences so I could learn and, in turn, succeed.

Whether it hitches a ride in your on-the-go bag, rests on your nightstand, or graces your bathroom’s magazine basket, Cultivating Spiritual Growth is a book that should be kept close. Women will glean wisdom from Quinn with every turned page. They can and should revisit this green garden of Godly advice and assessment throughout the years as a mile-marker for self-improvement and continuous revelation.

Please enjoy this excerpt from “Beautifully Broken” in Cultivating Spiritual Growth:

Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. – 2 Corinthians 4:7

I have a friend that has a beautiful jar. It is so ornate, bright, and colorful. You wouldn’t know it by looking at it on her shelf, but it’s also broken. She has it turned so that the broken side is facing the wall so that the viewer won’t notice. How many of us try to hide our own brokenness from those around us? Now, look back at the verse above. What sticks out to you when you think about ‘clay jars’? Personally, when I think of clay jars, I think ordinary and fragile. They’re the kind of thing that I would try to keep my children from touching as we walked through a store, not necessarily because they are very valuable but because I know that if they fall, they will break.

I want to point out a beautiful truth. Once you have been washed clean by the blood of Jesus and your sins are forgiven, your broken pieces are no longer something to be ashamed of. The more broken we are, the easier it is for people to see the treasure within us. Think of your brokenness as testimony windows that give glory and honor to God. With Jesus, your brokenness is beautiful.

 

For further information about the author, click here. Buy Cultivating Spiritual Growth in the Kingdom Winds Marketplace today!

 

 

Featured Image by Dawn King

The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

Becca is a gentle soul who seeks the best in the world and in others. She is easily touched by the beauty of books, music, and art. Though she aspires to write as eloquently as Emily Dickinson or Lang Leav, she hopes to make her own mark on the world one day. She dreams of leaving behind a voice that sparks creativity, imagination, hope, love, joy, and faith.