I really wanted to read this book. I did look at Amazon's look inside and I absolutely liked the preview. I'll have to get an actual copy to better reveiw, but for now my rating is based on the preview.

A wonderful devotional. Beautifully written with how God helps us flourish like flowers and gardens. It has questions at the end of each devotion to ask how God is working and ideas how to implement the ideas in our own life.

We all need to simply slow down, rest and spend some time with God to soak in His wisdom. This 30 days to slow your pace and savor scripture is a true description of this wonderful devotional book. You can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to hours on each devotional. Each day is full of God's Word, prayer, and little tidbits that help to understand why we need to slow down our pace and savor Jesus.

Day 8 is titled "Prune". Sarah Beth Marr states, "I think it's an opportunity for a heart-to-heart conversation with our Master Gardener, a chance to ask Him specifically what needs pruning. This is not an easy or particularity fun process, but if we can see the beauty in it - that after pruning comes fruit-bearing - then I think we will recognize its value. " Sometimes we just need a reminder that we have a Helper that wants to help us each and every day. He wants to prune our life for His Will and not our own. God has so many ways to cultivate us and restore us but we have to be willing to spend time with the Savior daily. Yes it's hard when our life is completely booked but we have to be rooted in Jesus and start each day with Him to experience His Joy and be Well-Watered.

I was so excited when this book was released that I had to order a physical copy of the book for me to do the 30 days over. I think it is a great reminder of scriptures that I already know but that Jesus is our Shepard. He knows us and our ways. He invites us to share our life with Him so He can carry our heavy burdens! He can certainly carry them better than we will ever be able to. I want to be reminded constantly not to worry about tomorrow and to stay present in today. I want my "heart to thrive like the wildflowers".

I received this book for an honest review from NetGalley.

This is a good book to take your time through, don’t rush it. Take it day by day and answer the questions at the end of each chapter and take the prayer to heart.

I think this book could get to the heart of what is rushing us around if we take the time to slow down and let it do its work. So take a deep breath and read.

A copy of this book was given to me through Netgalley.com. All opinions are my own.

This book is a devotional for women to be read over the period of 30 days. Marr uses flower and plant allegories to explore subjects relating to faith and personal growth with each day providing food for thought and steps and actions to take.
I enjoyed reading this and found it really good for prompting reflection. It does not go too much into depth but instead is a gentle starting post to explore issues further only if the reader chooses to do so, consequently it’s an accessible read (and while there are a lot of Americanism terms and expressions) universal for many.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this devotional. It really got me to slow down and spend intentional time in the word and to give God a solid piece of my time each day for a month.
I really like that this devotional shows us God's pure love for us and how He wants nothing but good for us. I think, too often we get caught up in the hustle of our lives and forget what or true purpose is. This was a great reminder of that.

Thanks to Netgalley and Baker Publishing Group for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Whispers and Wildflowers: 30 Days to Slow Your Pace, Savor Scripture, & Draw Closer to God by Sarah Beth Marr

5 stars

As the Master Gardener, He wants your life to blossom in all its beauty and flourish from a deeply planted root system of a precious relationship with Him. He wants to meet with you, encourage you, nurture you, and guide you so that the garden of your life in Him is healthy and flourishing."

Whispers and Wildflowers is a gem. This little devotional book was chocked full of wonderful Scripture, great and thought-provoking questions, prayer, and encouragement. This book was exactly what I needed over the last month. I took the challenge to read this for a full thirty days and tried to not miss any days, but I missed a couple. However, the time that I spent with God each day with this extra, supplementary devotional time was so invigorating. The Holy Spirit often prompts me through flowers and vision of gardens, so this book sang to my sweet and aching soul. I felt refreshed after reading this book and it was wonderful to see how God chose to speak to me each day. I'll be real, some days He was more blunt than others, but this book refreshed my spirit and made me feel like my soul-garden was being doused with water that it had been thirsting for. This book helped me seek God out in a deeper way outside of my Bible-reading and prayer time. I want to strongly encourage you not to use this novel as a replacement for the word of God. Reading Scripture every day is SO, SO important and this can help further your time with Jesus, but it shouldn't replace the living word of God. Sarah Beth Marr has become a new favorite Christian writer and I'll definitely be seeking out some of her stuff in the future.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 5

Plotastic Scale: 5

Cover Thoughts: I LOVE this cover. It's my weakness- illustrated flowers.

Thank you, Netgalley and Baker Books, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Author Marr provides a thoughtful and thorough 30-day devotional in Whispers and Wildflowers as she encourages readers to slow down and focus on God. Each chapter includes a thought for the day, a corresponding scripture reference, a detailed narrative from the author, questions for the reader to consider, and a prayer. Marr carefully and intentionally directs the reader on a very specific path every day. Each study is rooted in Marr's own experiences and she uses first person plural tense to address and include the reader. To be most useful, the reader should be prepared to set aside sufficient time daily to read, digest and respond to each day's lesson. This book might especially appeal to younger women juggling their time amongst many obligations.

This book of daily thoughts is self care for your heart, mind, and soul. It really does help you to savor scripture and strengthen your relationship with God.

Sarah Beth Marr's writing style is soothing and appealing, as well as heart tugging at times, motivating you to stop and process, interact, and improve your spiritual life and grow.

The book uses many gardening and floral images to help whisper the concepts in meaningful ways. I enjoyed it and will re-read it to savor again. I found it compelling and encouraging.

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review.

Devotions are basically a dime a dozen, and while I love doing them for quiet time in the morning, I can easily get burned out of them. It’s not always easy to find one that particularly resonates with me and doesn’t feel like the same old, same old. I’m beyond pleased to say that this wasn’t the case with Whispers and Wildflowers.

I found myself feeling so refreshed and encouraged each day as I read through this book, and it was like a breath of fresh air. It felt as if I was sitting down and having a chat with a friend, and I just loved that so much. Each day’s devotion and application was the perfect length to handle in one sitting, and I absolutely loved the format in how each day began with an encouragement and Scripture verse, then jumped into the actual devotion, followed by “Garden Moments for Your Soul” application questions, and then finished with a prayer. You could feel the authors heart and wisdom and faith pour through the pages, and it flowed directly to my heart. The topics spanned a whole width, drawing from nature type illustrations of the Lord as our Master Gardener, tending to us from a place of love and wanting for us to blossom and bloom in the beauty he’s created for our lives. The content was biblically sound and accurate to what I believe as a Christian. Overall this 30 day journey encouraged me and inspired me in my faith, and it was such a delight to experience this author’s heartfelt stories and beautiful writing, which I easily related to.

I could absolutely see myself recommending it gifting this most delightful devotion book to others, a sure mark that this one is a keeper!

Thank you Baker Books for the free copy in exchange for my honest review!

Do you find yourself constantly busy? Does this life make you, deep down, feel soul-weary? Friend, you are not alone. I am right there with you. But when we strive to keep up our busy pace, we can easily miss out on a deeper connection with God. Because of the busyness of life, many of us feel overwhelmed and feel far from God. But there is hope. In Whispers and Wildflowers, Sarah Beth Marr helps women develop a regular practice of withdrawing from busyness to realign and refresh their hearts, minds, and souls.

When I was offered a copy of this devotional to read, it felt like this book was written for me. Honestly, it still feels like it because life is just so busy all the time. I feel overwhelmed easily, as the weeks stretch long. It can feel hard to stop long enough to build a deeper connection with God, when I have been pouring out all day long. Which is why this reminder of hope was just perfect for this season.

Whispers and Wildflowers by Sarah Beth Marr is such a beautiful devotional. Each of these devotions are a few pages, which makes them long enough to truly give you insights and thoughts to dwell on. Still they are short enough to add to your daily devotional time. Each devotion was encouraging, while at the same time a little challenging. But most of all, these devotions were beautiful and warm-hearted. Each page helps you to build a stronger, deeper connection with the Lord.

I know I will keep returning to this devotional time and time again. There were such good insights to reflect on. And the feel of this devotional is just so warm and full of hope, it is easy to keep reading this. I would recommend this book to any woman feeling weary and overwhelmed, or in the midst of a busy season of life.

This book was a great read for 30 days. It wasn't watered down and I found it to challenge me in areas that I needed to make changes. For instance, one chapter made me realize that I needed to give some things up to be more present in other areas. I realized I was tired of giving some effort to lots of things instead of focusing my energy on my family and giving them my all. I enjoyed that the chapters seemed a little longer than the average 30 day devotional. I often find those shorter ones lack depth. And just a side note, this cover is absolutely gorgeous!

* I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

This book is beautiful! The cover is beautiful and the texture is pleasing but the words inside the cover are heart warming, like a hug from a friend in those moments when you need to step back and find God.

If you feel like you are going through a spiritual dry spell or you feel like there is just something missing in your faith walk, this is a good book to work through. It is not a feel good, three minute a day devotional. It is an intensive thirty day journey of developing a deeper connection with God. Not that a mere thirty days will do it. This is a book to be read over and over as the journey is an ongoing one.

There are many essays that particularly moved me. One was about the heart, creating space for God and guarding that space against those things that deplete it. Another was about choosing life-giving pursuits rather than our digital devices. Yet another was about connecting with the Spirit, that it takes awareness and intention.

Each essay is a combination of encouragement, teaching, and correction. Marr helps us understand how we connect with God and what we can do to hear His quiet voice. She provides questions that are thought provoking and good for journaling. She also provides a written prayer asking God to help us in the areas we've just read about.

I am impressed with the depth of teaching in this book. It is one I'll read over and over as I pursue a deeper connection with God, making room for Him in the big and small moments of life.

I received a complimentary egalley from the publisher my comments are an independent and honest review.

I received an advanced copy of this book in which it said the text was not final. The content pages were not yet numbered. My review is based on that version, and not the published version - which I have not seen. This is a fair and honest review. I will not be transferring this review to Goodreads as I’m not sure it is applicable to the final printed version.

I have a difficult time recommending this book because I do not think it delivers what it intended. Above all, I would say that the content was good - insightful, bible-based. However, the author penned a lengthy forward/intro in which she states she has taken a simple approach to the 30-day devotional. Her intro wasn’t simple, nor were the daily devotions. They were lengthly and made a variety of points each. I think it was just too much information to be considered simple. There was a lot to think about after each devotion. Maybe too much.

I have had the opportunity to review a lot of truly beautiful books. I expected the same here, especially with the “wildflower” title. Unfortunately, it really isn’t visually appealing. The illustrations are minimal and lack color. And quite frankly, the words didn’t do much to tie-in the wildflower theme.

Again, it is difficult to know if the final version is different - but the advance copy was very cramped. I felt like the words were crammed on the pages. The author encourages you to journal within the book itself, but that would not have been possible in this format. Again, I was looking for a simple approach the author said she would deliver, but I found the words numerous and crowded. The whole thing just needs less words and more space for book that is advocating a retreat from the worries of the world.

Again, overall the content is insight. However, I would recommend editing out some of the content, spacing out the remaining words, and adding beautiful, colorful wildflower illustrations.