I’m thrilled to announce that two new Storyline Bible studies, Gardens and Deserts, are now available for pre-order! You get a sneak peek of the letter to the readers inside each study.

Gardens 5-Week Bible Study: My Letter to Readers (Adapted from Gardens)

I have no business writing about gardens. I can’t keep any plants alive, and honestly, I don’t care to try. I’m fine living in a concrete jungle and buying my produce from the grocery store. The only thing that could interest me in a gardening hobby would be a guaranteed best friendship with Joanna Gaines—who, according to her shows and magazines, really loves spending time in her garden, watching things grow.

Gardens in the Bible, however, occupy a lot of my brain space. After all, God bookends his Word with stories about celestial gardens. The Bible begins with a story about God planting a garden in Eden and ends with a story about God replanting Christians in a garden city called the new Jerusalem.

I find myself desperately fixated on that final garden city, where the apostle John says death and tears are gone (Revelation 21:4) and only life and light remains. I need the new Jerusalem to be real. I’ve had enough of death and pain and weariness. I cling to the promise of always-and-forever abundant, endless life.

As I began my research on gardens in the Bible, I wanted more out of my relationship with Christ. I’ve experienced the “abundant life” at times. But somewhere along the way, I grew distracted, stressed, and tired.

Do you find yourself longing for a spiritual life that is abundant—where you are not just scraping by but enduring and flourishing?

In all the seasons of life where I experienced immense growth in my faith, I was absorbing every last nutrient from the soil of Scripture. I was soaking in the sunlight of Bible verses illuminated, and I drank in God’s Living Water, his Spirit. I want that again. I want my faith to spring up—to be vibrant, not static. To have deep, sturdy roots, not feel flimsy or droopy.

Here’s what I know for sure: Every garden in Scripture is a landmark for my faith—and for yours. The Gardens Bible study is an invitation to explore God’s literary genius and masterful storytelling, to approach the themes and threads of his Word with curiosity and hope. As we follow the garden theme from Genesis to Revelation, I can promise you this: We’ll find Christ’s presence in all the gardens we’re exploring, inviting us into an evergreen faith.

The Lord will guide you continually,

and satisfy your needs in parched places,

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters never fail.

Isaiah 58:11

Deserts 5-Week Bible Study: My Letter to Readers (Adapted from Deserts)

Our family went through some stuff.

Nothing life-threatening, but lots of our dreams feel stuck in a wasteland for a season. Our lives didn’t resemble what we imagined. And plans? What plans? At this point, those are irrelevant. We’ve had to let go so often we’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to be held.

As eager as I am to be done with this season of disappointment, my faith reminds me that disappointment can do good and holy work, drawing us all closer to Christ. Even though I want to count this stretch of badlands a loss, I can’t—and won’t—because that’s not how God’s terrain works. This wandering part of my journey has value. And so does yours. God will eventually reroute our dead ends into a way through.

I’m ready to be through confusion so that I can arrive at clarity. I know I’ll look back with hindsight and thanksgiving that the Lord carried me through what felt like a maze of letdowns. But for now, I’m still stuck in no-man’s-land. As I wait on the Lord to direct my steps and bring clarity to my family, I’ve found myself exploring the deserts of Scripture.

In this Bible study you’re going to discover deserts in the Bible are more than a geographical location. Deserts represent the lonely and sometimes vast lostness we sense when our lives take an unplanned detour. The Bible is full of stories of people making harrowing journeys through a desert—Hagar, Joseph, Moses, and Jesus, to name a few. And every desert we visit in our study together will create a storyline threaded throughout Scripture: God is faithful to make a way when there is none.

God Almighty meets you in your desert moments. The deserts in your life do not separate you from God’s presence. In fact, your wilderness wanderings might amplify God’s presence in your life, if you learn to look for his loving attention to your deepest needs.

Just when we think we are going to die in the desert, the Lord supplies what we need to get to the other side. You see, your wilderness wanderings are a way through to God’s protection, restoration, a deep sense of belonging, new ministry opportunities, and an abundance that will wow you with God’s love.

The Lord will comfort Zion;

he will comfort all her waste places,

and will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the Lord;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

Isaiah 51:3