How do we cultivate faith that endures?

Early Christians often grappled with a reality we rarely talk about in contemporary life: that God seems to abandon the soul at times, leaving us feeling as if we are alone and left to our own resources. For centuries, times of 'aridity' were seen as necessary – prerequisites for growth and maturity. Yet in our culture fixated on speed and optimisation, we risk losing this deeper sense of the human journey and the resilience that comes with it.

Drawing from her own season of exhaustion and also from the rich well of Christian tradition – particularly the earliest Christian monks – Warren explores the habits and mindsets that anchor us through doubt, difficulty and spiritual dryness. She helps us see that nothing is wasted – that, even in desert seasons, something good is growing, rooted in grace and reaching toward glory.

What Grows in Weary Lands speaks to anyone longing for a life of depth in a distracted age and guides us toward lives of resilience, renewal and flourishing.

Ebury Vine: The Home Of Christian Living. Drawing on the deep roots of Christianity to cultivate curious minds and inspire faith-informed growth.

Tish Harrison Warren is a writer and an Anglican priest. She is the author of several books, including Liturgy of the Ordinary, which won Christianity Today’s 2018 Book of the Year, and Prayer in the Night, which won Christianity Today’s 2022 Book of the Year and the 2022 ECPA Christian Book of the Year. She currently serves as the C.S. Lewis Theological Writer-in-Residence for The Anglican Episcopal House of Studies at Baylor’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. She is a senior fellow with the Trinity Forum and an assisting priest at Immanuel Anglican Church. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and three children.