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Every group throughout Christian history, including 21st-century Protestant denominations, has had its own way of striving for “mountaintop” spiritual experiences to feel close to God: The desert fathers isolated themselves, while some of us today flock to Christian conferences, worship gatherings, or elaborate Christmas plays. But what should we do about dry spells? Or days of ordinary faithfulness between Christmas and Easter? Justin Ariel Bailey offers three books that show us God’s work when he seems silent.
Happy Reading,
Kara Bettis Carvalho
Senior Features Editor, Christianity Today
P.S. A portion of this newsletter appeared as a column at Christianity Today. Join CT for full access to all our journalism.
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Three Books on Church Life & Ministry
Kyle Strobel and John Coe, When God Seems Distant: Surprising Ways God Deepens Our Faith and Draws Us Near (Baker, 2026)
What do we do when it feels like spiritual life has stalled? During just such a season in my early 30s, I discovered a lecture by theologian John Coe. I was surprised to hear him describe the feeling of God’s distance as a gift, a chance to face the truth about my need for Christ. I wished for a book-length treatment to share with others.
Fifteen years later, I’m glad to report that it has arrived, cowritten with his colleague Kyle Strobel (see their earlier volume Where Prayer Becomes Real). This new volume reconnects with a neglected Protestant tradition that makes sense of spiritual dryness: a mind that wanders in prayer, boredom with the Bible, coldness in praise.
The authors argue that when spiritual practices stop providing excitement, they become mirrors, showing us our hearts. Mistaking emotional warmth as the mark of a healthy spiritual life, we go looking for a shot of adrenaline. But this search for feelings is a mark of immaturity! Newborn babies drink out of bottles, but for greater growth to occur, their parents must wean them. Likewise, God must give us experiences that are hard to chew for us to know him more deeply.
Unless we are willing to face the truth and journey with Christ into the brokenness, seeking better feelings may become a strategy to avoid God, leading us to miss the gift of the dry season.