Cultivate: A Grace-Filled Guide To Growing An Intentional Life – Book Review
A favorite saying that has always helped to motivate, inspire and get me through the tough times in my life is “Bloom where you are planted”. No matter what circumstances I have found myself in, I have discovered that God has always provided just enough light and nourishment for me to flourish once I’ve set my mind to it.
Sometimes light shines through a person God puts on our path. Sometimes light comes through a message we read in a book. Sometimes, when you come across something you need to hear, you just know it inside.
The moment I came across Cultivate: A Grace-Filled Guide To Growing An Intentional Life by Lara Casey, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy of this book as soon as possible, and to share this book with you as well!
Lara is one of those writers that I instantly felt a bond with the moment I started reading her book. I felt like we had so much in common, we could be the best of friends if she lived down the block.
In Cultivate, her search for using thing after external thing to fill an emptiness that can only be quenched through God’s life-transforming gift of new life – and her inspiring guide book that helps us identify the areas of our life that need cultivating and gently prompts us to create lasting change – is something I’ll be working through with Bible and journal in hand in the months to come .
It’s a journey I invite you to consider taking too!
One of the things that I found fascinating as I read through this book was this quote:
Cultivating and intentional life is about serving the Lord for His purposes and growing what matters to Him.
Lara says our God is the author of intentionality, noting that out of all of the tasks in the world that He could have chosen for us, the first job that He gave mankind was the job of cultivating a garden (Gen 2:15). She also notes that the same word used for “cultivate” in Genesis is the word that is translated as “serve” in Joshua 24:15:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
As we think about our lives, we are asked to identify the areas that we tend to nurture (cultivate) and the areas that we tend to abandon (neglect). Are there lies we need to uncover and replace with God’s truth in order to prosper and grow? What areas are we in the need of most grace?
Cultivate is perfect for individual or group study. I highly recommend this wonderful book to you!
I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.
About Lara Casey
Lara Casey is a mom to three (one through the gift of adoption), a grateful wife, and a believer in the impossible. She created the PowerSheets grace-filled goal setting planner and the Write the Word journals, and she founded Southern Weddings magazine a decade ago. Lara is also the author of Make It Happen: Surrender Your Fear. Take the Leap. Live On Purpose. She lives in Chapel Hill, NC, and loves getting her hands dirty in the garden.
Resources
For More Information
- Visit Lara’s Website.
- Connect with Lara on Facebook and Twitter.
- Cultivate is available on Amazon.
For More Great Books
- Visit Create With Joy – Book Reviews.
- Follow Create With Joy on GoodReads.
- Join us at The Book Nook At Create With Joy – a community for book lovers!
Stay In Touch!
Follow Create With Joy On:
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Thomas Nelson through the BookLook Bloggers program. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Copyright © 2017 by Create With Joy. All Rights Reserved.
If you see this content posted elsewhere, please contact the site owner.
Thank you for helping to prevent content theft!
Goodness! This certainly sounds like a book that I need to have & study! Wouldn’t the world be an awesome one if we all lived intentionally for Him?!?!? Thanks for sharing!
I love Lara Casey! Her 1st book, “Make It Happen” is awesome. I use it every year to plan my year to be more intentional. This new book looks great too! Gotta get me 1!
Thanks for sharing Janet – I fell in love with Lara’s site when I visited and was thinking I need to add Make It Happen to my list!
Appreciate the feedback on her first book! 🙂
You are so kind! I’m so grateful Cultivate encouraged you! : )
I SO loved your book Lara – keep on inspiring us with your writing! 🙂
I’m really interested in this book. I love the idea of taking inventory of the things that need cultivating in our life, like a garden. 😀 I can relate to knowing that using “thing after external thing to fill an emptiness that can only be quenched through God’s life-transforming gift of new life” doesn’t work, so am quite open to this book, I would love to read it. 😀 Oh, I can totally see this as a Bible study as well! 😀
Hope you have a chance to read this book Christina – it’s So inspiring! 🙂
Oh wow. I so need to read this book. I’m in desperate need of changes so this is vital. Thanks for Reviewing.
My pleasure Karen – this book is amazing so I highly encourage you to pick it up and to visit Lara’s site – it will brighten your day! 🙂
I’ve been thinking a lot about this sort of thing recently, Ramona, so I’ll definitely be reading this book! Really enjoyed your review – and I’m featuring it at Hearth and Soul later today as part of the theme ‘taking time out’. Thank you so much for being a part of Hearth and Soul! Have a lovely week ahead.
So thrilled to hear that you are going to be featuring Cultivate at Hearth and Soul, April – this book is speaking to SO many women right now – thanks for helping it reach a larger audience – you are absolutely going to love it! 🙂
I have both of her books in paperback and also on Audible. I find listening to her read her books very motivating – like she’s speaking just to me.
Thanks for sharing your testimonial Beth – I was also thinking of getting this on Audible so I could listen to – Lara is SO inspiring!
I just love the name of your blog by the way – it speaks a story of empowerment! 🙂
Thanks for linking up to the Top of the World Style linkup party.
This sounds like a great book. I started using a Christian planner for the first time this year and it has helped me be so much more intentional about how I spend my time, what I pray for and my time with God. Very life changing for me.
Which planner do you use Lauren? I’ve used several Christian planners and I’ve liked them all! 🙂