Spiritual growth sounds great, but what does it mean? There is something very grounding about trees. We understand how they grow and how dirt, seeds, water, and roots support the life and seasons of a tree. Using a tree as a metaphor, Christopher Maricle presents a model for spiritual growth that is easy to use and remember. Deeply Rooted borrows Catherine of Siena's image of the soul as a tree and categorizes it into four parts: the garden, the soil and roots of the tree, the trunk and essen...

"Imagine my surprise at learning that I needed to get to know my God a lot better." Despite lifelong Christian devotion, Maricle came to this startling realization after experiencing a crisis of faith. "I needed answers that are so fundamental to Christian living," he writes. "Why is this life, at times, so hard? Why isn't my faith helping me? Why am I finding no comfort in prayer? These questions—and the struggles behind them—challenged all my notions of faith, my perception of God and the...