Today, I’m excited to interview my friend Winfree Brisley about TGC’s new booklet series for women, Disciplines of Devotion. Each volume highlights one spiritual discipline, exploring its meaning, biblical examples, and benefits, and offers accessible ways to cultivate the practice faithfully. Brief, biblically rich, and highly practical, Disciplines of Devotion booklets are ideal for individual or small-group study (and bulk discounts are available in the TGC store).
The first 3 volumes, Fasting, Prayer, and Sabbath Rest, are scheduled to release on February 17, 2026.
Was there a particular need you were seeing among women that made this project feel timely?
Over the years, I’ve noticed that many women express a similar frustration about their spiritual lives. They want to grow in the Lord. They want to regularly spend time in the Word and prayer. But everything else in life seems to get in the way. If we wake up early, the kids wake up earlier. If we try to find a few quiet minutes over lunch, our boss needs something ASAP. And all the while, we’re getting more and more distracted by our devices so that focusing on anything for very long is a struggle. So I’ve been wrestling with how we can help women grow in devotion to the Lord even as we live in an age of endless distraction.
I think at least part of the answer is having a more comprehensive understanding of how we grow in the Lord. Of course, we absolutely need to spend time in the Word and prayer. But there are other disciplines that can also help us grow in the Lord, and they can even set us up for more focused time in the Word and prayer. For example, fasting is meant to go hand in hand with prayer, reminding us of our dependence on the Lord and prompting us to turn to him in prayer. Or consider Sabbath rest. If we struggle to find longer stretches of time to read God’s Word amid the busyness of our normal days, setting aside the Lord’s Day as a day we don’t work opens up time that we can devote to spiritual pursuits like Bible study. The days aren’t getting any longer, but our schedules are getting busier, so we need to be thoughtful about spiritual growth.
Each volume focuses on a single spiritual discipline. Why was it important to slow down and give focused attention to one practice at a time?
We all have a lot on our plates. There’s a reason “all the things” is a popular catchphrase among women. So I didn’t want this resource to feel like a bunch of things to do. I love David’s description of seeking the Lord in Psalm 27:4:
One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.
One thing. His one, deep, driving desire is to dwell in the Lord’s presence. I think that’s a helpful way to frame our goal with spiritual disciplines and also a helpful way to think about our practice of spiritual disciplines. For a woman who wants to seek the Lord like David, what’s one thing she could do?
So we organized this resource as a series of short, super practical booklets that enable you to explore just one discipline. You don’t have to do everything all at once. Just start with one thing that can help you grow in devotion to the Lord. Small steps of faithfulness add up over time.
Can you describe the structure of a volume in the series? How does each book help readers move from understanding a discipline to actually practicing it?
Each booklet starts with a brief overview of what the discipline is and how it’s described in Scripture, as well as some unique blessings that can come from practicing that particular discipline. Then, each booklet walks through three super-practical ways to start practicing the discipline. These are ideas and practices from the authors’ real lives that they’ve tried and tested and found helpful. And each booklet ends with a robust list of recommended resources so a reader knows where to go next if she wants to keep learning and exploring that discipline.
Along the way, there are reflection questions at the end of each chapter that can be used for discussion. A great way to move from understanding to implementing the disciplines is to work through the booklets with other women, providing encouragement and accountability for one another.
What would you say to a woman who feels inconsistent or discouraged in her practice of spiritual disciplines? How might this series meet her where she is?
The first line of the Prayer booklet by Courtney Reissig is, “Prayer is hard for me.” We get it. We’re in the trenches with you. None of us who worked on this series feel like we have it all together. In fact, the reason we have practical ideas about how to gain some ground in spiritual disciplines is because we’ve had to fight (and we’re still fighting!) our own distractions and interruptions and inconsistency and sin.
I keep going back to Lamentations 3:19–23:
[19] Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
[20] My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
[21] But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
[22] The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
[23] they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
Our focus and energy wear thin. Our hearts wander and our efforts are inconsistent. But the Lord is faithful, and his steadfast love never ceases. Receive his mercies that are new every morning and rest in his faithfulness.
How do you envision women using these books? 
Our hope is that women will find lots of creative ways to use these booklets. We’ve created the series to have a lot of flexibility. The booklets can be used by an individual, in a small group, in a discipleship relationship, with a teen daughter, etc. They can be read individually, just choosing one that’s particularly interesting to you. Or, they can be read collectively as a series if you want to gain a more comprehensive understanding of spiritual disciplines and learn about a variety of ways to grow in the Lord. Each booklet can be read in about 30 minutes, so they don’t require a big time commitment. But, I like to say that although these booklets can be read in one sitting, the disciplines they recommend can be a blessing for a lifetime.
For a sneak peek, here are some quotes from each book in the series:
“Where can we sign up for regular rest from the hand of our gracious God? Where do we receive this gift? We receive it in the Sabbath.” – Megan Hill
“Prayer doesn’t have to feel like duty or drudgery—it can be a means of delighting in the Lord.” – Courtney Reissig
“Fasting isn’t reserved for those with great self-control; it’s also for those who see their need for self-control. It’s not reserved for those who walk closely with God; it’s also for those who lament their distance from him. If you’re tired of relying on yourself, if you’ve experienced the emptiness of worldly comforts, if you desire a deeper relationship with God—fasting is for you.” – Cassie Achermann
“Worship is more than merely listening to worship music or going to church on Sundays. Worship is more than saying a few words of praise to God now and again or giving a portion of our income to the church. It is both something we do and something that we are.” – Emily Jensen
“Many people never get to the delight part of Bible study because their fear of doing it wrong, or not knowing how to get started, drowns out their desire to know and love the Lord more. But if you begin forming the habit of study today, it will sustain you years from now.” – Glenna Marshall
“Evangelism seems like a sacrifice—and a risky one, at that. But what if I told you that evangelism can nourish your soul in ways that no other spiritual discipline can?” – Sharonda Cooper
Here are some endorsements:
“The Disciplines of Devotion series is a timely and valuable resource for women who long to grow in spiritual depth and maturity. With biblical insight and godly wisdom, each volume offers practical help for cultivating habits that lead us closer to Christ. I’m thankful for this series and eager to see how God will use it to strengthen and encourage the hearts of women.” Melissa B. Kruger, author; Vice President of Discipleship Programming, The Gospel Coalition
“These gospel-centered primers are saturated with scriptures that nourish the delight of knowing Christ. The accessible content, coupled with practical ideas and heart-oriented application questions, invites the reader to draw near to God through cultivating Spirit-empowered holy habits.” Karen Hodge, Coordinator of Women’s Ministries, Presbyterian Church in America; coauthor, Transformed: Life-Taker to Life-Giver and Life-Giving Leadership
What has working on this series taught you personally about devotion to God?
It’s taught me that seeking the Lord can be much more organic and interwoven in my life than I tend to envision it. I most often think in terms of lists of tasks and blocks of time, so I easily fall into compartmentalizing my devotional life to just the time in the morning when I read my Bible and pray. But as I’ve worked on these booklets and considered all the different ways these authors are seeking the Lord, I’ve come to recognize so many more opportunities throughout my days and weeks to turn my heart and mind to the Lord and to integrate various disciplines into my daily life.
Winfree Brisley serves as an editor for The Gospel Coalition. She is the coauthor of Turn Your Eyes: A Bible Study on the Psalms and the editor of the Disciplines of Devotion series and Strong in Lord: A 30-Day Devotional on the Armor of God. She lives with her husband, Will, and three sons in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they are members of Uptown Church.
