Sarah Geringer’s Hidden Manna on a Country Road is a book of 40 chapters guiding the reader to see God in the everyday things in life. Each chapter includes a Bible verse, prayer, and reflective questions about a specific topic. I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this beautiful, well-written book that I will revisit often on my spiritual journey.

Sarah does a lovely job of taking the reader on a journey to discover a deeper, more authentic faith in God.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, I just knew that I needed to read this. There are 40 chapters or devotions. Each one starts with a verse, and is about a different encounter on the author's country walks. There's a prayer and 3 reflection questions to help you process. Takes about 3 minutes to read one. They are grouped by season, winter, spring, summer and autumn.

She takes so many things as prayer prompts and reminders of God's promises and provision. Everything from birds and butterflies to specific trees, weeds, to even garbage on the side of the road.

It's like walking with an experienced pray-er and getting tips on how to form habits and triggers that pull you closer to God. She admits her natural frustration with various things like that garbage on the roadside. And the way her inner critic transformed by making a habit of praying for the people associated with the garbage instead of whining about their careless ways and irresponsible habits.

Or the way God causes the milkweed to bloom at just the right time to feed the butterflies on migration. The elaborate care taken for something as small as a butterfly is a great prompt for praising God for the many ways he provides for our needs before we even realize we have them.

There are a few mentions of current events (2020/2021)but not enough to be overwhelming. Just a clear chance to process, if you haven't already.

You could read this straight through, or start in your current season and set a weekly reminder to read a chapter a week. There's only 40 chapters so there's margin for missing one occasionally.

I received a copy of this book from #netgalley and I chose to review it here. All thoughts are my own.

Reading Hidden Manna feels like taking a walk with a trusted friend as she shares her heart and invites you to examine yours. Sarah Geringer opened my eyes wider to the omnipresent Father who reveals his goodness all around me if I only stop to look, listen, feel, smell. She points out the simplest things in nature and connects it to a spiritual, life-applicable truth. She is fully transparent and vulnerable in her joys and sorrow, which draws the reader close to her. And the writing itself is melodic, like the wind she describes rustling through the trees on her walks. When I find a devotional I love, I buy it for all the ladies on my Christmas list. Hidden Manna is that devotional for 2022.

Hidden Manna is a 40-day devotional that draws you into knowing God more by making you yearn to get outside, no matter the weather, to meet the Lord in His creation. This devotional is full of real relatable stories that are raw and genuine. Each day’s devotional is like talking to a friend who shares her heart in a poignant style. I felt like I was walking alongside Sarah on her daily walks.

Each day provides great examples of how to have a deeper prayer life and understand that it is alright to share everything with the Lord. The reflection questions helped me go deeper into the daily messages and challenged me to take mindful pauses throughout the day to be thankful.

Sarah’s book spoke to me in so many ways, but mostly it showed me the amazing attributes of God that I should focus on each day.

Through her thoughts on taking daily pauses, being still and listening, and looking to nature to show us reasons/ways to praise God, I am reminded that God delights to direct us and is always available to us. We are the ones that can be too busy to take time for him.

God’s faithfulness encourages me to stand firm in my faith and pass it on to the next generation. Sarah wrote, “What am I investing in today that will last forever?” This helped me to realize that for me the most important investment I can make is to pass my faith on to my children.

God is constant and continually cares for every detail of our lives. I have found that true satisfaction only comes through faith and trust in God as my provider. Nothing else will do.

I liked Sarah’s question, “What purpose does God have for you in this specific time and place?” This shows me that God is wise and puts us in the exact time and place where he can use us best for our good and His glory.

Thank you, Sarah, for your prayer at the beginning of the book, “I pray that by describing my journey of prayer walking, your eyes will open to the manna sprinkled right outside your door, which is food for a profoundly meaningful connection with God.” I know your prayer has been answered in my life. I am confident that it will be also be answered in many who read your book, Hidden Manna on a County Road.

When I got this book I thought that it was a book about prayer walking. It’s not. It’s a book of devotionals that grew out the author’s prayer walks. If you are completely new to the idea of prayer walking then you might find some of the Sarah’s suggestions helpful. There are some references to what prayer walking looks like for the author and some suggestions/examples of the types of prayer walks that she takes, but the devotional content is the heart of the book.

The devotional entries vary vastly in content as the themes were prompts that arose through the author’s walks on a country road. The devotionals were laid out with reflection questions and overall I found the content engaging.

While I read a lot of books on prayer, I rarely read these type of devotional books so I don't have a lot of comparisons to measure it against. I appreciated the author’s curiosity and the way that she shared the things that the Lord has been teaching her. I do think there are treasures of manna hidden away in this book.

Hidden Manna on a Country Road by Sarah Geringer is an invitation to see God’s faithfulness in common, everyday things. The author takes us along with her on a year's worth of daily prayer walks, starting with winter and ending with fall.

Ms. Geringer shows us how even things that are unattractive like trash can be an opportunity for prayer. She encourages us to look for evidence of God's faithfulness and majesty. Our Heavenly Father cares about all His creations and He gives us signs of His provision...if only we'd open our eyes to see.

Each devotional has a focus verse, an observation from the author's prayer walk, a prayer, and three reflection questions. I enjoyed reading these devotionals as they were a reminder of God's glory and power. They made me want to pray more and to broaden the scope of my prayers.

I received an advanced reader's copy from the publisher through NetGalley; a positive review was not required.

Hidden Manna on a Country Road
Sarah Geringer
5 stars
What a beautifully written 40 day devotional. I love Sarah Gerringer's utter honesty at looking at her life while praying, writing and walking. The insights she shares while writing about her walks is refreshing. Prayer walking is definitely something I am going to incorporate into my own life. Ms. Gerringer is a new author, but definitely one I will be looking for and reading again.
This would be a wonderful book for a Bible study group or maybe even a Lenten lesson.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.

Something about nature-linked spiritual meditations and reflections appeal to me, and HIdden Manna on a Country Road really appeals to me. It is very well-written and I enjoy the reflection questions and relevant prayers. It’s lovely and amazing how a walk on a country road can generate such beautiful, comforting and encouraging thoughts on the things of God.

This is definitely one devotional I will be using!

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

Hidden Manna on a Country Road is a lovely easy to read 40 day devotional on prayer. It’s written by Sarah Geringer and was inspired by her prayer walks. She adopted a dog named Memphis which held her accountable to daily walks. As she walks she develops a sort of prayer walk, where she spends her time praying and reflecting on Gods creation.

I enjoy reading devotionals that include nature and creation. I thought this was a well planned out devotional full of wisdom. It also includes verses to reflect on and discussion questions after each topic. There were a few for me that didn’t hold my interest, but only a few. I enjoyed her journey and felt like on some of the topics I was right there transported to her neck of the woods.

Overall I enjoyed this devotional, I think it gives good ideas and prompts to think about. I definitely ended it wanting to take a prayer walk and admire Gods handiwork.

**Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a free advanced copy of this book by my request for an honest review. **

'Hidden Manna on a Country Road' is a beautifully-written 40 day devotional on prayer. It's based on Sarah Geringer's walks with her golden lab, Memphis, particularly those daily 30 minutes on the gravel road during lockdown. As she walked, Sarah began to realise that the scattered beauties of nature all around her can be reminders to her of God and of how to pray and what to pray for. She likens these to the manna given by God to the Israelites in the wilderness, a daily provision and feeding. There are 4 sections, one for each season.

Each chapter begins with a Bible verse, which is followed by the account of a walk, what she notices and how that feeds into her prayers, whether praises or petitions. There's then a helpful prayer, followed by 3 questions for deeper reflection.

As a prayer walker and long-distance hiker, I found this book delightful to read and helpful to study. However, there are some big cultural difference between her American walks and my European ones, not least the fact that flora and fauna are often very different. It was therefore difficult sometime to imagine what she was talking about (what do plantain rosettes look like, for instance? I gratefully googled to find out!) but the general underlying themes of using nature to strengthen our prayer life was easily understood. And by going to the author's website I found photos of Memphis!

Another area that was difficult was the 5 generations living in the same area, of having memories and roots of the same places for such a long time and using that to feed her prayer life. Many of us have moved a great deal in our lives, many of our preceeding generations have too, and that became an area that I had to bring to the Lord in prayer, to overcome the longing to have had that in my life as well, and to be able to realise that neither is right nor wrong and that both - the longevity and the newness - have each something to be grateful for and things to teach us.

The book is not difficult to read; it's easy to access and by the end the reader feels a personal knowledge of the gravel road and its surrounds. And on my own daily outings, there have been many occasions when I've remembered how Sarah used the creation around her to deepen and strengthen her prayer life, and have used her prompts in my prayer walks.

The simple ideas and suggestions will be very helpful for those not so adept at prayer; will give new ideas to those more used to praying; and will be an inspiration whether you are an outdoors hiker or an armchair one!

This book is a beautiful collection of 40 daily readings inviting you to find new ways to connect with God every day, and to search out the hidden manna all around you as you pray outside in nature.

This was a beautifully written book, the author was open and honest, not hiding her faults and how God has at times used these walks for teaching and correction. There was also so many reminders of Gods provision, protection and his constant presence.

I loved the authors descriptions of her local area, and felt like I could picture her and Memphis heading out on their daily walks. I was so inspired to head out on my own prayer walk, with my slow sniffing companion, and to find my own prayer markers (a beautiful garden in flower, the constant hum from the electric box, a children’s park) and I look forward to walking more aware of how the seasons change my surroundings and what God might prompt me to pray for as the year progresses.

I appreciated the three reflection questions at the end of each reading. They were an invitation to honestly, and at times vulnerably, start a conversation with God, and I gained a lot of value from using a couple of them as journaling prompts, and hope to continue doing so over the coming months.