Praying Women : How to Pray When You Don't Know What to Say

GIVEAWAY

WALSH, SHEILA
PRAYING WOMEN : HOW TO PRAY WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY

Praying women change the world!

Prayer is one of the most powerful, life-changing things we will ever do. Yet we often struggle. It's hard to find the time. It's repetitive. We get distracted and sometimes, even bored. And the answers often feel few and far between.

In Pray Women, bestselling author Sheila Walsh shares practical helps directly from God's Words, showing you have to:

know what to say when you pray
understand how to use prayer as a weapon when you are in the midst of a struggle
pray as joy-filled warrors, not anxious worriers
let go of the past and stand on God's promises for you now

Prayer changes you and it changes the world. You may have tried before, but if you're ready to start again in your relationship with God, let Sheila Walsh show you how to become a strong praying woman.

My Review:

"Prayer activates the power of God." (p 27)

I'm a fiction lover at heart. I learn and grow by feeling my way through a story which is why I read Christian Fiction almost exclusively. I'm very selective about the non-fiction books I read and even then, I need a storytelling approach to capture and hold my attention. Just the way my brain is wired, I guess. But  this title intrigued me...especially the "how to pray when you don't know what to say' part so I decided to be brave and wander into the pages of another non-fiction selection. And am I ever glad I did!

I've been living with Praying Women for a couple of weeks -- admittedly not reading it cover to cover but randomly discovering sections on whim -- or, dare I say, divine guidance? It has become a part of my morning bible study and even though I've read the whole book through in my higgedly-piggedly fashion, I'm not ready to put it aside. I know I can go deeper if I let Walsh's words really settle and take hold.

So -- what this fiction aficionado loves about this -- gasp -- non-fiction book:

First  and foremost, Sheila Walsh is a storyteller. Praying Women reads like she's sitting across from me at my kitchen table. She's authentic. Honest. Real. Vulnerable. And she's created a safe place for her readers to be too. I found myself having imaginary conversations with her, stripping away some of my hurts and daring to be real right back. Very cathartic -- even if the only one listening is God...which is kinda the point of the book. :-)

And I so appreciate how she validates my worries and fears. I'm broken. I have a messy past. Experienced a lot of pain. Sometimes I've failed more than I've triumphed. Walsh reminds me that I'm not alone. That my struggles are real. That it's okay to be so overwhelmed that you can't find words to pray.

"Whatever your challenge is, let me remind you that God is not looking for perfect words or perfect people. He just wants our hearts." (p 15)

I love the way each chapters has a graphic depicting a powerful prayer statement in bold cursive in-your-face-not-to-be-ignored audacity. Like "Praying Women trust God in the silence and not knowing" and "Praying Women know that the greatest breakthrough is in their own hearts." I can't tell you how many times I've flipped through the book looking for these reminders. Enough so that I've printed them on index cards and plastered them all over my house!

I love the easy flow of Walsh's writing style. The way she weaves in and out from personal story to scripture and back again.

I love the prayer reminders at the end of each chapter -- simple starting points that help me focus on my relationship with God.

And for those times when I can't dredge up a single thought or know where to begin praying, she has included a simple prayer at the end of each chapter. A starting off point, maybe? Or a place to mediate from. I found such a release when I read some of them. Knots of tension and strain snapping free with every word I couldn't have found on my own.

My copy of  Praying Women has a place right next to my bible and my devotional as I will continue reading from it daily.

This book provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications Inc.

GIVEAWAY OPPORTUNITY:

This giveaway is for a paperback copy which releases March 20 2020.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of  Praying Women, leave a comment below or email me at kavluvstoreadATyahooDOTca. If you add an email to your comment, remember to use AT and DOT instead of @ and . in order to protect yourself from spammers. If you enter the draw via email, please add the title to the subject line so it's easy to spot your entry. Draw will be held and winner announced on Saturday February 22 2020 . Offer open to International Readers. Good luck!

It's Okay Not to Be Okay

WALSH, SHEILA
IT'S OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY

Not self-help, God help.

We've all experienced that moment when we wish we could start all over again. Failed marriages, lost friends, addictions, lost jobs. This is not the life we imagined. Yesterday can sometimes leave us stuck, sad, shamed, scared and searching. Sheila Walsh encourages readers to face the pain head on and then start again, right from where they are. She shares that when she discovered "I'm not good enough and I'm okay with that," everything started to change.

In It's Okay Not to be Okay, Walsh helps women overcome the same old rut of struggles and pain by changing the way they think about God , themselves, and their everyday lives. She shares practical, doable, daily strategies that will help you move forward one step at a time knowing God will never let you down.

It's never too late to start again...and there is healing and freedom in just taking the first step.

My Review:

We're not supposed   

to have enough.

We're supposed to bring

what we have,

our clearly not enough,

to Jesus and ask Him 

to meet us where we are.

(p 121)

I loved the easy, approachable style of this book! Walsh teaches through story -- both biblical and personal -- and that's the only way I seem to be able to learn from a non-fiction book so this was tailor-made for me! And I so appreciated how she stripped everything down to the basics. We humans tend to make things so much more complicated than they need to be. Add onto that the unrealistic expectations we place on ourselves and then the inner turmoil that comes when we fail...phew it's enough to boggle the mind!

"It's okay not to be okay,

because Jesus has made us 

right with God."

(p 62)

Such a brilliantly simple concept so why is it so hard to remember? I have lived with this book for weeks now and I'm still not ready to let it go. I read and re-read snippets, applied myself to the One Step at a Time encouragements at the end of each chapter and have felt blessed every step of the way. My big takeaway is that there is freedom in knowing there is no end in sight to our ability to begin again...and again...and again...

"When our hearts are free 

to love with abandon, 

knowing that we're not being 

judged for every failure, 

our behavior changes." 

(p 193)

Book provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications Inc.