Advent began yesterday, and for a lot of Christians that means a season of waiting and expectation. I'm planning to begin a new series on the blog, focused on different ways to spend time gazing on Jesus in prayer. You know me, I'm always trying to connect my own interests, whether spiritual or otherwise, to my kiddos. I snagged a review copy of the newly released devotional "Prayers that Changed History" by Tricia Goyer. The book covers 25 men and women who made a direct or indirect impact on Christianity and the world at large, with an emphasis on their answered prayers. Before you might think this is a how-to manual with exemplary prayers that are effective at getting God to do something--the title kind of makes it sound like that--I want to clarify that Goyer writes about pray from a few different angles. She sees prayer as both petitioning and as spending time with God, open to His transformation. As Goyer says, "prayer changes things, starting with us," which indicates that the second view of prayer is the primary frame for most of the stories in this book.
At a Glance
This 223-page paperback is organized chronologically, with chapters on Polycarp, Constantine, St. Patrick, Oswald (King of Northumbria), Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther, Governor William Bradford, John Eliot, Susanna Wesley, John Newton, Robert Raikes, Mary Jones, Sojourner Truth, Catherine Booth, David Livingstone, Florence Nightingale, George Muller, Billy Sunday, Helen Keller, Amy Carmichael, John Hyde, Mother Teresa, The British People of WWII, Corrie ten Boom and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.