When It Feels Impossible To Pray

When words don't come easily, there are still ways to pray. This little book can be your entry to talking with God — with and without words — in this most difficult time. For those who have experienced a sudden and terrible loss, it is important to realize that you don’t have to do the things one normally associates with prayer to actually be connecting with God in a way that’s prayer-like. Just sit still, if you like. Grieving people often find themselves doing a lot of sitting still. Stunned. Allow yourself a time to be quiet, to answer to no one, to accomplish nothing at all. Quietness in itself is where prayerfulness begins. “In the end prayer’s essence is simply this: We need to open ourselves to God in such a way that we are capable of hearing God say to us, individually, ‘I love you!’” —Ronald Rolheiser

A vibrant, unstuck prayer life can begin for you right now. Why is it so difficult to pray without getting distracted? Why don’t I have this figured out by now? Pray Confidently and Consistently is for all of us who ask these questions and yearn for more. Join author and prayer journal creator Valerie Woerner in learning to pray boldly to the God of the universe who is beckoning us to come sit with him, share our hearts and needs, and simply know him. Living in close communication with our Father has the power to transform even the most difficult moments of our lives. What weights do we need to throw off so they don’t hold us back from a deeper connection with God? What distractions are keeping us from running freely with him? When we release the burdens suffocating our prayer lives and leaving us gasping for Jesus, we can finally experience the truth that prayer changes everything.

It's easy to pray for others' needs. If God takes a long time in answering--or answers with a no--it's easier to take. Far more difficult is focusing on your own needs, when sometimes you don't get the answers you want. What do you pray when life gets hard or even unbearable? When you lose a spouse or a child? When your health deteriorates? When your spiritual life seems barren? Linda Evans Shepherd knows what it's like to pray in the most dire of circumstances. She shows readers the how, what, and when of praying for themselves. As she takes readers through her own prayer journey and the stories of others, they will be encouraged and equipped to pray for themselves in any circumstance. They'll also find that whether or not God changes their circumstances, he will use prayer to change them.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A smart, wise, often side-splittingly funny master class in seeking God. Any spiritual seeker—from atheist to professional religious—will cherish this bravura tome from one of our great spiritual guides, in the lineage of C. S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen, Thomas Merton, Gandhi, and Mother Teresa. Hallelujah & amen!”—Mary Karr, author of Lit and The Liar’s Club One of America’s most beloved spiritual leaders and the New York Times bestselling author of The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything and Jesus: A Pilgrimage teaches anyone to converse with God in this comprehensive guide to prayer. In The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, Father James Martin included a chapter on communicating with God. Now, he expands those thoughts in this profound and practical handbook. Learning to Pray explains what prayer is, what to expect from praying, how to do it, and how it can transform us when we make it a regular practice in our lives. A trusted guide walking beside us as we navigate our unique spiritual paths, Martin lays out the different styles and traditions of prayer throughout Christian history and invites us to experiment and discover which works best to feed our soul and build intimacy with our Creator. Father Martin makes clear there is not one secret formula for praying. But like any relationship, each person can discover the best style for building an intimate relationship with God, regardless of religion or denomination. Prayer, he teaches us, is open and accessible to anyone willing to open their heart.

In this searing meditation on the bonds of family and the allure of extremist faith, one of today’s most celebrated Christian writers recounts his unexpected journey from a strict fundamentalist upbringing to a life of compassion and grace—a revelatory memoir that “invites comparison to Hillbilly Elegy” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). “Searing, heartrending . . . This stunning tale reminds us that the only way to keep living is to ask God for the impossible: love, forgiveness, and hope.”—Kate Bowler, New York Times bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason Raised by an impoverished widow who earned room and board as a Bible teacher in 1950s Atlanta, Philip Yancey and his brother, Marshall, found ways to venture out beyond the confines of their eight-foot-wide trailer. But when Yancey was in college, he uncovered a shocking secret about his father’s death—a secret that began to illuminate the motivations that drove his mother to extreme, often hostile religious convictions and a belief that her sons had been ordained for a divine cause. Searching for answers, Yancey dives into his family origins, taking us on an evocative journey from the backwoods of the Bible Belt to the bustling streets of Philadelphia; from trailer parks to church sanctuaries; from family oddballs to fire-and-brimstone preachers and childhood awakenings through nature, music, and literature. In time, the weight of religious and family pressure sent both sons on opposite paths—one toward healing from the impact of what he calls a “toxic faith,” the other into a self-destructive spiral. Where the Light Fell is a gripping family narrative set against a turbulent time in post–World War II America, shaped by the collision of Southern fundamentalism with the mounting pressures of the civil rights movement and Sixties-era forces of social change. In piecing together his fragmented personal history and his search for redemption, Yancey gives testament to the enduring power of our hunger for truth and the possibility of faith rooted in grace instead of fear. “I truly believe this is the one book I was put on earth to write,” says Yancey. “So many of the strands from my childhood—racial hostility, political division, culture wars—have resurfaced in modern form. Looking back points me forward.”

Prayers to guide your journey of raising kids in a complicated world. In an age of distraction and overwhelm, finding the words to meaningfully pray for our children--and for our journey as parents--can feel impossible. Written with warmth and welcome, To Light Their Way gives voice to your prayers when words won't come. Filled with more than 100 modern liturgies, this book guides you into an intentional conversation with God for your children and the world they live in. From everyday struggles like helping your child find friends or thrive in school to larger issues like praying for a brighter world rooted in peace and truth, these pleas and petitions act as a gentle guide, reminding us that while our words may fail, God never does. At the core of To Light Their Way is the deepest of prayers: that our children will experience the love of God so deeply that their lives will be an outpouring of love that lights up the world.

Fans of Edward Sri’s The New Rosary in Scripture will love this updated and expanded collection of his thoughts on the rosary! “These words express, so to speak, the wonder of heaven and earth; they could be said to give a glimpse of God’s own wonderment as he contemplates his ‘masterpiece’—the Incarnation of the Son in the womb of the Virgin Mary.” —Saint John Paul II Do you have two and a half minutes in your day that you can give to God? This is the beauty of the rosary. You don’t have to pray the rosary all at once and you can pray it anywhere! Do you struggle with praying the rosary: finding time, fighting distractions, worrying about your mind wandering? In Praying the Rosary Like Never Before, Edward Sri offers practical suggestions that come from the rosary’s tradition and, most especially, St. John Paul II. These helpful tips will make the rosary a constant companions through the different seasons, moments, and challenges we all face. These tips serve as easy on-ramps for those who don’t pray the rosary regularly motivate avid devotees of the rosary to go deeper with the Lord. “Offering God a decade or two in the midst of my daily life gives him something beautiful, even if I give it without my full, relaxed, undivided attention,” says Sri. “I’m giving God some space in my day and filling it with words of praise for him.” You will find answers to common questions such as the significance of the Hail Mary, whether the attention given to Mary distracts us from God, the meaning of all the repetition, where the rosary came from, what to think about for each of the mysteries, and whether one should focus on the prayers or the mysteries. You will also find biblical reflections on the twenty mysteries of the rosary that provide practical insights to help you not only understand the twenty mysteries but also live them. In this book, Sri takes what he did in The New Rosary in Scripture to a new level.

Life can be hard. Prayer doesn’t have to be. Whatever is going on with you right now, God is actually interested. And yet connecting with God through prayer can often feel foreign, challenging, or beyond our reach. But here’s the thing: You’re already awesome at prayer. You just don’t know it . . . yet. Through over twenty years of pastoring and writing, Jarrett Stevens has made it his mission to connect the dots between God and our everyday lives. With fresh biblical insights, powerful stories, and spiritually practical practices, Praying Through will help you connect with God in fresh and meaningful ways no matter what season you may be going through. Whether you’re new to prayer, or God seems silent, or you’re grieving a loss, or you need direction, or you're feeling grateful and don’t know how to express it—you don’t have to let these obstacles keep you from God. There is a way for you to pray through!