New Books

The other day I met with a friend from college.  She had published her first children’s book and I wanted to celebrate with her and get a signed copy.  She lives quite a bit north of town, so we met at a halfway point for brunch.  Within a half an hour our table had four writers meeting one another and talking together.  I introduced people around, she sold another book and we all quickly caught up before moving onto our meetings and appointments.

From that meeting, I thought I’d introduce you to a couple of books.  First, my friend’s Deb Woodard book called Naughty Pants Believes a Lie which has charming illustrations by Rachel Baines from the UK.  Naughty Pants has four sisters:  Fancy Pants, Smarty Pants, Sassy Pants, and Antsy Pants.  In the future, there will be stories about them as well.  You can find the book on her website:  http://debwoodardstoryteller.com/?fbclid=IwAR3V7pY89zaZK8JFBsrRfUWu-erb80qvzg38yDelM9wLhp9eUzCZCbOnUtk

You have the opportunity to hear the book read up to three times on her site.  You may purchase an audio version or hardcopy there as well.

The next book is by my former pastor, Dr. John W. Frye.  It’s called Liberate Your Praying Heart.  I’ll be honest, when I heard about another book on prayer I thought I’d give it a pass.  About 20 years ago I really wanted to deepen my prayer life and I read every book I could get my hands on about prayer.  My library expanded exponentially with different prayer traditions and while I’m thankful for that time and for what I learned, in the end prayer is a deep conversation between you and your Creator.  It’s personal, and a lot of the books seemed to be formulaic.  I donated many of them to a church library that was just starting up. I wasn’t in a rush to get another book on prayer.

But John is a great teacher, and I want to be a supportive friend.  So I ended up buying the book.  It’s short and easy to read and I’m glad I got it.  It’s not about formula, it’s not about guilt.  I’ll share this one quote to give you an idea.

    “Don’t allow a faulty view of God’s sovereignty to put its squeeze around             
your heart.  Instead, rejoice that God is all-powerful, that his purposes are             
secure, and that he loves and longs to interact with you. - page 70”
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He points out that when you begin your relationship with God you get a new heart and a new heart is a praying heart.  You’re praying more than you realize.  Let that sink in and give you hope if you struggle with prayer.  John’s book can be found on Amazon.  You can find it here:  https://www.amazon.com/Liberate-Your-Praying-Heart-John/dp/1625860730

I hope you’ll check them out.

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