Praying for My Life by Marion Bond West

Name
Praying for My Life by Marion Bond West

Prayer Category
inspiration

Description
Published by Guideposts

In this book Marion Bond West takes us on her intimate life journey highlighting the highs and lows of her life such as the fight with addiction of her sons, her romance and marriage to her second husband, Gene, after the death of her first husband. Each chapter ends with a written prayer that readers can use as their own.

Review: Marion Bond West is at her best telling personal stories that will profoundly move you, bring you sanity when the you and the whole world have gone crazy. It will help you believe that God can talk to ordinary people. Marion can easily make you cry and laugh at the same time at her overzealous approach such things as rescuing lost kittens.

In this book Marion shares intimately some of her most profound heartbreaks, depression and struggles as she clings to the promises of Habakkuk 3 where the Bible tells us “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines…yet I will exult in the Lord.”

Despite overwhelming life problems, Marion somehow comes to a place of trust and hope in God.

I am a friend of Marion’s and I know that this book is a true answer to prayer because I prayed that she would be able to write it even when she wasn’t sure she could.

What makes this book such a powerful learning tool on prayer is how Marion shares her honest prayers with us. For instance, when her first husband, Jerry, was undergoing cancer treatment, she shares this unvarnished prayer, “There’s no possible way I can live without him. I can’t live for my children, or to write. It’s not enough. He’s my world. I’m sorry. I know that’s not right. But he is.” True to life and true to Marion, she doesn’t end this chapter of the book with false bravado. Instead she ends it with a prayer to God, telling Him how fear is eating her alive.

This isn’t a typical “how to pray” book and yet through the lens of Marion’s life we learn how to honestly pray and gain God’s help even when our lives are falling apart.  I personally re-read this book several times when I was going through times of difficulty in my own life.

Added by Karen Barber on July 4, 2011