My Soul Rhythms

Religion & Spirituality

synopsis

Synopsis

Prayer remains one of the mightiest forces in the world. It draws you closer to the omnipotent, omniscient God. It increases your faith and empowers you to overcome obstacles. The prayer stories in My Soul Rhythms testify to the life-transforming power of prayer. Author Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb takes you on her walks in nature, on the tennis court, and to foreign lands on her year-long journey to make prayer primary as never before. In her collection of prayer stories, you find inspiration in how: George Washington Carver’s early morning prayers led him to discover more than 300 uses for the peanut; Adelaide A. Pollard’s song “Have Thine Own Way” became the prayer that eased the tension in a meeting; how a Fort Hood Army chaplain’s prayer for a murder suspect compels us to change our prayers. My Soul Rhythms: Prayer Stories to Ignite Your Spirit offers a fresh look at an ancient discipline through one woman’s life and the lives of others who influenced her year-long faith journey to deeper prayer.

bio

Author Biography

Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb is a writer and minister who spent more than thirty years as a newspaper journalist before retiring from the Washington Post. She is also the author of two children's books, Mia's Sad Day Made Glad and Aunt Sarah's Dolls.

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Author Insight

Keep Making Prayer Primary

The journey toward making prayer primary does not end. It is a day-by-day adventure with God. Moment by moment even. It is a persistent, persevering walk of faith and trust with The One who loves you with an everlasting love.

Book Excerpt

My Soul Rhythms

Half-way points are intriguing places. They are mid-way between do or don’t, go on or go back. They are places where one decision takes you to a new height and the other takes you back where you have been.

That’s where I am now, on my year-long quest to make prayer primary in my life through reading, studying the Scripture, and praying intentionally and persistently. It’s clear to me after six months that there is no turning back. I am pushing forward toward the prize of a closer relationship with God.

Prayer is about being in constant communion with God and knowing God’s will, not just asking for what I think I need. Increasingly, prayer is taking me out of a posture of passivity into action. More and more I find myself asking, “Lord, what do you desire me to do about this situation?”

I love what Bill Bright said in his book, “The Joy of Active Prayer.” He calls prayer the greatest privilege of the Christian life and the most revolutionary source of power known to humanity. He continues:

“Communing with God is the ultimate adventure, and it is available today, tomorrow, and every moment you live on this planet. I have seen the amazing power of God time and time again because I have prayed as the Spirit directed, and I know you can do the same.”

Several years ago, while at journalism symposium for women in Jackson Hole, Wyo., a group of us decided to hike up a mountain in the Grand Tetons. The scenery energized me, but the higher we climbed, the more tired I became. But something in me was determined to keep going. So I trudged on, panting and stepping gingerly over loose rocks and across slippery slopes until I reached the top. What a view – white clouds and blue sky stretching for miles and miles in majestic splendor. Standing there in the rarefied air of the moment, I felt the nearness of God. It was exhilarating.

That experience is one I return to often when I reach half-way points in my life such as this one. Some days during the first six months of my year-long prayer journey have been a little like climbing a mountain – slippery slopes, selfish prayers, lost prayer opportunities and all. But I wouldn’t trade this time of learning and growing for anything. I am at a point of no return.

Have you ever stopped at the half-way point and gone backward instead of moving ahead? Why?