Friday, November 4, 2011

FIRST Wild Card Tour & Review: The Power of a Praying Wife Devotional by Stormie Omartian

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!


Today's Wild Card author is:


and the book:

Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)
***Special thanks to Karri James of Harvest House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***

MY REVIEW:
I have not gone through this fully but I have skipped around and read various devotions through the book and I have to say that each one of these devotions has really spoke to me as a wife.  Some have applied to something my husband is going through and I have though "Oh wow - I didn't think about it that way" and I prayed for my husband.  Others really didn't apply, but they gave me food for thought for a time when it might apply in my life.  All the devotions are interesting and heartfelt and great ways to think about your husband and pray for him, yourself and your marriage.

I found this to be an extremely useful book and I will continue to read these short devotions daily as a way to draw closer to God and closer to my husband.  I really like the way Ms. Omartian has done this book.  It is thoughtful and very God-centered and marriage-centered as you would expect and it has given me new ways to look at and out for my husband.  So if you are in the market for a new devotional book, this is a great one to try, each devotion is just 2-3 pages long, a quick 5-10 minute read with a prayer to pray at the end.  It's great food for thought for each day.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Stormie Omartian is the bestselling author (more than 13 million books sold) of The Power of a Praying® series, which includes The Power of Praying® for Your Adult Children, The Power of a Praying® Wife, The Power of a Praying® Husband, and The Power of Prayer™ to Change Your Marriage. Her many other books include Just Enough Light for the Step I’m On, The Prayer That Changes Everything®, The Power of a Praying® Woman, and The Power of Praying® Through the Bible. Stormie and her husband, Michael, have been married more than 37 years and are the parents of two adult children.

Visit the author's website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

New from bestselling author Stormie Omartian is a book close to her own heart—The Power of a Praying® Wife Devotional. Following up on the insights and prayers of The Power of a Praying® Wife (more than 3.5 million books sold) 100 brand-new devotions, prayers, and supporting Scriptures offer a praying wife fresh ways to pray for her husband, herself, and her marriage.

These easy-to-read devotions will increase any wife’s understanding, strength, and peace, as well as provide her with perspective on the situations and challenges she faces. And each prayer will help both husbands and wives be more attuned to the Holy Spirit so they can do what’s right without allowing negative emotions or unclear thinking to get in the way.

A must-have for anyone wanting God’s best for this most important relationship.








Product Details:

List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers (August 1, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0736926925
ISBN-13: 978-0736926928

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

When I Desire Greater Persistence in Prayer

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,
in everything give thanks;
for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

As a wife, you need the kind of prayer habit that doesn’t give up or allow discouragement to get in the way, but instead persists and keeps on praying and asking.

When God told Abraham He intended to determine if Sodom was deserving of destruction, Abraham then interceded, praying on behalf of however many righteous people might be there. He asked God if He would destroy Sodom if fifty righteous people were found there, and the Lord said He would not. Abraham then asked if He would destroy the city if forty-five righteous people were found there, then forty people, then thirty, then twenty. Each time Abraham asked, God said He would not destroy it for that many people. Finally Abraham said, “Suppose ten should be found there?” And God said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten” (Genesis 18:32). As it turned out, only four righteous people were there, so God destroyed it. But Abraham had stopped asking at ten.

We need the kind of persistence in prayer that causes us to continue asking as Abraham did. Too often we stop short. Perhaps Abraham stopped asking because he couldn’t imagine that there wouldn’t be at least ten righteous people in Sodom. Or perhaps by then God had proved His point and revealed His intentions. God knew the city was wicked enough to destroy, but He saved the four righteous people—which were Lot, his wife, and their two daughters (Genesis 19:29).

Your prayers are powerful to save too. So keep asking and continue seeking, and don’t ask for crumbs when God wants to give you the banquet. When it comes to praying for you and your husband and your marriage, ask God to help you persist in prayer for even what may seem impossible. Ask for your marriage to not only be saved, but to be good. Ask for it to not only be good, but to be great. God doesn’t say “No” to what is His will. If your husband has a strong will that refuses to submit to God’s will, persist in praying that God’s will wins out.


My Prayer to God

Lord, I pray You would help me to be persistent in prayer—to ask and keep asking for what I believe is Your will. I know anything less than love, selflessness, kindness, peace, and generosity of soul is not Your will in my relationship with my husband. Help me to persist in praying for nothing less than the high standard You have for our marriage. Give me a vision of how You want me to pray. Show me the way You want our marriage to be and help me to pray accordingly so that it becomes all that.

I know I cannot force my husband’s will to be anything other than what it is, but You can touch his heart and turn it toward You. I pray You would do that. May he welcome Your Lordship in his life. Help me to pray consistently and passionately, and to persevere no matter what is happening. I thank You in advance for the great things You are going to do in both of us and in our marriage.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

Guest Blog: Teenage Garage Sale by Megan Bostic (Never Eighteen)



If I were to have a garage sale from my teen years, here’s what you’d find:
Posters,$1.00 each: Posters of James Dean, the Beatles, the Cure, and the Police mostly.
 
12 inch single records, $100 for the whole collection: One thing we collected back then were what we called 12 inch singles. They were records kind of like iTunes where you didn’t have to buy the whole album, you could just buy one song. My favorite singles were Kiss Me by Steven Tin Tin Duffy, Poison Arrow by ABC, Forever Young by Alphaville (yes, Jay-Z’s version is a cover), Blue Monday by New Order, How Soon is Now by the Smiths, Every Day is Halloween by Ministry, and Love Cats by The Cure, but I had many more.


 


Oversized Sweaters $3 each: These were very popular. I had them in various colors, mostly bought from the Limited.


Swatches, $10 each: These were Swiss Watches that came in all sorts of colors and designs. You could even buy face protectors for them.





 



Stirrup Pants, $1.00 per pair: Everyone wore them, even some of the new wave guys.

Bangle Bracelets, $2.00 per set : Plastic, metal, rubber, didn’t matter as long as we were wearing at least 10-20 up our arms.



 



Jelly Shoes, $1.00 per pair: Very popular, totally uncomfortable. I had a few pairs in different colors.




Crystal here:  Megan - we must be close to the same age, I'm probably a little older, but I'm very familiar with all of this from my childhood and being a teenager, I loved my 12" single records - still had them up until a few years ago and I coveted my Dad's Beatles and Rolling Stones Albums as well.  Jellies came back when I was in college, but they came back as platform jellies, you thought the flats were uncomfortable . . .

Thanks for the post - it was a walk down memory lane for me.  I love How Soon is Now and almost anything by The Cure and I'm pretty sure I will now be singing Poison Arrow the rest of the day.