Before Amen by Max Lucado

Thank you to Family Christian for sponsoring this post and allowing us to read your 2015 Book of the Year!

“Mommy, Mommy, Mommy….I need you! I need to talk to you Mommy!” The little one yells as he races through the house full speed ahead. This is a usual occurrence at our house, but when they are this excited to talk with Mom I know it’s got to be good. I sit the laundry down,  turn my dishwater off and I get down to their level so that I can hear what has their little hearts racing.

I often wonder what goes through God’s mind when I call out to Him. He is our Father, you know? So, I’m sort of thinking He probably drops whatever He is doing the minute He hears our calls/cries.

As a parent I encourage and expect my children to come to me when they have a problem. I’m the parent and I’m here to help them with whatever it is that they are dealing with. It’s my duty as a parent to take care of my children and to make sure that their needs are met and they are happy. But, what about God? Is He not our Father? Why is it so hard for us to talk to Him? Why do we always insist on trying to do things our way before coming to Him?

Does it not say in the bible that we must come to God? Sure it does…

Philippians 4:6-

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

In Max Lucado’s new book, Before Amen, he states that he is a recovering prayer wimp. I love the way he words this because I can totally relate. There was a time not long ago that I didn’t even want to say a prayer out loud in front of people, not even my own family. I’ve grown since then and am much more comfortable speaking to God aloud.

Why was I so uncomfortable though? Why do we struggle so much with speaking to God? Is it because we trust in ourselves too much? Is it because it’s awkward talking into thin air? Sure, we know God is real and he can hear us, but we can’t see Him. I don’t know about you, but for me, it took hearing that God doesn’t care what we say, as long as we are saying it.

Max Lucado said it so perfectly in his book, “Just as a happy child cannot miss-hug, the sincere heart cannot miss-pray.”

From the back cover of the book:

We pray to stay sober, centered, or solvent. When the lump is deemed malignant. When the money runs out before the month does. When the marriage is falling apart. We pray.

But wouldn’t we like to pray…More? Better? Stronger? With more fire, faith, and fervency?

Yet we have kids to feed, bills to pay, deadlines to meet. The calendar pounces on our good intentions like a tiger on a rabbit. And what about our checkered history with prayer? Uncertain words. Unmet expectations. Unanswered requests.

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I’m not going to lie, the cover of the book alone had me hooked. I can tell you that I took probably 50 photos of the front of the book and I think I read the back cover about 3 times before ever opening the book. I thought my life was going to be too busy to sit down and read a book. I’m a homeschooling mom of 5 boys…need I say more? I’m sure your life is busy, we all seem to get busier and busier, but I can assure you that you will never regret taking a moment to sit down and take a break from it all. You will never regret learning how you can better serve the Lord and speak to the Lord. I’m so very blessed to have had this opportunity to read Family Christian’s 2015 Book of the Year (that’s so exciting!)

This book has been such a breath of fresh air for me. What a reminder that God wants to hear from us. He doesn’t just want to hear from us when things are bad though, He wants to hear from us all of the time.

Can you imagine if your children only wanted to talk to you when something was wrong? How boring would that be? Don’t you want to know how their day is going? Don’t you want to hear about the good things in their life? Sure you do, and so does God.

It doesn’t matter if you are a prayer wimp, a recovering prayer wimp, or already praying among the best of them—you will be inspired by this book!

Thank you to Family Christian for sponsoring this post and allowing us to read your 2015 Book of the Year!