Praying for Strangers: An Adventure of the Human Spirit

by River Jordan

Overview

What if there was something readers could do that could positively influence others and change their lives in the process?

As 2009 approached, New Year's resolutions were the last thing on River Jordan's mind. Her sons were both about to go off to war and all she could do was pray for their safety and hope to maintain her strength, until she unexpectedly came upon the perfect New Year's resolution-one that focused on others instead of herself. She would pray for a complete stranger every single day for a year.

In Praying for Strangers, River Jordan tells of her amazing personal journey of uncovering the needs of the human heart as she prayed her way through the year for people she had never met before. The discovery that Jordan made along the journey was not simply that her prayers touched the lives of these strangers, but that the unexpected connections she made with other people would be a profound experience that would change her life forever.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101476284
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/05/2011
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	923,039
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

River Jordan is a critically acclaimed novelist and playwright. She speaks around the country on the "Passion of Story," and produces and hosts the radio program ClearStory from Nashville, Tennessee, where she makes her home.

Editorial Reviews

In this memoir, Jordan (Saints in Limbo) recounts stories of a year in which, when both of her sons were deployed to war zones, she decided to pray for a complete stranger every day. The results were extraordinary, as time after time she was led to pray for the stranger who needed it most: a nurse whose husband just had surgery, a teenager with visible bruises on her neck and arms, a young soldier coming home to a newborn daughter. Jordan writes eloquently about her experiences and the lessons she learned, but ultimately the book grows repetitive; with no context or depth given to these strangers, their stories run together and lose their distinctiveness. Additionally, with little context given to Jordan's own life and activities, the book reads more like a diary than a cohesive narrative, and her habit of ending every chapter with neat, tidy conclusions and moralizing contributes to this choppy, disconnected effect. Regardless, the idea of praying for strangers is admirable, and a reader looking for inspiration may find hope and grace in this account of the blessings of a prayerful life. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Southern writer Jordan (The Miracle of Mercy Land, 2010, etc.) commits herself to pray for a stranger every day as an ambitious New Year's resolution.

With two sons serving in two separate wars, a call for selfless prayer seemed the only remedy for what would otherwise become obsessive worry. In each chapter, the author finds a new stranger, a life lesson and the same prayer. Jordan's clumsy prose, formulaic structure and overt repetition dulls the effects of a collection of inspirational anecdotes that run into each other as the book progresses.An array of quotes from immensely diverse sources introduce each chapter, but only serve to showcase the lack of versatility in Jordan's storytelling. Readers are continually reminded that Jordan is a well-established writer, going as far as to state that, "for a Southern novelist, being a tad different can be just part of the badge of being a great writer." Unfortunately, the humility of a great writer and the integrity of true prayer and compassion are absent from what would otherwise be a truly inspirational concept. Jordan's colorful language and good intentions only pummel weary minds with a single point. Heart and intent, unfortunately, are not the saving grace for a book that contradicts itself.

Commendable intent, inspirational concept, poor execution.

Kirkus Reviews