What do an ex-con, a former drug addict, a real estate broker, a college student, and a married mother of two have in common? Nothing, or so Jodi Baxter thought. Who would have imagined that God would make a group as mismatched as that the closest of friends?
“I almost didn’t even go to the Chicago Women’s Conference—after all, being thrown together with five hundred strangers wasn’t exactly my ‘comfort zone.’ But I would be rooming with my boss, Avis, and I hoped that maybe I might make a friend or two.
“When Avis and I were assigned to a prayer group of twelve women at the conference, I wasn’t sure what to think. There was Flo, an outspoken ex-drug addict; Ruth, a Messianic Jew who could smother-mother you to death; and Yo-Yo, an ex-con who wasn’t even a Christian! Not to mention women from Jamaica, Honduras, South Africa—practically a mini-United nations. We certainly didn’t have much in common.
“But something happened that weekend to make us realize we had to hang together. So ‘the Yada Yada Prayer Group’ decided to keep praying for each other via e-mail. That worked for a while, but our personal struggles and requests soon got too intense for cyberspace, so we decided to meet together every other Sunday night.
“Talk about a rock tumbler!—knocking off each other’s rough edges, learning to laugh and cry along the way. But when I faced the biggest crisis of my life, God used my newfound girlfriends to help teach me—Jodi Baxter, longtime Christian ‘good girl’—what it means to be just a sinner saved by grace.”
(Excerpted from author Neta Jackson's web site: http://www.daveneta.com/books/YadaYada/YadaYada.htm)
This seven book series was such a delight I wish Mrs. Jackson had written more! The Yada Yada gals are intriguing, endearing characters, but even more inspiring was learning about their prayer group.
If you've always wanted to learn more about prayer but were a little intimidated by theological books on the subject, pick up this series. You'll learn about:
- forming a prayer group
- genuine corporate prayer
- praying Scripture
- appropriate confidentiality
- the praise and worship aspect of prayer
- using prayer as a first response rather than a last resort
and much more.
Be sure to pick up the "Party Editions" of the books for recipes and prayer group meeting and celebration ideas. There's even a Yada Yada Prayer Journal for use in your own personal devotions.The entire Yada Yada series is available at:
The EBR Parish Library
Neta Jackson's Web Site
ChristianBook.com
Amazon.com
LifeWay Christian Stores
1 comment:
learned a lot
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