Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer (Amazon link)
One of my GREAT passions is books… in fact, it’d be safe to say I’m obsessed with them. I collect my favorite authors and genres and consider my book collections to be great treasures. Not on par with my family or cats, mind you… but I do cherish them a great deal.
Max Lucado is one of my favorite authors and one of the ones I collect. He’s a brilliant writer and his books are so inspiring, encouraging, informative, and uplifting that I read and reread them. One of the most recent books I added to my collection is pictured here, Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer and it is one of my all-time favorites.
While recently reading another Christian book review about yet another Max Lucado book, I read something I have often thought myself the past few years – Max Lucado, while always an extraordinary author, seems to be getting even better. He has always had a wonderful sense of humor but, somewhere along the way, he has gone from making me smile ear to ear to making me laugh out loud (something that always makes my cats stare – they’re used to most of my shenanigans but laughing at a book is where they draw the line).
Max Lucado’s humor, love for God, and unique way of reaching out to his readers come through every single word he writes. I love how informal his books always feel. They’re like sitting and talking to a fellow Christian about the wonders of God, the beauty of all He does for us, and the unmeasurable love He has for us.
In spite of us.
While there are many wonderful Christian authors, Max Lucado in unique (in my opinion) in the way he draws the reader IN and makes you feel like you’re part of the conversation. He doesn’t simply tell you how to enrich your Spiritual life, for example, he prods your brain and awakens your heart and, in essence, guides you to the answer yourself.
I also love how “fast” his books read. They’re written in deliciously short chapters, meaning you will always finish one before closing the book. No searching for where you left off with the bookmark that looks as bewildered as you! His books are always so concise – there’s never any extra chapters or wasted words.
To be honest, he has an absolute genius for this and, as an avid book reader, I wish more shared his gift!
Before Amen Review Continued Below…
Before Amen by Max Lucado
While I am far from perfect (in spite of what my cats and daughters may tell you), I managed to get this right: I spend a great, great deal of time in prayer. In fact, I keep a running conversation with Him like one I keep with my girls. My three daughters and I are always talking through DMs on Twitter. One of us will pop up and either pick up where we left off or we’ll start a whole new avenue of conversation or nonsense (we’re all outrageous when it comes to gifs and memes, so one never knows what we’ll get into!).
We love one another’s company and “visit” continually.
When I whispered a prayer to God a few months ago about a young man I saw in Starbucks, it occurred to me…. I keep a continual, “running” conversation going with God. Somewhere along the way, in my walk as a Christian, I allowed the words, “Pray continually” to become part of who I am and it’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.
As a Prayer Warrior, I often seek out books to encourage, inspire, and inform me about the WONDERFUL privilege of prayer. As soon as I saw that Max Lucado had a new book titled “Before Amen: The Power of a Simple Prayer,” I ordered it immediately.