Today’s recommendation comes from Alice of Gracepoint Minneapolis church. She just so happens to be the mom of Mr. Sketch — remember her wonder-ful book review last year? Here is Alice’s recommendation and review of 31 Days of Praise: Enjoying God Anew by Ruth Myers:

I and some sisters on our team have been praying through a book called “31 Days of Praise” by Ruth Myers and wanted to share about how it has been really helping my times of prayer. There are 31 days of prayers specifically praising God, teaching us to give thanks to God literally in all circumstances. What’s been helpful about these prayers is that the wordings of the prayer is down to earth and helps articulate what’s in my heart into words that sometimes I can’t find myself.

So borrowing the words of these prayers that are also based on various scripture and quotes from different Christian authors, has been helping me gain fresh perspectives on who God is, who I am, and just life itself. What’s also been neat is to find that some of these prayers of praise are very timely to what I happened to be facing day to day.

Learning to give praise to God in all circumstances has been helping me keep my eyes off of myself and upon God more than anything. So I just wanted to recommend this prayer book that I think can help many of us deepen a life of thanksgiving and praise to God.

By the way, the author Ruth Myers, was a native of Minnesota and served as a staff for Navigators in Asia for almost 50 years (she passed away in 2010).

Here is a small sample from one of the prayers that I was impacted by today from Day 24:

“Thank You, my loving and sovereign God, that my failures and mistakes are part of the “all things” You work together for good…I rejoice that these things keep reminding me to depend on You with all my heart…that they prompt me to trust in Your love, Your forgiveness, Your power, Your sufficiency, Your ability to overrule, and Your transforming presence within me.  Thank You for the ways that my shortcomings and failures bring pressure on me to open myself to You more fully, and the way they let You show me deep and hidden needs:  griefs and hurts that I’ve never poured out before You, that I’ve never exposed to Your healing touch, and sins that I’ve never faced and acknowledged.  How grateful I am for Your constant cleansing as I confess each sin You make me aware of, and then turn back to You as my Lord.”