Praying for My Life

When life experiences became overwhelming and her faith was severely tested, popular author and Guideposts magazine contributor Marion Bond West found herself praying for her life--praying a desperate prayer for confidence in God's promise of faithfulness. In her new spiritual memoir, the author shares her story and the prayer that changed her life.

Bond West is no stranger to adversity, and in these pages she relates some of the challenging situations she has faced. She struggled as a mother of four, particularly after the birth of her youngest children--twin sons. She watched her beloved husband Jerry succumb to cancer and faced raising her children as a single mother. And later, she watched her two now-adult sons struggle with addiction, mental illness, and simultaneous hospitalizations with life-threatening injuries.

Through it all, even when things seemed bleakest, Marion prayed the prayer of Habakkuk: "Though the fig tree should not blossom, And there be no fruit on the vines...Yet I will exult in the Lord." She says: "For thirty years, I have loved and identified with this Scripture. It's from a tiny book--pastors rarely preach from it. But I marvel at the prophet's astonishing faith--his stubborn, determined faith that was never altered. Never."

Written with honesty, uncompromising faith, and wry wisdom, this book is a treasure readers can turn to again and again to witness the transforming power of prayer.

Marion Bond West has been writing for more than thirty years and is the author of six books. She has written for Guideposts magazine and Daily Guideposts since the 1970s and is known and loved by millions of Guideposts readers. She was married tor twenty-five years to Jerry West, who died of cancer in 1983. Together they had two daughters and two sons.

She found her second love in Gene Acuff, and they married almost twenty years ago. They live in Watkinsville, Georgia, where they spend much of their time on the front porch swing.