When You Can't Pray: Finding Hope When You're Not Experiencing God

Among us are Christians who are the ’disenfranchised’ faithful. They hear the sermon, they bow their heads in prayer, they know the hymns and praise choruses by heart, but they just don’t feel they are connecting with God. They believe. They desire intimacy with the Father. It just isn’t happening. When You Can’t Pray is written for persons for whom the inherited formulas for prayer have broken down and for those whose prayer life has become either difficult or meaningless, or both. Al Truesdale tackles difficulties and frustrations of the Christian walk such as tragedy in a Christian’s life, when a Christian experiences profound doubt, and troubling scripture such as ’You have not because you ask not...’, ’Ask anything in my name...’, and ’If two of you agree upon anything...’ Truesdale relies upon the words of well-known saints who have struggled with prayer as well as stories of the not-so-well-known - schoolteachers, truck drivers, college professors. When You Can’t Pray brings the reader full circle from doubt and disappointment to exploring the character of the Triune God who loves us unconditionally, even in our wavering and uncertainty.

AL TRUESDALE is emeritus professor of Philosophy of Religion and Christian Ethics at Nazarene Theological Seminary. He has earned degrees from Trevecca Nazarene University, Nazarene Theological Seminary, and Emory University. Truesdale has published numerous articles and books, including With Cords of Love. He and his wife, Esther, live in the historic South Caroline low country.