Updated. This book review of Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe was originally published on January 10, 2020.
Although 2019 brought many memorable events in my life and our family, I will be honest and tell you I was not sad to see 2019 come to an end. It was a tough year. Mainly, it was a tough year for my marriage.
A major change in 2019 was moving our business from a small building we rented to a large building we purchased and remodeled. Mark and I had different expectations of the process and our roles during that time, and when those expectations weren’t met, it took a toll on our relationship. I vividly remember sitting on a couch in an Airbnb, pouring my heart and my tears out to a new friend who happens to be a marriage counselor.
I went searching through my bookshelves for books I had on marriage, and I found Sharon Jaynes’s Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe. I had bought it several months before based on a friend’s recommendation, but I hadn’t cracked it open yet. I had no idea what I had been missing!
This book teaches a pattern of prayer that has been a game-changer in my marriage. There have been many times I have cried through the prayers and many more times when I have prayed the prayers for myself and not just for Mark. I have even modified them to pray for my children.
It’s very easy to get stuck in a rut of prayer, especially when praying for those we pray for repeatedly. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve prayed, “Lord, be with Mark today.” This book has put words to my thoughts, paired Scripture with those words, and reminded me of things I’ve forgotten to pray for a long time. But it is not the book itself that is life-changing, it is the practice of prayer paired with Scripture.
I do not agree with nor endorse everything Jaynes includes in the book, but the prayer pattern she teaches, of praying for your husband literally from his mind to his feet and including Scripture for each part of his body along the way, has transformed my prayer life. These prayers can be modified to pray for anyone in your life. With small tweaks, they can be prayed for your children. You can use the pattern to pray for your parents, your siblings, your best friend, members of your Sunday school class, etc. You don’t have to be married to understand the benefits of having this tool in your arsenal.
Jaynes pairs Scripture with each prayer, which is so powerful because the Word of God is living and active. There is no better way to communicate with God than to pray His Word back to Him.
Other Book Reviews You Might Enjoy
- Mercy in the Mess by Lauren Greci
- Cold-Case Christianity by J. Warner Wallace
- Mama Bear Apologetics by Hillary Morgan Ferrer
- Eve in Exile by Rebekah Merkle
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