KIRKUS REVIEW
A retired schoolteacher reflects on the many answered prayers throughout her life.
Debut author Scribbler II grew up in a poor family in rural Arkansas. “Families like ours didn’t have insurance in those days and tried to care for their sick children at home,” she writes. She remembers the numerous times that she and her siblings would fall ill, and her father would pray by their bedsides: “It was the Creator, Jesus, who paid for my healing.” Scribbler II writes of many small moments throughout her life where prayer seemed to intervene to the benefit of her entire clan. A bridge that carried family members to safety in severe flooding, the strength to deal with dangerous snakes on their property, and shelter in the event of tornadoes: “God was our refuge in all these cases,” she writes. The presence of God continued for Scribbler II into adulthood as she felt her marriage falling apart. While struggling with divorce, she experienced a dream that revealed to her the name of the woman her husband had begun dating, giving her a reason to move to Dallas on her own and begin a new life as a schoolteacher. Despite many setbacks, she always relied on the counsel of her pastor and the strength of prayer to be comforted through finding places to live, continuing her work, and learning Spanish to maintain her outreach in new communities. While Scribbler II concludes her book with practical advice for how she approaches prayer and some of her favorite sermon topics that Christian readers may find helpful, many of her stories vary in their effectiveness. Even though we learn many facts about her life, the author never stays with one time period or event for too long, leaving her own reactions and personality vague to readers beyond an insistence that prayer can fix all situations. While some of her tales show the force of positive thinking and perseverance, such as her struggles with divorce, others, like her vague reference to a terrible breakfast, feel as if she is trying to find miracles in rather ordinary events.
An uneven religious memoir with some uplifting stories about the power of prayer.
