British Mystery Author Veronica Heley & What about Strength in Prayer?
My guest today is British Mystery author Veronica Heley. She’s been my guest before and I always benefit from her insights. She’s offering a PDF copy of her latest mystery, FALSE DIAMONDS to a commenter. Here’s Veronica.
“Strong Women . . .
Prayer Warriors
There’s plenty of references in the Bible to people praying hard and long. Not just Jesus, but other people, too. There are barren women praying for a child, sick women praying for health, mothers praying for their son’s futures.
I know someone
who’s been part of a prayer group at my church for thirty years or so. She remembers each past prayer warrior with respect and love. They were all strong Christians, bearing burdens with a smile and, when their time came to pass on, they faced death without fear.
One by one they died,
and then there was only one woman to carry on the job of praying for others. Requests for prayer still came in, but no one joined her as she went to church each week and sat there with the list in her hand, praying for each one by name. She persevered. It was a lonely business, and too often she wondered if her prayers had any effect. Was God listening? Did the people she prayed for receive God’s guidance and peace? She realised she could never answer that question. All that mattered was that she went on doing it.
Alone no more
Eventually two more women joined her. And what prayer warriors they turned out to be! And another . . . and now and again other people come, usually with a specific request. They creep in to church on a Thursday morning, bowed down with the sorrows they’ve encountered as they go about their day. They grieve for the world, or for some problem facing this person and that. They try to start the session with praise but sometimes it seems impossible to praise when there is so much amiss around them. But they pray. And when they stand to join hands and say the grace, they find themselves reinvigorated, and even, laughing with joy.
The first fruit of this prayer group is joy.
My two heroines–Ellie Quick & Bea Abbot–sometimes try to argue with God
before realising you can’t do that. Sometimes it seems to them that God is not listening . .. . until a turn of events, or a phrase that He put in their heads shows that He most certainly is! They try to set aside times for bible reading in their busy lives, and sometimes they do manage it, but when they’re trying to help other people they’re more likely to send off an arrow prayer . . . ‘Help, Lord, please?’ than to get down on their knees.
And at their age – they’re both in their sixties – getting down on their knees is not really an option. Or getting up again, if they have managed to get down. They believe God understands”–Veronica
Find her at
The Ellie Quicke Mysteries: MURDER IN TIME, Severn House, May 2014
The Abbot Agency stories: FALSE DIAMOND, Severn House, March 2014
Thanks for that inspiring account of perseverance or strength in prayer. I’m afraid my “sweet hour of prayer” is more like 5 minutes.
Question: Do you make time to pray? Why? Or what’s keeping you from praying consistently?–Lyn
Remember Veronica is offering a PDF copy of FALSE DIAMOND to a commenter in a book drawing.
