It’s no secret that Jane Austen is one of my favorite
authors. What many casual fans may not
know is that Jane Austen was the daughter of an Anglican clergyman, Reverend
George Austen, and two her brothers followed him in his vocation. Faith was an important part of Austen’s life
that was filled with prayer and reflection. Three works of Austen’s that I have
never read, are three prayers that she wrote.
Praying with Jane takes a contemplative look through these three
prayers. The book is broken up into
three sections with 10 days for each prayer, and then a final day on the Lord’s
prayer.
Each section starts with a printing of the entire
prayer, and then each day takes a line or a few lines and breaks them
down. In each day you get a look into
how the line applied to Jane’s life or to the lives of her characters in her
novels. For instance, the book discusses
Captain Wentworth and Anne Elliot when it discusses devotion and Emma Woodhouse
when discussing the need for repentance. It then relates these moments to our everyday
life. A few related Bible quotes are
included. An invitation for prayer at the end is followed by a closing prayer
for the day’s use.
I enjoyed reading through Praying with Jane and will
keep it by my bed for a more leisurely read through by day as it was
intended. I really enjoyed the tidbits
about Jane’s life or thoughts about the morality of the characters in her
novels. There was a great correlation on
how this relates to our everyday lives and it gave me a lot of great points to
ponder. Rachel Dodge not only found a
way to really analyze and think about Jane’s prayers and how they relate to her
life or characters and our lives, but she also found perfect Bible quotes to go
with everything. Out of different daily
prayer books I’ve read over the years and as a fan of Jane Austen, I thought
Praying with Jane was a perfect book of prayer.
Favorite Quotes:
“Reading Jane’s prayers is a bit like looking into her
heart.”
“We’ve all had a Box Hill moment, when we said or did
something we later regretted.”
Overall, if you are a Christian fan of Jane Austen,
Praying with Jane is a not to miss book that will enhance not only your prayer
life, but your understanding of Jane Austen as a Christian woman. I also really liked the message that our
lives in modern times are busy, but we should take the time to pray and put our
faith first as they practiced during Austen’s day.
Book Source:
Review Copy as a part of the Blogging tour put on by Vic of Jane Austen’s
World. For more stops on this tour check out the schedule:
Blog Tour Dates:
GIVEAWAY
I received an extra copy of Praying with Jane in the mail and would love to give it away to one lucky blog reader.
If
you would like to win this book, please leave a comment on what
interests you
about this book. What is your favorite Jane Austen novel? Do you have a favorite book of prayers?
As part of your comment, you must include an email address. If I can't find a
way to contact you I will draw another winner.
For an additional entry, blog about this giveaway or post it on your sidebar.
Provide a link to this post in your comment.
I will be using random.org (or a Monte Carlo simulation in excel) to pick the
winners from the comments.
This contest is only open to addresses in the United States.
The deadline for entry is midnight on Friday November 16th!
Please make sure to check the week of November 19th to see if you are a winner. I
send emails to the winner, but lately I've been put in their "junk
mail" folder instead of their inbox.
Good luck!
