Author: Janet Holm McHenry
Located in: Sierra Valley
Submitted: July 03, 2018
Tell us a little about yourself. I'm just an ordinary woman who serves an extraordinary God. I'm married to my rancher guy, Craig, and we have four great kids--all done with college, all married, and best, all gainfully employed. Our best times together are when we're with the ten grandkiddos or when we're kayaking on nearby mountain lakes. I retired from teaching high school English two years ago and am enjoying writing full time now after decades of squeezing in the writing of books on weekends and in summers. I've written 23 books now--six on prayer, including the best-selling PrayerWalk. Because I'm a multi-tasking maniac, I started praying while I walked for my health 20 years ago--and God began directing my eyesight to the needs around me in my community . . . so that began my practice of prayerwalking. I lead the prayer ministry at my church in Reno, The Bridge Church, and love sharing with and speaking to groups about how to develop a praying-without-ceasing lifestyle.
What was your motivation behind this project? After I began prayerwalking 20 years ago, I hungered to know more about prayer. As I read through the Bible those many years, I began marking all prayers and the verses that mentioned prayer with a circled P. I began focusing in on Jesus' prayer life: what he taught about prayer, what he prayed, and what he did as a personal practice. While there are many books about the Lord's Prayer, The Complete Guide to the Prayers of Jesus is the only comprehensive guide to Jesus' prayer life--a culmination of those 20 years of study.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? I hope readers see the natural ebb and flow of how Jesus communicated with his Father throughout his days. Scripture tells us he HAD to be with his Father. Increasingly, I, too, HAVE to be with my Father. It's a journey, this life on earth, and if we do it without a continual stream of prayer and reliance, we'll run short. Prayer takes us "from strength to strength..." (Ps. 84:7).
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? I am humbled by how God met my needs, day to day, as I worked on this book. As I began writing it, my mom had kidney failure and needed me to help her recover. Each week for those two months of writing I drove three hours to her home, where I helped her most of the week, then headed back home to take care of things there. I was completely dependent upon him during that time--he truly did take me "from strength to strength," and so, the dedication in the book is to my Lord. Jesus' prayers during times of trouble also impacted me--how he asked that he simply glorify his Father. I pray that a lot now.
Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists? Many have schooled me on prayer:
- Jennifer Kennedy Dean personally and specifically, her flagship work, Live a Praying Life. Jennifer wrote the foreword to the book.
- O. Hallesby's simple book, Prayer, which is profound
- Mark Batterson's The Circle Maker
- Many who lived a pray-without-ceasing life, about whom I wrote in PrayerStreaming, including Brother Lawrence, the Pilgrim, Andrew Murray, E. M. Bounds, and Charles Spurgeon
- L. B. Cowman's Streams in the Desert, which saw me through a literal trial
- And Larry Lea's Could You Not Tarry One Hour?--which first posed that question that was one of the nudges that got me prayerwalking.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: Prayer has gotten me through marriage ups and downs, slim-to-grim finances, kid crises and more. I truly believe that when I partner with God prayerfully, "I can do all things through him who gives me strength" (Phil. 4:13), my life verse. Besides all that spiritual stuff I love having people in my home, traveling to new places, dreaming up and executing home design solutions, and spending time with family and friends. I'd consider it a privilege to connect with you and even with your small group as you study my new book. Blessings!
