Also by this author: Ours: Biblical Comfort for Men Grieving Miscarriage, The Good Gift of Weakness: God's Strength Made Perfect in the Story of Redemption
Published by Good Book Company on July 1, 2024
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life, Devotional, Marriage, Parenting
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Help when your child or unborn baby is seriously ill and you don’t know what to pray.
When your child or unborn baby is facing serious medical problems, it can be hard to know what to pray. The shock, uncertainty, and fear can mean that even though you want to cry out to God in prayer, your words just dry up.
That’s where this book can help, with prayers that use Scripture to help you communicate with the Lord. Whether you need to cry out honestly to the Lord in grief, to pray boldly for healing and help, or simply to process what is happening, you’ll find words to help you talk with the God who loves you and weeps with you―the God who can do all things.
Authors Eric Schumacher and Jessika Sanders both know what it’s like to face a family medical crisis, and they are passionate about helping others in the most difficult situations. Eric is the author of Ours: Biblical Comfort for Men Grieving Miscarriage. He is on the Board of Directors for Walk With You, a bereavement counseling organization. Jessika is the founder and president of Praying Through Ministries, which provides support for parents whose children have been hospitalized and families who have experienced child loss.
This easy-to-navigate book includes prayers for a clear diagnosis; prayers for healing; prayers for comfort and relief from pain; prayers for peace, courage, perseverance, and wisdom to cope well; prayers for unity; for the extended family; for the medical team; for practical needs; for times of spiritual darkness and doubt; and much more.
This book is designed to help both parents and the wider family turn to God for help when a child is facing a medical crisis.
This book of prayers is designed for Christian parents who are going through a child’s medical crisis or facing the death of their child. Eric M. Schumacher and Jessika Sanders wrote this book from their combined experience, and they offer sensitive, Scripture-based prayers to help struggling parents talk to God in the midst of their hardships. Different chapters cover various themes, such as prayers for healing, prayers for the skill and wisdom of the medical team, and prayers for spiritual struggles in the midst of this. Before each chapter, there is an additional table of contents to identify each prayer and what page it appears on. I appreciate this book’s clear organization, because it will be simple for people to find the prayers that they need in a particular moment.
The prayers are very short, and are ideal for weary, burdened Christians who don’t have the energy for more. The prayers are succinct and to-the-point, and they all flow from Scripture. The authors regularly use phrases from Bible passages within the prayers, and they include Scripture references at the bottom of each prayer, both to identify the source and to point people to Bible passages that they might find encouraging in their current circumstances. The prayers incorporate passages about grief and lament, and the authors point their readers to universal truths about God while also making space for people’s questions and even anger at God.
The prayers deal with universal spiritual themes about trial and hardship, and also involve a range of specific applications for parents dealing with a child’s medical crisis. The authors also include prayers for specific situations, such as parents facing a prenatal diagnosis, versus parents with an older child who is experiencing a medical problem. The book includes prayers that older children can pray with their parents, and also addresses dynamics related to siblings and other family members.
My only notable critique is that this book assumes goodwill on the part of everyone’s medical team, family, and friends, without including lament prayers for when helpers are insensitive or even antagonistic. It’s great to ask God to bless your medical team and equip them for service, but I think this book should have included prayers for when doctors and nurses aren’t being supportive and helpful. Many people deal with medical professionals not listening well or showing empathy, or even making scary mistakes. Similarly, when someone is in crisis, they often have to deal with family members and friends who swoop in with inappropriate advice and harmful judgments, or who disappear as soon as things get hard. These situations are so common and painful that I wish that this book had addressed them, instead of only praying about support systems in a positive light.
In His Hands: Prayers for Your Child or Baby in a Medical Crisis is a wonderful resource for parents who are facing the unimaginable. This book can help them process their experiences and express their emotions to God, and also guides them in ways to apply Scripture to their weary hearts and minds. This is also a great resource for members of someone’s support system to read, both to aid them in their prayers and to help them better understand what their loved ones are going through. I appreciate the authors’ sensitivity and care in writing this book, and highly recommend it.