Evelyn Christenson (1922–2011)

Refreshing and easy to read without being condescending. The author gives lots of anecdotes including her own failures at times, and shares the simple power of prayer. She demonstrates how unforgiveness or sin can close the 'channels' to God, and challenges people to pray simply and in faith. Appropriate for men as well as women!

Re-read nearly 14 years later, and appreciated just as much. Thought-provoking.

I was prompted to read this book when I heard Mrs. Christenson on the Revive Our Hearts podcast. Prayer plays a major role in my life so I was very excited to read this book. Mrs. Christenson laid out some simple yet effective ways to approach God in prayer.

The book starts out with Mrs. Christenson being petitioned by Crusade of the Americas to observe what happens when women pray for six months. Initially, they wanted to pray for their church but God impressed on them Psalm 66:18,"If I show more regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." This was their conditioning period. God worked miraculously during that six month period! In this book we learn to pray on one accord, pray God's will, and the prayer method of the six S's. An important fact that she explains so beautifully is that we must pray the request and NOT the answer to God. Most of all I enjoyed the praise reports from the prayer requests and the establishment of telephone prayer chains.

I really enjoyed this book and Mrs. Christenson's approach to prayer. It has encouraged me to seek God the more in prayer and believe He will answer! show less

We know that prayer and the Word are the vehicles through which the Holy Spirit changes us...but how does God motivate us to change in the first place? By placing us in difficult situations with difficult people, in trials that try our patience and faith, and in circumstances that spin out of our control. Our first response to these things is usually to fall on our face and pray that God would change our situations, take away our trials, and remove us from difficult circumstances. In her show more book, "Lord Change Me", Evelyn Christiansen tells us to pray instead for God to use all these things to change US. She tells us not to ask God "Why me?", but to ask Him, "What for?" in order to discover what He is trying to do in our lives. When we focus on how God is working to transform and mold us, we will be able to rejoice in our difficulties and have peace through our trials, knowing that God is making us more like Christ. show less

What Happens When Children Pray by Evelyn Christenson. Library section 9 A: Juvenile (gr. K-5), Religion and Values. This book is about teaching children to pray, that is, learning to talk and listen to God. In the first half of the book, each double page spread shows a child who prays and why the child prays – to ask for help, to give thanks, to ask for forgiveness, for the health of others. The last section of the book is a short story about a little girl who asks God to forgive her for show more bad things she’s done, such as not obeying her parents, being selfish, or hurting a friend’s feelings. Her mother prompts her to pray to ask for forgiveness. Afterward the little girl knows that this can be the beginning of a special friendship with God if she keeps praying and listening for God’s answers. I preferred the first part of the book, which shows the reasons and uses of prayer. The short story is a little bit preachy, but it does carry home the idea that when we do bad things God will understand and forgive us if we are truly sorry. That is a good lesson to learn. Throughout the book are Bible verses that the text and pictures reinforce.
The watercolor illustrations are inviting. show less