Holy Desperation: Praying as if Your Life Depends on It

By: Heather King

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Synopsis: When life has driven you to your knees, the only thing that works is prayer. Desperation has many faces: the addict who has hit bottom; the laid-off worker struggling to make the next house payment; the person who seems to have it all together but is wracked with fear, guilt, anger, or shame. We know we need help, but we are afraid to let anyone—especially God—see how broken we truly are. In Holy Desperation, Heather King demonstrates that, when we’re desperate, it’s precisely the right time to cry out to God. King, a survivor of addiction and other forms of desperation, begins with the basics of how to pray when you’re uncertain that God exists or when you feel that you’re beyond God’s reach. She challenges the assumptions that only the saintly can pray and that prayer ought to be tidy and nice. She reveals how prayer leads us beyond ourselves and into a life of purpose, lived for the good of others. Ultimately, Holy Desperation is an invitation to engage in bold, come-exactly-as-you-are prayer, offering a way forward, upward, and outward for anyone desperate enough to cry out for God’s help and presence. You are not alone.