Pray Big Things: The Surprising Life God Has For You When You’re Bold Enough To Ask 

By Julia Jeffress Sadler

There is so much pain, tragedy, and confusion in our world. Life would seem to be hopeless and without purpose if there was no Creator behind the world we call “home.” But, even in the midst of storms and catastrophes, people would rather give up and believe all hope is lost instead of losing themselves to the power of redemption found at the cross and true life restored through the blood of Jesus Christ.

I am eternally thankful for my salvation, faith, and beliefs in a God who is much bigger than anything I know. My life was saved when I accepted Jesus’ sacrifice for me even though I did absolutely nothing to deserve it and probably everything to make myself unworthy of it. Still, my faith, salvation and sanctification are gifts I hold close to my heart and don’t take for granted. But that doesn’t mean life is a cake walk…quite the contrary.

Life is full of challenges and life is never easy. It doesn’t matter if you follow Christ or if you follow wherever the breeze blows, nothing in this life is guaranteed to be perfect or to make sense. In fact, most of the time our life will not make sense and often things will not look good or feel much better. I know this to be true because of my own story and the trials I’ve encountered. The pain runs deep and we can’t be shielded from bad things happening. However, we do have a choice in how we will react and respond when our worlds appear to be falling apart.

Pray Big Things: The Surprising Life God Has For You When You’re Bold Enough To Ask by Julia Jeffress Sadler is a book filled to the brim with hope, encouragement and God’s promise to never forsake His children. I was unfamiliar with Julia Jeffress Sadler prior to reading this book but was taken aback by her powerful testament of faith amidst an incredibly trying time in her life.

Sadler is a reality star from TLC’s Rattled, a licensed professional counselor, and a girls ministry director at her church, First Baptist Church of Dallas. In Pray Big Things, Sadler shares the vulnerable moments and raw reality of the biggest struggles she experienced in her life – infertility, multiple miscarriages, and giving birth to triplets. She stands firm that her biggest prayers were answered when she prayed big prayers to an even bigger God.

Sadler is completely honest when she admits her frustrations with her situations along with her unwavering faith and bold prayer requests. She and her husband elected to pray very specific, big and seemingly impossible prayers consistently to God after they recovered from a second miscarriage. They prayed with purpose, intentionality, and spiritual strength, but neither of them considered their exact prayers would be answered along with so much more!

Pray Big Things is more than a book about faith, it’s a book that accounts life’s highs and lows with a God who always remains the same – always true to His word, full of love, hope and comfort, and forever faithful. Sadler uses scriptural references throughout the book to support the many doubts, fears, trials, and challenges people encounter in this world, but her strongest point of biblical encouragement comes from an Old Testament legend, Joseph, and his story to showcase God’s complete faithfulness throughout the hardest tests of life. She uses pieces of Joseph’s story in each chapter to emphasize the journey of faith, the process of sanctification, and the power of never giving up.

Sadler recognizes running to God rather than away from Him is not a natural response when the going gets tough. It’s easier to shake our fists at God, doubt His plans and purpose, or believe everything is hopeless. But choosing to running to God during our times of hurt and devastation will allow Him to hold us close while He reminds us that He is the One who is ultimately in control and the One who has the final say against any of satan’s attempts to steer us away from the loving arms of our Father.

“We honor God when we dream big, pray bigger and give Him all we have. Dreaming big shows the faith we have in Him. Praying big shows the trust we have in Him. Giving God all we have shows our gratefulness for His blessings.”

Julia Jeffress Sadler, Pray Big Things

More than just a book of prayer and praise, Sadler does an excellent job at highlighting the weaknesses and pitfalls of a lukewarm faith. There is an entire chapter dedicated to finding purpose in the pain along with prayers that seem to be unanswered or not heard but are instead answered in way that is different from how we imagined.

Gold thrown in a fire always comes out stronger. Sadler’s Pray Big Things will light you up to pursue God’s plans, purpose, and ultimate best even when life seems to not be going your way. It is a book overflowing with goodness and reminders of God’s beautiful promises and absolute faithfulness. Life will never be easy but prayer will give us the peace and hope we desire to walk into the fire and come out blazing.

Pray big things, friends. Pray big, bold prayers and wait expectantly for an incredible God to answer.

* I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review