Prayerful Warrior Mom by Tracy Ripley is a captivating and inspiring book that examines the journey of faith, resilience, and self-discovery. Through her heartfelt narration, Ripley takes readers along on her son's battle with congenital heart disease and her own personal growth. The book is filled with personal anecdotes, prayers, inspiring passages from scripture, and lessons learned, making it both a powerful and practical guide for navigating through life's challenges and growing in faith. Ripley beautifully portrays the power of turning to God in times of difficulty and finding solace and comfort in prayer.
The author demonstrates how faith can give us the strength to overcome adversity and set healthy boundaries, empowering readers to embrace their own spiritual journey. Moreover, the book emphasizes the importance of forgiveness and letting go of guilt. Ripley encourages readers to release the shackles of guilt and embrace the liberating power of forgiveness, both for oneself and for others. Through her personal experiences, she illustrates how forgiveness can transform lives and pave the way for healing and growth. This is an inspiring book with tools to help readers beat the odds and grow through their faith in God.
Part 3 - Letting Go / Specifically the following Chapters which provide the authors real world experience with letting go of resentment, anger, and guilt and learning to forgive herself (and others):
Chapter 19 Lay Your Burdens at the Cross
Chapter 20 Siblings Suffer Too
Chapter 22 Leaving it to God
Chapter 24 Finding Forgiveness
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 8 "Walking with God":
I looked at the screen. The motion of the heart on the monitor is pulsing ever so slightly, barely visible, a mere flutter on the screen. The gravity of what he was saying finally hit me. My voice cracked as I tried to steady my lip from quivering. I whispered the question in fear of his response, “Is he going to die?”
“He is very sick, and we need to get him medicine so his heart can get to a level to sustain surgery.”
I was trembling now. I misdialed Rob’s number three times before I finally heard the phone ringing on the other end. “Can I call you back?” Rob asked.
I was silent for a moment. I tried to steady my voice so I could speak. “They are admitting him.”
I did my best to explain what was going on without sobbing on the phone. Rob started asking the same questions I had asked about scheduling the surgery. I told him, “They said it can’t wait. Bryce needs medicine right now.”
“I will pick up Reyna and come to meet you.”
Next, I called my mother and told her what was happening. She offered to keep Reyna so Rob could come and be with Bryce and me. I let Rob know my Mom would pick up Reyna and gave him a list of things I’d like him to bring to the hospital, the most important being my breast pump. Bryce hadn’t eaten since before we left the house, and I was getting uncomfortable. They didn’t want me to feed him if he had surgery in the morning. I turned back to the cardiologist and told him, “I’m staying with Bryce.”
“A nurse will be by to walk you to the PICU.”
The heart doctor’s office is across the bridge from the children’s hospital, and the nurse said, “You can carry him to the PICU floor.” I felt like my shoes had suddenly turned to bricks, and I couldn’t get one leg to pass the other. We began crossing the bridge. It felt like such a long walk. I didn’t even see the people as we passed by them. The only thing I knew how to do right then was pray. It gave me the strength to pick up my legs and move my feet closer to wherever this path was leading me.