New Release: Prayer and Praise: A Jane Austen Devotional

I am beyond excited to be a "stop" on the blog tour for the release of Shannon Winslow's Prayer and Praise: A Jane Austen Devotional!!

I first "met" Shannon Winslow at one of my favorite Jane Austen websites, Austen Variations, where Shannon is one of the featured authors of works based on Austen's novels. I fell in love with several of her books, including The Persuasion of Miss Jane Austen, The Darcys of Pemberley (which continues the story of Darcy and Elizabeth), and an intriguing novel with a more modern twist on Pride and Prejudice, A Leap of Hope. I have also been a devoted follower of Shannon's lovely blog, Jane Austen Says... 

So given my love of both Jane Austen and of the Anglican (Church of England) mode of faith, you can well imagine my excitement and enthusiasm when Shannon announced that she was writing a devotional based on the prayers of Jane Austen!! Once I finished fangirling all over poor, bemused Shannon, I offered any assistance needed from a devoted Austenite who also was familiar with Anglicanism and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer Austen had used. 

Shannon kindly sent me a few of the early devotional entries, and I was even more excited; the devotions come line by line from Austen's written prayers, point readers to various Scripture passages, and discuss the topic of each devotion with Austen's characters as illustrations. Theologically, this devotional went much deeper than the other Austen devotionals I have seen, and I found myself both inspired and a little convicted by the entries Shannon shared with me.

The plan was for me to read through the whole book and comment on anything that may need a tweak here or there, but my chronic pain condition reared its ugly head, putting me out of commission for a few months during which I could barely keep up with my Brave Writer classes. I felt horrible (and sooooo disappointed!) at not being able to assist more with this wonderful book, but, really, Shannon didn't need my help. She writes truly and deeply regarding our daily walk of faith with wise insight and profound grace, using Austen's prayers and characters to illustrate her points beautifully. Shannon has struck a truly wonderful balance of all the aspects I had hoped for when I first learned about this project.

Shannon tells us:

Out of my sincere respect for Jane Austen and her legacy, I have always felt a certain weight of responsibility to do justice to the words and spirit of her novels as I write my sequels and spin-offs. How much heavier that responsibility becomes when the right handling of God’s words is at stake!
 

So I certainly didn’t take lightly the idea of writing a scripture-based, Austen-inspired devotional. After all, who was I to presume to teach the Bible? It’s true that, through years of study, I had accumulated considerable knowledge about the subject matter – Jane’s Austen’s work as well as scripture – but it’s not like I was either a genuine scholar or a model Christian with all the answers to life’s struggles.

God is gracious, however, and He often chooses to use very ordinary people for His purposes. I trust that’s what I experienced as I wrote this devotional because I never lacked for inspiration.

My goal for this devotional was simple: that in some way readers would be blessed and God glorified. With that, I began, taking one small bite at a time – one small section of one of Austen’s prayers for each segment. Then I waited expectantly to see where inspiration would take me. 

Sometimes a related scripture reference would next come to mind, and then an Austen illustration would follow. Sometimes it happened the other way around. Occasionally it was something else and altogether surprising!

Here’s the opening to a segment entitled Eye on the Sparrow – a line from JA’s prayer and what follows:

…we know that we are alike before Thee, & under thine Eye.

For each of these devotional segments, I look for inspiration in the day’s prayer petition. I ask that God would direct me about which truth to illuminate and what Austen illustration to use. This time, the phrase “under thine eye” immediately jumped out at me. But then I wasn’t sure I heard the rest correctly because what came to mind amounted to drawing a parallel between God and Lady Catherine de Bourgh!

Are you shocked? Believe me, so was I. But it has to do with that line in Pride and Prejudice that says that nothing was beneath this great Lady’s attention. For now, you’ll just have to take my word for the fact that it all makes sense in the end!

In some ways, this style of working isn’t so very different from the way I write a novel. Rather than having a fully developed outline like some writers do, with every scene carefully plotted and all the questions answered ahead of time, I normally start with a general idea and just see where the creative process takes me – a thrilling but risky way to proceed. Although it’s never happened yet, I realize that I could get close to the end only to discover the story doesn’t work at all. Then I’d have to throw out weeks or even months’ worth of work.

But in the case of this devotional, I knew I was in good hands. God is faithful, and when He calls, He also equips. He never left me dangling in midair with no way to finish. My safety net was His Word and the Holy Spirit my guide. When I put in the work, the elements of the devotional fell beautifully into place. With such good material (I used all 6 of Jane Austen’s novels and passages from 31 books of the Bible!), I couldn’t go far wrong. I hope you agree and that you’ll enjoy Prayer & Praise: A Jane Austen Devotional.

Prayer & Praise is available at Amazon in Paperback, Kindle, and KU. The introduction and 2+ segments of the devotional are available there to preview with the “Look Inside” feature.

The back cover blurb reads:

Did you know that Jane Austen wrote prayers in addition to her six classic novels? She was not only a woman of celebrated humor, intellect, and insight; she was a woman of faith.

Prayer & Praise is a treasure-trove of thought-provoking messages inspired by the lines of Austen’s three preserved prayers. Atop a solid foundation of scripture, these 50 devotional segments (each finishing with prayer and praise) enlist familiar characters and situations from Austen novels to illustrate spiritual principles–in creative, often surprising, ways! 

Which one of Austen’s characters developed a god complex? Who was really pulling Henry Crawford’s strings? Where do we see examples of true repentance, a redeemer at work, light overcoming darkness? With a Biblical perspective, Austen’s beloved stories reveal new lessons about life, truth, hope, and faith.

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I hope that you all will enjoy reading, pondering, and praying through this devotional half as much as I plan to!! 

Thank you, Shannon, for sharing your latest release with us!! 

Soli Deo Gloria,