New Book of Prayers, Launch Team Invite, & Bonus Gifts for You
Help me launch To Light Their Way: A Collection of Prayers & Liturgies for Parents
Hi, dear hearts. This note is packed with important info you’re hearing first. But before we begin: I’m sorry things are so impossibly hard right now.
In the midst of all we hold, I have something for you that I hope might ease the burden, or at least provide a small glimmer of peace in turbulent times.
For the past year, I’ve had the honor of writing To Light Their Way: A Collection of Prayers & Liturgies for Parents.
Here’s the big news, how you can help, & a few gifts for you I have up my sleeve.
Launch team: We’re putting together a book launch team of kindred hearts who will help get this book of warm & welcoming prayers in the hands of others. We just opened applications and a limited number of spots are available, so please apply ASAP so we can count you in. (I’m sharing this with my newsletter community before sharing it publicly, so you get first dibs.)
All Launch Team members will receive exclusive access to:
🎁 A private group + videos with me
🎁 Amazing Launch Team giveaways
🎁 A digital copy of To Light Their Way (You'll be able to read the entire book weeks before it releases! I'm so glad you'll be among the very first readers.)
Preorder gifts: We’ve put together a collection of free gifts as a thank you for anyone who preorders To Light Their Way: A Collection of Prayers & Liturgies for Parents before Oct. 5. You'll have immediate access to:
a printable collection of 12 breath prayer cards (We recommend printing on cardstock!)
a 5-day guided devotional for overwhelmed parents (Use the exclusive 26-page PDF digitally or print it to take advantage of the journal pages!)
a downloadable art print (For your home, office, or anywhere you need a reminder to slow down.)
Why preorder? Preorders play a huge role in the success of a book (they help ensure that retailers stock enough and don't run out!) and when you preorder, you don't pay until the book actually releases (Oct. 5) and you're guaranteed the lowest price, as book prices fluctuate often online. You can preorder from any retailer.
About To Light Their Way: A Collection of Prayers & Liturgies for Parents
In an age of distraction and overwhelm, what does it look like to meaningfully pray for our children — and for our journey as parents?
Written with warmth and welcome, To Light Their Way gives voice to our prayers when words won’t come. These beautiful pleas and petitions act as a gentle guide, reminding us that while our words may fail, God never does.
Filled with more than 100 modern liturgies, To Light Their Way contains specific prayers for:
precious family milestones
ordinary moments of everyday grace
times of transition as your children age
grief and lament when the world leaves you weary
your own heart on the parenting journey, and
specific holidays and holidays
At the core of To Light Their Way is the deepest of prayers: that our children will experience the love of God so profoundly that their lives will be an outpouring of love that lights up the world.
What Do We Pray When We Don’t Have The Words?
Below is a short excerpt I wrote in To Light Their Way.
Everything we have is a prayer—all we do, all we are. Prayer is a habit. And the more we practice entering into ongoing dialogue with God, the more we—and,in turn, our children and our very worlds—will be changed.
These prayers are modern liturgies, written with the love of God and neighbor embedded in every stanza. They’re created to guide you into an intentional time of prayer for your children and the world they live in. These prayers are for parents who will not bury their heads in the sand during pain or suffering, because we know we are created and pursued by a God who is present in the pain.
These prayers are for finding the sacred in the ordinary struggles and victories of raising children today. These liturgies are for the poor and the privileged, for those full of faith and those barely hanging on. Take comfort in knowing that though these prayers are deeply personal, they’re also communal, read and recited by other parents across denomination and background.
For When The World Feels Like It’s On Fire
Take heart, friends. I know life feels impossibly full and difficult right now. We’re doing our best to rock babies and reorder our lives with teens while the world is going up in flames. I hear from parents all the time who feel frayed, exhausted, and overwhelmed. (I’ve felt that way a lot, too.)
My deepest hope is that you will feel the love of God in the prayers that I write.
I have been quiet in this newsletter world, but you’ll be hearing a bit more from me as we approach October 5. I never thought I’d be trying to launch a book in an ongoing pandemic. I have so much faith that together, we can do this. We can reorient ourselves to the hope of Christ and love of God.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any prayer requests: Simply reply to this email and your words will land right in my inbox.
I write prayers at @liturgiesforparents and share glimpses of my parenting & peacemaking journey at @kayla_craig. If Facebook is more your speed, I’ve recently started sharing my prayers here, too.
To sum things up:
May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ fill your heart & soul, body & mind, even in the midst of the chaos, even now.
With love,