Friday, May 13, 2016

Prayerful Passages


PRAYERFUL PASSAGES
Asking God's Help in Reconciliation,

Separation, and Divorce

by 

Jack H. Emmott
Genre: Religion / Spirituality / Devotional  Publisher: Outskirts Press Date of Publication: February 9, 2016 # of pages: 64




The power of asking God for help while struggling to save a marriage, separating, divorcing, or rebuilding life is the driving force behind Prayerful Passages:  Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation, and Divorce by Jack H. Emmott.  The fifty-six prayers are practical, touching on all shades of difficulty.  They are specific and short; accessible and comforting; inspiring and inspired.
In Prayerful Passages, Jack has opened the doors of comfort and healing to guide a Christian struggling with the anger, loss, and grief that inevitably arise during the separation, divorce, and reconciliation stages of a marriage in peril. Open the doors of your own heart to God’s grace and healing. These prayers will aid you in your journey.
PRAISE FOR PRAYERFUL PASSAGES:
In Prayerful Passages, Jack Emmott, with profound clarity, helps faithful people struggling in their marriage to find not only the words they need to pray, but also the Divine Presence and power they need in challenging life circumstances. -- Rev. Stuart Bates, Rector, St. Francis Episcopal Church, Houston
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This book will make an ideal gift for a friend or family member going through divorce.  I wish the families I’ve seen in family court had been able to make their difficult passages with these prayers in their hearts and on their lips.  This book would have alleviated their anguish.-- Frank Rynd, J.D., Former Family Law Judge
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A compelling sharing of compassion—this book shows the impact a prayerful, Christ-centered life can have on the human spirit.  What a powerful read . . . I was wowed by its wisdom. -- Larry R. Cook, CPA
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All you have to do is open to the table of contents to see the brilliance of this wise voice that pushes us all to see the world as a more inclusive, loving place where we are all perfectly imperfect children of God. Jack offers his reader empathy, wisdom and redemption for the human spirit. Don’t miss the wisdom of a man who has lived into surrender at an early age as his polio left him trapped in an iron lung to survive. But, he didn’t just survive; he blossomed and thrives today, venerating the love of the Divine for all of us. This is a must-read for all of us who want to live more fully into our loving relationships.-- Micki Grimland, LCSW, Owner and Chief Psychotherapist, Southwest Psychotherapy Associates 

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Emmott Author Interview #3

About people and challenges in your life

How did your amazing family network influence your development as a writer?  As a successful attorney?  As a family man?
I lived in a family gathering, a rural community on the northwest outskirts of Houston, called Emmottville.  I was surrounded by a large extended family which sheltered me as did the moss-covered live oaks which circled PawPaw’s homestead. Eighteen aunts and uncles and 45 first cousins, lived on the land. A land and family larger than Walton’s Mountain.

The encouragement and stability of the Emmott clan gave me the security to face the challenges polio placed before me. To endure the losses polio inevitably left behind. In the life of that family there were so many stories I could proudly write about. Sharing them will mean  helping others learn what I learned and loved growing up there. In addition to the security and stability, my belief that the bad would somehow be turned into good by God was anchored in my parents’ worship and prayer life. Mother let me know I was special to God despite my feeling of awkwardness among my peers.  I felt good as an Emmott. I felt great as a child of God. The love I received is what I strive to share every day with others in family, in my calling, and now as a writer, to the Author of Creation.


You have had polio since the age of six.  What has been its most negative influence on your life and what it’s most positive? 
The most negative influence has been the regret that I could not physically care for others the way they cared for me. This is especially true for my mother, Lucile, who spent the best of her younger years tending to me without one word of complaint. From bedpans to urinals, to feeding, dressing, and clothing me, to providing  hours of physical therapy and countless other things so that I might become the best parts of me which remained after polio. In later life, she had a series of strokes. I ached because I could not do more for her other than holding her hands, embracing her, kissing her and saying prayers together. She died five years ago. I gave her up to the Lord that she had so unfailingly served, and I daily ask the same God to receive my regrets as well.

The most positive aspect of polio is the same gift and lesson of the Easter story: Easter Sunday follows Good Friday. That Christ’s death preceded His Resurrection. For me, my life in Christ did not end with polio. It began.

If not answered above, how has polio influenced your development was a writer?
Polio was, and is, the canvas of darkness and the medium to see, study, appreciate. It is my way to be mindful of the Light of Christ and the presence of angels in my life. I could never have authored a book of prayer without suffering and receiving the gift of God’s grace.

What is your favorite social/recreational activity? 
My favorite activity is to be near the water or in the woods to see the wonder and diverse beauty God created for humankind. Fishing for rainbow trout on the White River or for speckled trout near Matagorda Bay. In these simple activities, the overstimulation of my daily life takes a pause. In those quiet places, as in daily prayer, I experience simple truths.  Look at the life and miracles in nature that God has given me. I ask myself: What gifts have I received from Him that I can give back to the world before I return to my Almighty Father?

If you could be a superhero, what type would you be?  What costume would you wear?
My favorite childhood hero was Superman. That did not change with polio. My mother Lucile enable me to believe in Jesus while at the same time allowed me to have a fantasy life despite the reality of disability. One day I asked her, “Mother, would you please buy me a Superman costume with a cape just like him.” “Of course, Bubba. I will get it right away,” she replied. A week or so later on a very windy day in March an onlooker might have viewed an unusual  scene. You see, mother had helped me put on the navy blue leotards and the cape. I limped out the front door and made my way to the highest hill in front of our home. With the wind blowing my cape high in the air behind me, I suddenly regained the strength I had lost with polio. I was 10 years old. I needed a few moments like that. Later I learned that God’s love was stronger than Kryptonite could ever be. Hope and prayer keeps the heart alive and beating for the next breath of life.





What makes Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation, and Divorce appealing is the courage, calling and faith of its author Jack H. Emmott. In 1954, just as the Salk vaccine was entering massive medical trials, Jack was stricken with polio and paralyzed from the neck down.  With faith in God and selfless help from his parents, educators, healthcare providers, and later his wife Dorothy and his close-knit family, he became a successful lawyer, civic leader, volunteer, inspirational speaker, author, and song writer. Though today confined to a motorized wheelchair, he has long navigated as a full member of society.

 

As a member at Gray Reed & McGraw in Houston, Texas, with over thirty-five years working in family law, Jack primarily focuses on collaborative law, a resolution option for divorcing couples. In collaborative process, couples mutually agree to voluntary disclosure of relevant information, which is much faster and less expensive than formal discovery.  The children are protected and shared, not divided like property.


His life experience and abiding faith in God led Jack to write Prayerful Passages: Asking God’s Help in Reconciliation, Separation, and Divorce. Jack says, “The exact words of the title Prayerful Passages literally came to me one night during evening prayer. I felt, at that very moment, I had received an invitation from God to write a book of prayers to help others and to please the God who had always accompanied me in the darkness of disability.”


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