The Prayer Box

The Prayer Box by Lisa Wingate

The written word.  So powerful.  Letters, diaries, and journals that reveal our private innermost thoughts not meant to be read by strangers.  But when  a young woman, struggling with demons of her own, discovers the insightful words of an old woman, she cannot resist the temptation......and so the story begins.

Tandi Jo Reese, her teenage daughter Zoey, and son J.T. are back on North Carolina's Hatteras Island living  in a rented bungalow.  Fond memories with Meemaw and Pap-Pap linger, but unfortunately, so do those days with her abusive, troubled parents and sister.  Desperate to escape her sordid past and  nearly destitute, she barters with the local church to clean out the massive, crumbling Victorian house next door in exchange for free housing.  While tackling the grueling task ahead, Tandi is inexplicably drawn to a room upstairs where she finds the body of ninety-one-year old Iola Anne Poole.  She also discovers the first of eighty-one prayer boxes that Iola filled every year with heartfelt words; her fears, secrets, disappointments, loves, hopes, dreams and so much more.  In the days and weeks that follow, Tandi learns by bits and pieces that Iola was a recluse, and many of the locals fostered a distaste for her. Why?  Little by little, as Iola's life enfolds before Tandi's eyes, the realization that this deceased woman's words of wisdom will begin to shape lives proves to be beyond anyone's wildest imagination.  Most of all, Tandi's.

With the turn of each page, Tandi realizes that the truth of this unselfish woman's life needs to be revealed.  Can a stranger's words heal Tandi's strained relationship with her own children, help her discover her own self-worth, and make redemption a reality?  Tandi begins to understand that perhaps a greater force is taking her life in a new direction-maybe there is a hidden reason why she feels an affinity to someone she never knew.  

This is a soothing, inspirational novel; one that lifts the spirits.  Hopefully, we learn lessons as we pass through the seasons of our lives, and good still prevails in this world.

For some of you....that's the power of prayer.