Customer Reviews

I Told the Mountain to Move

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I have been a believer in Christ for over twenty years. I've prayed and saw my prayers answered. I have prayed and heard from GOD. I have prayed and some of my prayers have not be answered (at least not yet anyway) and I have prayed and only heard silence. I turned to classical prayer teachers like Andrew Murrays' Christ in the School of Prayer. I grew bored with prayer thinking that GOD wasn't really listening, nor was HE planning to change things. But HE did have Patricia Raybon's book planned all along.

I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE by Patrica Raybon is an answer to prayer. Poignent, real, heart-wrenching, soul-stirring, thought-provoking, inspiring, faith-filled and written like only a master penster truly set apart by GOD to deliver this powerful, tranforming message of prayer. I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE reminded me that prayer doesn't change GOD, prayer changes me so GOD can work through me. That I am an answer to someone's prayers, too. Like Mother Theresa once said, "I see GOD in the face of everyone." Raybon reminded me of this. To live this out. To pray without ceasing, not for material things but for what really matters in my life and the life of others. To walk in forgivness, love, kindness and respect and display that (with the help of prayer) to others even those who are not like us or even remotely close.

I've waited my whole life to hear this message. It has taken my prayer life, my communion with GOD-listening, journaling and speaking to a delicious new level. It reminded me that I am not alone.

You'll truly be delighted, thankful and grateful for the words on every page. At goodgirlbookclubonline.com we've received numerous emails about how I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE changed their prayer lives for the better. For this and more, we say, "THANKS."

You'll love I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE. Keep prayer alive!
P.S. Grab a few as gifts. I know I would love to receive a copy if I didn't already have one.

Reviewed by Marina Woods, The GOOD GIRL Reviewers www.goodgirlbookclubonline.com

Patricia Raybon is a wonderful storyteller. She bared her soul in this book. I kept thinking "I wonder if her family is upset with her?" But...'tell the truth and shame the devil' is what Pat has done.

I Told The Mountain To Move is a book that so many people can relate to. When your world is turning upside down, what is the best thing to do? PRAY. But what if you don't know how to pray? Not just "now I lay me down to sleep" as your parents taught you when you were a child, but learning to pray and having those prayers really answered.

I highly suggest blessing someone you love with the gift of this book. Thank you Pat for this eye-opening masterpiece.

Reviewed by Carla J Harris - Literary Ladies Bookclub Denver, CO

Patricia Raybon has opened her heart and life to share with others the love of Jesus Christ. I could not put this book down. Yes, it a guide to a better prayer life and communion with God but it is written like a novel, a real page turner for me. There were so many things that I could relate to in this wonderful book. Being a 55 year old white woman, I would have never have thought that this wonderfil Africian American woman could feel like such sister to me, but we are all sisiters in Christ and the words of this book just bring us closer together. I just want to say Thank You Lord for guiding my hand to picking up this book. A big thanks to Patricia for sharing.

"Prayer is an art. And maybe more than that, it's a calling," writes Patricia Raybon in I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE, a memoir on the most familiar yet most mysterious of the spiritual disciplines.

"'The highest part of the work entrusted to us, the root and strength of all other work,' [Andrew] Murray declared. Nothing, he insisted, should we study and practice more than the work of praying. And this praying, he said, which at first 'appears so simple,' turns out to be the hardest thing of all, because it's about developing a relationship."

I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE is a real gem. I have rarely read a book that made the intrinsically intangible spiritual practice of prayer something I could wrap my arms around. The writing is both fluid and substantial as Raybon blends her own hard-won insight with that found in classic texts written by lauded theologians including R.A. Torrey, Richard Foster, and Eugene Peterson.

Her journey toward developing an intimate relationship with Christ through prayer starts in mid-life --- when dissatisfaction stemming from a cold marriage, a frustrating mother, and disappointing choices made by her children left her feeling restless.

"I was in a standoff with a marriage gone dry, with a life drained empty. But this go-round, instead of pushing back, I would look up to heaven and surrender. Finally now, I vowed to learn, as Richard Foster put it, the real way to pray:

Pray so things healed.
Pray so things stopped.
Pray so things started.
Pray so things changed.

I was desperate, indeed, to learn all of prayer's little secrets, to master all of its hidden methods."

She proceeds to devour books on the subject and reflects on the lessons learned about faith growing up in her family and her church --- both African-American and in the '50s. And she does learn. "The more focused on God, in fact, the less I worried about my household's ongoing and never-ending dramas and irritations and problems," she writes.

But this newfound commitment to prayer is tested when Raybon's husband becomes desperately sick to the point of paralysis due to a tangle of malformed veins on his spinal cord near his brain stem. It continues to be tested as their younger daughter, Alana, abandons her family's Christian faith and dabbles in the Nation of Islam before moving on to become an orthodox Muslim.

Raybon presents an interesting-to-read picture of a woman wrestling with her own flaws and those of the people in her life, trying to learn to love. Women from different racial and cultural backgrounds as well as those from different generations than the author (as I am) will recognize themselves in her defeats, victories, and everything that comes in between. That she is able to capture what is universal about the Christian life for women would alone make the book a worthwhile read.

But on top of that, she presents a compelling vision of how prayer can inform and shape life. So often books about prayer are distant and all-too theoretical. As this author tells it, prayer is a well of encouragement, peace, faith, and hope, and those nice ideas take shape through the experiences she shares. I TOLD THE MOUNTAIN TO MOVE strips away our often-childish notions about what prayer is and makes it something vital and, while not easy, possible. The work it takes to dig that well is worth the effort, and Raybon provides the tools (honest lessons from her own experience, Scripture, other authors to read on the topic of prayer, etc.) and the inspiration to help you break ground.

--- Reviewed by Lisa Ann Cockrel

I Told The Mountain To Move by Patricia Raybon (journalism faculty of the University Of Colorado) is the true story of an African-American wife, mother, daughter, and teacher who confronted struggles in her life to learn how to pray. Written especially for fellow readers who have wrestled all their lives with disappointment in God despite their efforts to be "good" Christians, I Told The Mountain To Move acknowledges that the quest to emulate the mercy of Christ, experience heartfelt prayer, and keep good cheer in trying times is a difficult one. Yet the search to connect with God's love is also rewarding in every dimension of human experience. Highly recommended.

I was profoundly touched by Mrs. Raybon's brave honesty and by her journey to real faith and real prayer in this real life! I have many passages underlined and have found them to be a deep well of wisdom from which to draw...

I just finished this book, and it was fantastic. I really appreciate Patricia's honesty in telling the story of her life and how God has used everything in her life - both good and bad - to teach her how to pray. Highly recommended!

Once I started reading the book, I couldn't put it down. As a working woman with grown children, grandchildren and an elderly mother, I could completely identify with Patricia's story. The book is for everyone who wants to learn more about prayer, and how prayer can change your life and the lives of those you care about. I reread my underlined copy, and have bought the book for several friends who have enjoyed the book as much as I have.

I have known Jesus as Lord and Savior for many years. And I've been a prayerful person, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide me.
Lately I've been even more interested in prayer . However, I did
not want to be "preached to" . I did not want a book that was
like so many others, with "now, this is what you do....." as if
we can just follow someone's written list as a way to become "better" at praying. No thank you, I have enough "christian self help" books on my bookshelf. I was searching for a real person's
experience. Someone who would invite me inside her everyday life. Someone who would teach me one thing at a time, not give me a list to follow.

So when I flipped through this book, that's the reason itcaught my attention. Not preachy. Patricia just tells her story , and it reads like a novel. Along the way you pick up deep truths about prayer. And about life. And about "getting it" What is
"IT" ? For me, it was finally letting it sink in, that I need not struggle with what goes on in the lives of others I'm close to ( family) .. MY responsibility is to become closer to Christ; to walk with Him closer as his disciple. The closer I am to Christ, the more my life will be a living testimony of the main thing: my obedience to him. As others see me allowing the Holy Spirit to lead my life in obedience , they will then be drawn to Christ. Knowing Christ as their Savior will change their life. I don't have to "worry" about trying to change them , their circumstances, their 'wrong' way of thinking. I can now finally let myself out of the loop. God is in control; He is on His throne and He is able to take care of each one of us without any interference of human "help" .

So that is what I learned from the book , in a very non-
preachy way. Now I'm reading the book a second time with
even more markers in hand , underlining AND writing in the
margins !

It is amazing how God works. He obviously is working in Patricia Raybon's book, I Told The Mountain to Move. Her book was what I needed at this point in my life--a refreshing, refining guide to growing in my prayer life. Her honesty and openness to God's guidance is inspiring and convicting. Her intelligence and research are impressive and convincing--but most of all, it is easy to see the work of the Holy Spirit in her story.