Letters to God on a Prodigal Son: Overcoming Addiction Through Prayer

I wrote Letters to God on a Prodigal Son out of a desperate need to see my son healed and delivered from drugs. It started as a journal to God to help me cope with my son's growing addiction. It grew into a heartfelt cry of a mother who finds the true source of peace. I later added two sections, Lessons Learned and Suggestions, written especially for parents and for those who are dealing with a loved one's addiction.  Letters to God on a Prodigal Son is a powerful testimony of victory over fear, anxiety and helplessness. This victory can also be yours when God is allowed into the equation and spiritual tools are utilized.
Letters to God will help you:

·         Recognize the warning signs of addiction

·         Understand the addicted personality

·         Access powerful spiritual tools

·         Energize your prayer life

·         Develop strategic spiritual weapons

·         Find hope and encouragement

Here is what other people are saying with these 5 star reviews:

A must read if you are suspicious of drug addiction...and even if you're not!

By Celeste

This is an awesome book that SOOO needed to be written. In the way she writes letters to God, we can see inside her heart as a mom seeing her son suffer an addiction, and suffers through her emotional rollercoaster. There are so many moms who deny that their child is involved in drugs. They just want to believe the best in their children, as we all do. Anita includes the signs to watch for as she takes you through her journey that just might save your child's life!

A Mother's Struggle

By Theresa Franklin

 

Anita chronicles her spiritual struggles as she helps her son overcome an addiction to drugs. At the same time, she doesn't feel that she has the support of her husband. She doesn't sugar coat the experience or use pie-in-the-sky platitudes. The reader will not find a pat answer or a magic prayer to deliver a loved one. Rather the reader will learn with Anita as she grows in her spiritual warfare and prayer life.

Every mother can relate to the message in this book. It is a fantastic exercise in 'growing' prayers for our children. Whether the child or adult child needs deliverance from drugs, alcohol, promiscuity, low self-esteem, or risk taking behavior, any parent would benefit from Anita's lessons in spiritual growth as she learns how to effectively pray for her son.

How to help a prodigal son

By Linda Weaver Clarke

 

This book is an account of a parent trying to help and understand her "prodigal son." If we were faced with a child going astray, how would we handle the situation? Ben was too open to temptations and the suggestions of peers. Like most parents, Anita wanted the best for her son and gave him all the opportunities she could, like a college education. Would he live up to her expectations? Or would it have been better to wait until he was older before sending him away to school? When he was living at home, she had more influence over her son and they were able to talk things out. But now, since he was away, there was no communication. Would it have been better in the long run for her to wait until he proved that he could handle the responsibility of living on his own? Or would it have been better to enroll him in a college closer to home? In this book, Anita tells us that it's important for parents to understand the maturity level of their child and what temptations they can handle before sending them away to college.

This book is a combination of "Lessons Learned," "Suggestions," and prayers to God. Anita said: "I've spent my whole life praying for this kid. Haven't you heard me, Lord? I can't believe you've let him fall so far from the truth, God. We sent him to a Christian school, and he winds up doing drugs!"

After every "lesson learned," she gives a "suggestion" to help your child. This is a story of hope, faith, and love. Does it end "happily ever after"? Yes, it does. That is what I love about books like this. I would recommend it to all parents who need help.

By Gloria Clover

This book is mainly excerpts from Anita Estes' prayer journal during the hardest years of her son's addiction to alcohol and drugs. The story runs from September 2006 to January 2009.

I liked the set up of the book. Journal entries are in a personal, candid style. Direct prayers. Scriptures. Anita's poems. Neat things that showed various ways to seek God.

Then for the reader she added sections called "Lessons Learned" and "Suggestions." She would speak from the place she was in when she wrote the book, looking back to that place in the story where she was. For example, a chapter would cover a time period of say two months, and include elements of journaling and prayer. Then Anita would step into the present and say, "I didn't know then, but..." and precede to share what God has since taught her about that time in her life.

Then she had suggestions to parents of prodigal children, things to watch for, what you might do differently than she did, etc.

I particularly liked how open Anita was about her mistakes and struggles. That made her learning journey even more powerful. She had a simple way of turning the praise and honor back to God, not just for her son's transformation, but for her husband's and herself.

I recommend this book to all my friends with adult children who currently embrace the world more often than the Lord. It is a story of hope. But even more so, it is a story of surrender and allowing God to change you through His Word and grace.

So maybe you don't have to have a child who has wandered away from his/her Christian foundation to enjoy this book and gain from its insights. I don't have a prodigal ... but Anita Estes' Letters to God remind me that thankfully God is in the restoration business.

An honest account

By Cheryl Lynn Peterson

Anita Estes puts behind the stigma of having a child with a drug addiction and gives us a raw, honest account of the battle she is going through. She praises God through her storm and serves as an example of a real woman with faith. The diary format with its application section makes it an interesting read where we get to hear Anita's inner thoughts and prayers through her struggle. This is not only a must read for parents or friends/family going through a similar struggle but for any parent or family member with a child.