The Water Will Hold You

The Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns to Pray
by Lindsay Crittendon
Read May 2008

I chose this book because it was one of the "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought This" suggestions for the book Take This Bread

I don't remember a whole lot about it. As with Take This Bread, it takes place in California and it involves the conversion of a girl who wanders into an Episcopal Church. Lindsay Crittendon differs from Sara Miles because she had somewhat of a religious background. She went to the church seeking answers and help, whereas Sara Miles really came to the church simply out of curiosity.

Anyway, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. I like memoirs and add this one to the other "girl meets god" type books that I began reading with the book Girl meets God by Lauren Winner.

Here's the description from Amazon:

The first time she said those words, suggested to her by an Episcopal priest, Lindsey Crittenden was riddled with misgivings. She didn’t pray or attend church services—she wasn’t even sure she believed in God—but the simple phrase held a soothing power she couldn’t deny. Unlike the prayers of her childhood with their vague references to forgiving trespasses and dying before you wake, this felt solid. I am here was incontestable, certain. You are here confirmed the existence of a world outside herself and eased the knot of isolation Lindsey had been carrying with her since the day her brother died.

She soon found that she couldn’t pray enough. She spoke to God; she questioned God; and as a result, she came to a deeper understanding of herself and the world around her. Prayer opened Crittenden up to the present and to those around her. It gave her strength when her mother, and then her father, became ill, and when her late brother’s young son became increasingly hers to care for. But when a relationship went sour, prayer abandoned her. Or so it seemed, until she learned the most important lesson of all.