Naked Prayers

Book excerpt: In Naked Prayers, singer-songwriter Mara Measor shares a series of authentic prayers through words, doodles and songs. Imagine the book of Psalms penned in New York City, that the writers liked to doodle, and that they had access to a professional Manhattan recording studio to lay down these songs of intimate meditation. When starting a prayer room on her college campus, Measor encountered many students who would confess with dismay, “I’m not good at praying.” In this book Measor fights the notion of “bad prayers” by suggesting that prayer is simply about getting naked before God: no frills, no pretend, just honest confessions to a loving creator. Her doodles tell the story of an earnest sojourner following God through a big city, and her evocative songs take you along the ride. There are a million and one books on prayer floating around Christian circles, but according to Measor, “This is not a how-to-pray book, this is a how-I-have-really-prayed book.” Naked Prayers contains 86 prayers taken from 13 months of Measor’s life, and is framed by four stages: Following God through making a home in NYC Fretting about the purpose and direction of her life Falling into a period of depression Finding her way back to freedom