Pray While You're Prey
is now available on Amazon and Audible!
Pray While You're Prey by Toni L. Wortherly, Esq.
Pray While You're Prey is more than a “how to” book but a printed and bound ministry. …This book is written from a woman’s point of view and I believe it would be safe to say that it is meant for women, however, men should not ignore this book. I encourage any single and spiritual person to read the book, not just women.
… Pray While You’re Prey is a wonderful book that should be read by any single person searching for a life companion in Christ. I would also nominate this work as an excellent book for any church that sponsors a single’s ministry. This book is not just based on Ms. Wortherly’s insights but rooted deeply in scripture. This makes it ideal for group discussion.
~ Robert Denison, Sunpiper Press
… Pray While You’re Prey is a wonderful book that should be read by any single person searching for a life companion in Christ. I would also nominate this work as an excellent book for any church that sponsors a single’s ministry. This book is not just based on Ms. Wortherly’s insights but rooted deeply in scripture. This makes it ideal for group discussion.
~ Robert Denison, Sunpiper Press
Excerpts from
Pray While You’re Prey:
How God Turned My Loneliness and Frustration into Contentment and Commitment
Know Who’s in Control of the Forest
“Whoso finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor in the Lord[i].” I’ve read and heard it before, but one night it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was lying in bed contemplating my next move within my current relationship when I figured out what people had been telling me for so long. As many times as I’d heard that verse and had it interpreted for me, it wasn’t until that night that it became clear. I am the hunted. I should be sought after. As a single Christian woman, I am PREY. It sounds really savage, but it’s that basic.
I think a number of things contributed to my sudden clarity. That very day, I was the substitute teacher for a second grade class. During their writing workshop, my students wrote reports about animals. One of the report topics was the eating habits of the animal being researched. As I read through the reports, I saw how animals in the wild have special features and cunning ways for capturing prey. Although I don’t want to be eaten, I too am prey to be hunted, chased, and pursued relentlessly, even after I am caught.
Later that night, I was told once again by my brother-in-law that I am the hunted and he --whoever he is at the moment–should be hunting for me. It’s as clear as day in the Bible. Of course, being an attorney, I always have an argument in my defense and in defense of my suitors. After all, it’s not their fault that I have a controlling nature and an insatiable thirst for attention. I don’t give them a chance to hunt me down. If I were a small animal, I’d be eaten every time I was hunted because I would be standing in the woods screaming, “Here I am! Come and get me! I’m ready to face my fate!” But the words of the proverb show that that is not the way that God intended it.
[i] Proverbs 18:22
A Call to Holiness
Being single gives us a unique opportunity to grow closer to God. “… [She] that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how [she] may please the Lord…There is a difference also between the wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit….”[i] Before any hunt begins and before there is any capture, single women need to focus on their relationship with God. As single women, we can do that because we don’t have the concerns that married women have. Some of us might have children who require a great deal of energy and focus, but the Word of God says that single women with no children are to care for the things of the Lord, and not the things of this world. So many times, and I’m guilty of it, we are caught up in finding a relationship or a career, and we forget that we should use this blessed time of singleness to increase our holiness. Who can blame us? From the time we are old enough to understand, we are inundated with different ideas of how life is supposed to be by familial and societal influences. We are told that we need to get through school, go to college, get a good career, get married, and have children. How many of us are ever told that we should grow closer to God? How many of us are ever told that we should take some time to get to know who we are through Christ? I promise you that you don’t hear it on TV. So many of us think that our identity is wrapped up in our careers or who we marry or what kind of mother we become. The truth is that none of this matters if you don’t have a good relationship with God.
[i] 1 Corinthians 7:32-34
Pray While You’re Prey:
How God Turned My Loneliness and Frustration into Contentment and Commitment
Know Who’s in Control of the Forest
“Whoso finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor in the Lord[i].” I’ve read and heard it before, but one night it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was lying in bed contemplating my next move within my current relationship when I figured out what people had been telling me for so long. As many times as I’d heard that verse and had it interpreted for me, it wasn’t until that night that it became clear. I am the hunted. I should be sought after. As a single Christian woman, I am PREY. It sounds really savage, but it’s that basic.
I think a number of things contributed to my sudden clarity. That very day, I was the substitute teacher for a second grade class. During their writing workshop, my students wrote reports about animals. One of the report topics was the eating habits of the animal being researched. As I read through the reports, I saw how animals in the wild have special features and cunning ways for capturing prey. Although I don’t want to be eaten, I too am prey to be hunted, chased, and pursued relentlessly, even after I am caught.
Later that night, I was told once again by my brother-in-law that I am the hunted and he --whoever he is at the moment–should be hunting for me. It’s as clear as day in the Bible. Of course, being an attorney, I always have an argument in my defense and in defense of my suitors. After all, it’s not their fault that I have a controlling nature and an insatiable thirst for attention. I don’t give them a chance to hunt me down. If I were a small animal, I’d be eaten every time I was hunted because I would be standing in the woods screaming, “Here I am! Come and get me! I’m ready to face my fate!” But the words of the proverb show that that is not the way that God intended it.
[i] Proverbs 18:22
A Call to Holiness
Being single gives us a unique opportunity to grow closer to God. “… [She] that is unmarried cares for the things that belong to the Lord, how [she] may please the Lord…There is a difference also between the wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman cares for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and spirit….”[i] Before any hunt begins and before there is any capture, single women need to focus on their relationship with God. As single women, we can do that because we don’t have the concerns that married women have. Some of us might have children who require a great deal of energy and focus, but the Word of God says that single women with no children are to care for the things of the Lord, and not the things of this world. So many times, and I’m guilty of it, we are caught up in finding a relationship or a career, and we forget that we should use this blessed time of singleness to increase our holiness. Who can blame us? From the time we are old enough to understand, we are inundated with different ideas of how life is supposed to be by familial and societal influences. We are told that we need to get through school, go to college, get a good career, get married, and have children. How many of us are ever told that we should grow closer to God? How many of us are ever told that we should take some time to get to know who we are through Christ? I promise you that you don’t hear it on TV. So many of us think that our identity is wrapped up in our careers or who we marry or what kind of mother we become. The truth is that none of this matters if you don’t have a good relationship with God.
[i] 1 Corinthians 7:32-34