As I continue on my faith journey I am always trying to improve my relationship with God. Praying is how we talk to Him, but am I doing it right? Is there one better way to do it than another? If I talk to Him in the car is that not going to make as great of an impact as it would if I were kneeling behind a pew? These are the things that I think about when it comes to praying, so when I saw Adam Weber’s book, Talking With God, I knew that I wanted to read it. After all, in the title he says he’s going to tell us what to say when we don’t know what to pray. Great!

Adam Weber is a pastor in South Dakota so if anybody would know how to pray, it would be him, right? If you want to know how to unclog a drain you go to a plumber; if you want to know how to pray you go to a pastor. Yet, in the introduction to the book Mr. Weber is broaching this very topic regarding the pastor has prayer all figured out. “I can’t speak for others, but I know I don’t. And I’m paid to know this kind of thing.” It was that honesty that intrigued me and kept me reading.

If you’re looking for a straight-forward How To book on prayer, this isn’t for you. Instead Mr. Weber leads us through various situations to show us the different forms that prayer can take in our lives. Prayer is so personal to all of us and nobody does it the same. God loves us and wants us to talk with Him in whatever way we can. For me it might mean a rambling conversation in the car on my way to work, or perhaps sitting at the piano and singing. Another person might feel more comfortable praying the Rosary or just sitting in a quiet church. As long as we’re talking, that’s all that matters. This is the point that Mr. Weber makes in his book.

The book is separated into four sections: The God We Talk With, The Way We Pray, How to Pray When…, and Only the Beginning. In a way you are taking a trip with Mr. Weber as he explains the evolution of his own prayer life and how he has approached it. While sharing a lot of personal faith-building stories he also shows how some of the more familiar stories of the Bible illustrate the God who loves us and what He expects from us in the way of prayer. In fact, on page 36 Mr. Weber writes about the story of the Prodigal Son that is found in Luke. In this section he says, “The truly good news about God is this: No matter how far we are away from home, no matter how long we’ve been away from God’s side – days, months, years, a lifetime, even if we’ve walked away from him, if we’ve been out looking for life on our own, if we haven’t talked with God in years, or ever – we can still come home any time. We can still speak with him.” God never says ‘I told you so’ when this happens. Instead, He opens His arms and embraces us with all of His love. Why? Because we were lost and now we are found.

This book was an easy and enjoyable read. I was able to get through it in just a few days. The great thing about this is that it doesn’t mean that it’s full of fluff. In fact, this book has so much for you to chew on that even a few weeks later I’m still picking it up and turning to various parts to re-read and think about on a deeper level. Mr. Weber keeps it simple and honest. There’s nothing fancy or technical in this book. Instead, he sits on our level and talks to us about God and how much He wants to hear from us. It’s like talking to a friend about God. I highly recommend this book to anybody who is even slightly curious about prayer or about our relationship with God. This book has a permanent place on my bookshelf.

As a disclaimer, I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.