Guest Column: A Great Summer Read

By Harriet Kerr
Asheville, North Carolina

I have to tell you about a series of books that will make a great summer read: the "Yada Yada Prayer Group" books written by Neta Jackson. These books are easy to spot -- each with a brightly colored cover sporting five pairs of legs wearing bright, silly socks. It’s fun to see what these legs are doing on each new book cover.

I got interested in these books at work. A couple of co-workers told me about them and one of my friends finally bought me the first one, so I would be sure to read it. The story starts with a Women’s Christian Conference held in Chicago. The main character, Jodi, doesn't really want to go to the conference at all. The thought of being thrown together with 500 strangers wasn’t exactly her comfort zone. But she goes anyway. When she checks in, she is given her conference packet and notices a gold sticker with the number 26 on the right-hand corner of the brochure. The number is used to divide the women into small prayer groups for the conference. She meets with the other women that have the same gold sticker and when she does, her life is never the same. During the course of the conference, a disaster hits one of the women in the #26 prayer group. Delores must leave to attend to the problem at home. The other women, Jodi included, decide that they should continue to pray for her during the conference, which they do. As the conference comes to an end, the problem has not been resolved. The women feel the need to continue to meet and the Yada Yada Prayer group is formed.

What I loved about these books -- there are six available now and the seventh is coming out in the fall -- is the journey that Jodi takes toward God with these diverse women. She is a lot like me. Typical. She believes in and loves God and tries to live her life for Him. This prayer group challenges her to leave her comfort zone, makes her question her faith, helps her try and reach for God, in ways that are awkward and foreign to her at the beginning. She is willing to allow herself to be stretched and pulled by these women, because of her desire to have what they have, and the love that they feel for one another and for the Lord. All of the women in the prayer group are given a chance to grow and evolve surrounded by others that are doing the same. They feel safe in expressing what they are trying to achieve. These books show how important women are to women. I found myself concerned and wondering about their lives. I also found that I wanted my own Yada Yada group.

-- Harriet Kerr is a mother, Sunday School teacher and nurse. She and her husband live in Asheville, North Carolina, and are active members of Groce United Methodist Church.