I absolutely love the idea of a prayer jar. Such a great way to be held accountable to yourself and God and it also helps make it a daily habit for you. What a fun and encouraging way to add to your prayer life. I can’t wait to use these Bible verses and inspirations from the book, make my own prayer jar and be able to look back through these prayers and see how God has worked in my own life.

All words and opinions are my own. I was given a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher for my honest review.

The Prayer Jar Devotional: HOPE
by Wanda E. Brunstetter; Donna K. Maltese

2-3 stars
I was truly looking forward to this book. I love the idea of a prayer jar and if anyone else is too, this is not the book to read.This book has some major flaws regarding what it states it is and what it actually is. Author Wanda Brunstetter starts by saying read the verse and the short devotion and then add a prayer to your jar. You can go through the prayer jar every so often and remove the ones God has answered. Which I think is just a phenomenal idea and one I am definitely going to start!
However, that is not how the book is laid out. The verses and the devotions are very good, taken from a variety of Bible versions. but the prayer jar suggestions are not tangible prayer requests. For example, one jar suggestion is "Because God is in control, I am to stay calm." It's a great prayer idea but there is no way to remove this or any of the other jar suggestions because there is no clear answer to this prayer. No person is ever going to stay calm 100% of the time. Now, if the title and premise of this book was just a devotional without the prayer jar part it would easily be 5 stars without a doubt. But, since the whole premise of the book is not applicable to the actual book, I was very disappointed and I think others will be as well.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

As someone who shares inspirational messages to a Facebook group there are definitely lots of Hope and instruction packed in.

I would definitely recommend this to my book group and Faith group..

You have no idea how comforting this prayer book is.

Already impressed with the calming cover, the content is no less when it comes to keeping me calm and comforted while reading a page each day when I need it the most.

Go for this collection if you need a comforting, inspirational read each day.

Thank you, Barbour Publishing, for the advance reading copy.

Great devotional! Thank you for this advanced copy. I'm always looking for new devotionals and this one is great on scripture and how to bring HOPE into your life. It was hard to read on the app though as it was very small and when i scrolled it would often jump ahead to the next one.

I loved this book. Enjoyed all the devotional readings centered around the theme of hope. In todays world this is a good devotional book to have and share. Love the idea of starting my own prayer jar with my prayers in them. Will be fun to thing of ideas to decorate my prayer jar to make it special. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher to let me enjoy this book and write my honest opinion on it.

I love the idea of a prayer jar. This book brought me so much hope and inspiration. I can’t wait to put the recommendations into practice. Highly recommend for anyone looking for some good in world in these trying times, a reminder God will protect us and watch over us. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy.

I’m not reading all of this in it’s entirety, because I do them daily but so far I love what I see and it’s awesome!