Book Review: The Yada Yada Prayer Group

A librarian friend recommended this compelling series of books by Neta Jackson (www.daveneta.com). The main character, Jodi Baxter, is a white, middle class, 3rd grade teacher, mother of 2 teenagers, living in Chicago. She and her husband moved from the suburbs to work with an inner city church plant. The series begins when Jodi attends a Women's Conference and is assigned to Prayer Group 26, 12 very racially and culturally diverse women. When the son of one of the members is shot while they are at the conference, the group decides to continue to meet to pray. They jokingly call themselves "the yada yada prayer group," with the sense that the name is unimportant. But one of the members discovers that yada is Hebrew, meaning "to know, be known, and to make known." Throughout the series, the group of women, their spouses, and their children learn a lot about each other and God as they grow together in prayer. I am currently reading Book 4, The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough. It is a gripping story of spiritual warfare as the black husband of one of the members is beaten nearly to death in a conflict with a white supremacist group. Mark Smith lies in a coma after brain surgery while the Yada Yada Prayer Group and their husbands stand behind and around him in prayer. The imagery of him lying in ICU, swathed in bandages and tubes, brings back memories of my son David, who suffered traumatic brain injury when he was hit by a car 6 weeks after his wedding (no doubt that will be the subject of a future post). Family and friends grieve and rage and finally come to the point of praise that God is in control. The Yada Yada Prayer Group learns to praise God for every breath Mark takes. Will he recover? I haven't gotten that far yet, but you wouldn't want me to give away the ending, would you?