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I Told the Mountain to Move: Learning to Pray So Things Change
Christianity Today Book of the Year Finalist.In the critically acclaimed prayer memoir from award-winning author Patricia Raybon, the Colorado essayist sets out to learn the secrets of mountain-moving prayer. But will her broken marriage, a dying husband, conflicts with adult daughters and her determination to pray for her household lead to a healed family and a renewed faith? In the page-turning depths of I Told the Mountain to Move , Raybon wrestles with her upbringing in a strict, churchgoing family, her questioning about her childhood faith, and her determination to return fully to God in adulthood. This wonderfully written book reaches across racial, denominational, and cultural lines as Raybon discovers that prayer is a deliberate discipline that draws the prayer warrior into a life-changing relationship with a mountain-moving God.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 21, 2006
22 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Raybon
37 books350 followersA newspaper journalist right out of the gate, Patricia turned to writing historical mystery novels during the pandemic and hasn't looked back. Her first fiction is the award-winning Annalee Spain Mystery series whose debut, “All That Is Secret,” won a Christy Award for First Novel. The series' second installment, “Double the Lies,” won the Christianity Today Book Award for Fiction. The third in the series, “Truth Be Told,” was a New York Times' pick among "4 Great Fictional Detectives."
“...[M]ystery novels that incorporate religion in a significant way aren’t all that common. Thankfully, the inspiring Patricia Raybon, a veteran nonfiction writer and novelist, has been threading the needle in just the right way with her Annalee Spain series, set in 1920s Denver.” (Sarah Weinman, New York Times).
"It's something special," says NBA star Steph Curry about the Annalee story. Others agree. "Brava, Patricia. It is captivating." (Jerry B. Jenkins) "Rich with romance and spiritual searching." (Sujata Massey) "A fast-moving mystery.” (Publishers Weekly) “Not only a good mystery, but a realistic insight into the African American experience in the 1920s in the West.” (Rhys Bowen)
Patricia cut her writing teeth in high-pressure newsrooms and won multiple awards for feature writing during her years at The Denver Post and later at the Scripps Howard Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Mid-career she taught print journalism for 15 years to bright graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Now writing full-time, she is a regular contributor at Our Daily Bread and, in addition to writing historical mysteries, is author of two notable memoirs, “My First White Friend,” a winner of the Christopher Award and a Books for a Better Life Award, and “I Told the Mountain to Move: Learning to Pray So Things Change,” a Book of the Year finalist in Christianity Today’s Book Awards. Patricia was also inducted into the Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame.
A lifelong Colorado resident, Patricia is mom to two grown daughters, a “Grammy” to five grandchildren, mother-in-law to one “son,” and the wife of 48 years to her husband Dan Raybon, a retired educator. Patricia and Dan share a passion for movies, popcorn, college hoops, and historical dramas and mysteries on Masterpiece on PBS.
Join her on the journey at her Reader’s Circle at patriciaraybon.com and get her free prayer download, “The Busy Person’s Guide to Hearing God.”
“...[M]ystery novels that incorporate religion in a significant way aren’t all that common. Thankfully, the inspiring Patricia Raybon, a veteran nonfiction writer and novelist, has been threading the needle in just the right way with her Annalee Spain series, set in 1920s Denver.” (Sarah Weinman, New York Times).
"It's something special," says NBA star Steph Curry about the Annalee story. Others agree. "Brava, Patricia. It is captivating." (Jerry B. Jenkins) "Rich with romance and spiritual searching." (Sujata Massey) "A fast-moving mystery.” (Publishers Weekly) “Not only a good mystery, but a realistic insight into the African American experience in the 1920s in the West.” (Rhys Bowen)
Patricia cut her writing teeth in high-pressure newsrooms and won multiple awards for feature writing during her years at The Denver Post and later at the Scripps Howard Rocky Mountain News in Denver. Mid-career she taught print journalism for 15 years to bright graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Now writing full-time, she is a regular contributor at Our Daily Bread and, in addition to writing historical mysteries, is author of two notable memoirs, “My First White Friend,” a winner of the Christopher Award and a Books for a Better Life Award, and “I Told the Mountain to Move: Learning to Pray So Things Change,” a Book of the Year finalist in Christianity Today’s Book Awards. Patricia was also inducted into the Colorado Authors' Hall of Fame.
A lifelong Colorado resident, Patricia is mom to two grown daughters, a “Grammy” to five grandchildren, mother-in-law to one “son,” and the wife of 48 years to her husband Dan Raybon, a retired educator. Patricia and Dan share a passion for movies, popcorn, college hoops, and historical dramas and mysteries on Masterpiece on PBS.
Join her on the journey at her Reader’s Circle at patriciaraybon.com and get her free prayer download, “The Busy Person’s Guide to Hearing God.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 1, 2020
I wanted to like this better than I did. I appreciated her honesty. She discussed her journey with prayer and her struggles. Most of that revolved around an incident when she almost lost her husband to a severe medical condition. She was candid. She I don't think I quite click with her writing style. Sometimes she would flashback and I had a hard time following her timeline and where she was going. There was also much of this book that read like a memoir. I think she might have wanted to write two separate books- One book focused on her prayer journey and another book as a memoir.
July 12, 2021
This book is a very personal account of how prayer changed her life. It describes a growth process over a specific span of years in her life and in history. It is often self-effacing, which is refreshing. The book clearly demonstrates the power of prayer to connect with God and make a difference.
November 19, 2012
Ms. Raybon was sincere and authentic. I enjoyed the book a lot. She is an inspiration.
December 16, 2018
This was an excellent book. When I first started reading it I couldn’t put it down. It was great to see how the author shared her fears and struggles of having a spouse who was on the verge of death and how her faith in God gave her the strength to get through it. And, it was inspiring to see how she prayed through the experience of her daughter straying away from the faith; how God just taught her how to love through prayer. And even amazing still was how God transformed her relationship with her mother. I learned that through prayer we can accomplish and do anything. I knew it, but seeing it played out in the author’s life just left a visual and an example of God’s love and grace that is difficult to erase. I have two wonderful sons who have loosened their grasp from Jesus but after reading this book, I’ve been inspired to stop worrying and to continue loving them and trust that God has them. This book has truly blessed my life,
August 24, 2022
“I Told the Mountain to Move” by Patricia Raybon is about a woman’s spiritual journey. She ties in the stories of her life into lessons about prayer.
A book read in a ‘ here and there’ fashion, it worked because her lessons were better
Many Bible verses and quotes from spiritual writers throughout, Raybon’s story is humbling and honest.
Well written and heartfelt.
A book read in a ‘ here and there’ fashion, it worked because her lessons were better
Many Bible verses and quotes from spiritual writers throughout, Raybon’s story is humbling and honest.
Well written and heartfelt.
March 25, 2022
Such a practical guide to prayer. Because Raybon tells the stories of what she prayed for and how she got answered, the prayer lessons have more context. Lots of pithy quotes. Most impactful personally—prayer is basking in God’s presence.
December 17, 2020
The author gets stars for her honesty and for the number of underlines in my personal copy.
August 2, 2021
I loved how well this written and how much heart and truth that is written . It is amazing how someone can tell there life story .
September 12, 2023
I challenge you to read this book and not be inspired.
October 11, 2018
I've found a wonderful Author in Patricia Raybon.
Her book on prayer personally challenged me.
Her book on prayer personally challenged me.
February 5, 2010
This book has changed my prayer life. Raybon writes with shocking honesty about her own foibles, but the hope she generates for a powerful prayer life is the result. She deserves credit not only for a well-crafted story, but also for a message that is too important to miss.
Raybon's previous book, My First White Friend, provides insight into her journey to forgiveness for racial injustices. This book is such an ironic follow-up that you almost have to wonder if God wasn't having just a little bit of fun with Raybon, teaching her to let go in the most audacious ways. She not only has to let go and forgive white people; now she has to love and forgive even when her daughter chooses to leave her Christian faith to become Muslim. Even worse, her daughter meets and decides to marry (what could be worse?) a white guy--also Muslim. Oh, the irony that his Muslim name is Aesa--Jesus, in Arabic.
Well, what can you do but shake your head and chuckle? And you have to wonder if God in his heaven isn't chuckling too, only because he knows that his daughter Patricia will indeed let go, trust, love--and learn to even laugh at herself in the process. And He knows that his grace is sufficient for, well, even for this.
For anyone who has felt that their world was spiraling out of control, this book is a great reminder that--surprise, surprise--we were never in control in the first place. The good--no, the stupendously good news is that our good and loving God IS in control. And we can rest in that.
We can rest in the first lesson that Raybon learned through her husband's sudden and serious illness: No matter what our challenge, no matter how big our fears, how big our doubts, how big our problems--God is bigger. That truth was the foundational start of her new life of prayer.
Her ensuing lessons on prayer are equally profound because she helps us to see what it means to pray "according to the will of the Father." It is in the act of understanding, surrendering, and, yes, even partnering with God's will that we can come to God in prayer with astounding confidence. Jesus said, "If you ask for anything in my name, it will be done." When you pray according to God's will, you can confidently tell the mountain to move. Raybon learned, though, that prayer isn't so much about what we get as about who we become. Our daily living--especially how we love--is intimately linked to our prayer posture.
The challenge to me, and probably to others, is to listen long enough to hear and learn God's will, through prayer, through scripture, and through loving others. Raybon's book provides a great instruction guide on how to listen and apply, in practical and sometimes surprising ways, all that God speaks to us in prayer. The book will challenge you, move you, and make you laugh out loud at times.
For the record, my favorite line comes where she has refused to listen to the news anymore (after 9/11) and chosen instead to go for a walk each day with an easy listening station in her earphones, singing her heart out to the sounds of Englebert Humperdinck and Vicki Carr. "Holy Ghost music? Had to be. When a black woman listens to Vicki Carr and Englebert Humperdinck, the only way to explain it is the Holy Ghost."
Read this book. You'll laugh at such honesty, but you'll walk away with profound prayer lessons to last a lifetime.
Raybon's previous book, My First White Friend, provides insight into her journey to forgiveness for racial injustices. This book is such an ironic follow-up that you almost have to wonder if God wasn't having just a little bit of fun with Raybon, teaching her to let go in the most audacious ways. She not only has to let go and forgive white people; now she has to love and forgive even when her daughter chooses to leave her Christian faith to become Muslim. Even worse, her daughter meets and decides to marry (what could be worse?) a white guy--also Muslim. Oh, the irony that his Muslim name is Aesa--Jesus, in Arabic.
Well, what can you do but shake your head and chuckle? And you have to wonder if God in his heaven isn't chuckling too, only because he knows that his daughter Patricia will indeed let go, trust, love--and learn to even laugh at herself in the process. And He knows that his grace is sufficient for, well, even for this.
For anyone who has felt that their world was spiraling out of control, this book is a great reminder that--surprise, surprise--we were never in control in the first place. The good--no, the stupendously good news is that our good and loving God IS in control. And we can rest in that.
We can rest in the first lesson that Raybon learned through her husband's sudden and serious illness: No matter what our challenge, no matter how big our fears, how big our doubts, how big our problems--God is bigger. That truth was the foundational start of her new life of prayer.
Her ensuing lessons on prayer are equally profound because she helps us to see what it means to pray "according to the will of the Father." It is in the act of understanding, surrendering, and, yes, even partnering with God's will that we can come to God in prayer with astounding confidence. Jesus said, "If you ask for anything in my name, it will be done." When you pray according to God's will, you can confidently tell the mountain to move. Raybon learned, though, that prayer isn't so much about what we get as about who we become. Our daily living--especially how we love--is intimately linked to our prayer posture.
The challenge to me, and probably to others, is to listen long enough to hear and learn God's will, through prayer, through scripture, and through loving others. Raybon's book provides a great instruction guide on how to listen and apply, in practical and sometimes surprising ways, all that God speaks to us in prayer. The book will challenge you, move you, and make you laugh out loud at times.
For the record, my favorite line comes where she has refused to listen to the news anymore (after 9/11) and chosen instead to go for a walk each day with an easy listening station in her earphones, singing her heart out to the sounds of Englebert Humperdinck and Vicki Carr. "Holy Ghost music? Had to be. When a black woman listens to Vicki Carr and Englebert Humperdinck, the only way to explain it is the Holy Ghost."
Read this book. You'll laugh at such honesty, but you'll walk away with profound prayer lessons to last a lifetime.
December 21, 2012
This is a great read for this time of year. Real life conflicts, anger, race, and a past very painful to remember, pilots Patricia Raybon on a path of prayer, and a close relationship with God.
This follows her very personal journey through life trials that very few of us can even imagine. Her connection with God was never completely severed but her faith was tested every step of the way, until she realizes that God never lost faith in her, it was she that lacked the faith in God.
Her journey back to that close relationship is what she has longed for her entire life. This is a very inspiring and personal trip that she shares with the reader.
It's good to renew your faith on a daily basics, and this will help you to learn how to do just that.
This follows her very personal journey through life trials that very few of us can even imagine. Her connection with God was never completely severed but her faith was tested every step of the way, until she realizes that God never lost faith in her, it was she that lacked the faith in God.
Her journey back to that close relationship is what she has longed for her entire life. This is a very inspiring and personal trip that she shares with the reader.
It's good to renew your faith on a daily basics, and this will help you to learn how to do just that.
August 8, 2009
I read this book a couple of years ago and remember soaking it in like a sponge. One of the things I like is that you are being taught on a subject of great importance, but you are reading a story that grabs your heart and your mind at the same time. Did I mention that it's incredibly well written and the author does an amazing job of teaching one to pray.
Not in a drab way- but in a way that makes sense- because it's by her own experience.
I think it might be time to read it again.
Not in a drab way- but in a way that makes sense- because it's by her own experience.
I think it might be time to read it again.
March 6, 2010
I couldn't put this book down! It's non-fiction, but Patricia Raybon is a fantastic writer, and it reads more like a novel. I admire her courage to be honest about her journey. It was just the encouragement I needed, and as this was a library book, I will be looking to buy my own copy to reread and to loan to others.......Awesome!
August 17, 2014
Prefacing this review, I'm a Muslim convert. My mother read this book after I had converted and hearing the author's own experience of a devout Christian coming to terms with her daughter's conversion to Islam was very helpful for her. She encouraged me to read this book and I also found it very helpful in understanding my mother's feelings.
March 22, 2021
Mountains of similarities
This book was like reading about my own life .. even the authors ways, and thoughts. I totally identified from chapter to chapter. Excellent and well written. So I purchased another one of her books. Thank you Patricia Raybon this has been and is a blessing to me.
This book was like reading about my own life .. even the authors ways, and thoughts. I totally identified from chapter to chapter. Excellent and well written. So I purchased another one of her books. Thank you Patricia Raybon this has been and is a blessing to me.
January 13, 2015
Best book on prayer I have ever read. Reads like an autobiography of one who was and is fighting the Good Fight. Encouraging to read about one who has had the same ups and downs as I have. High quality storytelling in prose that sometimes sounds like true heart poetry.
July 22, 2007
Love love this book.. all about praying and how God shows up when you least expect it! Great read!
August 4, 2008
Well written. Insightful. Part memoir, part inspiration, and part motivation.
May 10, 2009
Fairly disappointing, gets very repetitive after a while.
Read
September 29, 2010Can't remember. Probably because I was coming out of one of the worst depressive episodes of my life and a book about prayer would have been a little painful. May give it another look.
December 25, 2010
Powerful book.
August 2, 2011
A practical guide on how to pray effectively. It is a book that I am always going back to for help in communicating with God.
August 13, 2011
A great read about prayer and a memoir too.
September 17, 2012
This is an excellent book, well-written and absorbing. Patricia Raybon shares her struggles with faith and how she learns to pray and trust God in all the big (and small) issues of life.
January 30, 2013
This book really spoke to my heart and gave me great inspiration and hope. This is so real and honest. A great help to me with my prayer life.
January 12, 2016
Absolutely love it!
December 4, 2012
REALLY loved this book. It was great for my faith! <3
spiritual
May 16, 2017Shelf 2
March 30, 2017
Surprisingly Inspiring. Wasn't sure of the book at the start but I read it all and I'm glad I did. A really good way to introduce anybody to a deeper relationship with God. I have come away with a big lesson in prayer 'God bless it or blow it up". Well done. I love it so much I made reference of the book on my dailybibledeclarations.com blog with the title Bible Declarations for Christians waiting on God in prayer. Think you'll enjoy the book too.
Surprisingly Inspiring. Wasn't sure of the book at the start but I read it all and I'm glad I did. A really good way to introduce anybody to a deeper relationship with God. I have come away with a big lesson in prayer 'God bless it or blow it up". Well done. I love it so much I made reference of the book on my dailybibledeclarations.com blog with the title Bible Declarations for Christians waiting on God in prayer. Think you'll enjoy the book too.
Surprisingly Inspiring. Wasn't sure of the book at the start but I read it all and I'm glad I did. A really good way to introduce anybody to a deeper relationship with God. I have come away with a big lesson in prayer 'God bless it or blow it up". Well done. I love it so much I made reference of the book on my dailybibledeclarations.com blog with the title Bible Declarations for Christians waiting on God in prayer. Think you'll enjoy the book too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews