The Rugged Road to Freedom: A Prayer Process for Change

As Christians we claim to have found freedom in Jesus Christ. Yet under the surface most Christians would admit that they still struggle with many negative habits-habitual emotional reactions, destructive thoughts, wrong attitudes, addictive behaviors, and deeply rooted relational patterns. Many suffer with a mounting frustration and a sense of failure, wondering if there is truly power to change in the gospel. The Rugged Road to Freedom heralds the need to address these habits as they occur in the moments of the day, illustrating the transformative power of prayer and the need for a conversational relationship with God. In this book, Christian counselor Joy Brewster describes her great difficulty in trying to make changes in her own personal habits, and also in her efforts, as a professional relationship counselor, to enable her clients to change. After searching prayer, she began to develop and practice, both personally and professionally, a "Put Off/Put On" process she saw in many passages of Scripture, developing three steps in each part. This process, she realized, was effective only when she encountered God in very personal, relational prayer in each step. Relating her own experiences, those of her clients, and those of her students, she seeks to convince the reader that this prayer process can bring about true change, mounting freedom, and vastly enriched daily fellowship with God. "I write a lot of these, but few with this much enthusiasm. I have had the privilege for almost eight years to walk alongside Joy in life and work alongside her in ministry. She has been a friend and a mentor, and I have both tasted and seen her wisdom. I have witnessed her take hundreds of people through the process described in Rugged Road-and watched, over and over, genuine transformation take place: the blind see, the deaf hear, and freedom is proclaimed to the captives. I myself have been deeply helped by her. Maybe most convincing of all, Joy's own life is a work of ongoing transformation. She knows that of which she speaks. Now her gift is in your hands." - Mark Buchanan, author of Your God is Too Safe and The Rest of God Joy Brewster is Director of Counseling Ministries at New Life Community Baptist Church in Duncan, British Columbia.