I appreciate SO MUCH your putting together the wonderful site about Elizabeth Goudge.

It is tremendous to have such resources available!

Thanks for this month’s article about A Diary of Prayer. Among my favourite materials are the prayers Goudge composed herself, including one For Children which I have prayed nightly since my children were conceived. I have used the collection daily for many, many years, enriching my prayer life.

I love Miss Goudge — As C. S. Lewis mentioned George MacDonald as his mentor and spiritual guide, Goudge is mine.

Mary Burrows

Dear Mary,

Thank you so much for your support of the site and your kind words regarding a Question of Faith.

I have to confess to no knowledge of the prayers that Elizabeth wrote and would be very grateful if you could give me some information on where I could read them.

I agree totally about the prayers enriching our lives, as so much of her work does. She is definitely a mentor of mine too.

Hi Deborah,

It is my own assumption (and a deep feeling I get) that the prayers that are printed without attribution at the bottom or the word “Anonymous” at the bottom are her own prayers. Of course, I may be mistaken.

They seem to me to be very special prayers — there are some in every section (but I do not have the book here where I am typing). One in particular has been very meaningful to me since I pray it every night:

Lord, as once the mothers of Israel brought their children to you that you might bless them, so now we come before you, bringing in our hearts those children most precious to us. Kneeling in the shadow of your love for them, your most glorious and perfect prayer to the father for them, we say their names in your presence___________. You alone know what awaits them in life, and the special needs of each one of them, and we humbly trust them to your never-failing mercy and almighty love. We ask only that throughout their lives they may do and bear what is your will for them as perfectly as they are able, and that you will keep them close to you, now and forever.

There is a beautiful prayer in the July section about forgetting self that is un-attributed — I wish I could quote it here.

Blessings,

Mary