Dear Readers,
One of the greatest gifts God has given me here in Chicago is a prayer group of multi-cultural women, going on sixteen years now. God has used these amazing “sisters” to turn my life upside down—or maybe I should say “right side up”—taking me deeper in prayer and higher in praise.
Which is where the Yada Yada Prayer Group story begins . . .
As a writer, I wanted to share what God has been teaching me through this group, but you know the drill: “What happens with the sisters stays with the sisters!” So I had to create a fictional group. But what I naively thought would be just one novel became a series of seven novels! I learned that you can’t put twelve feisty women in a novel and expect them to meekly stay there. They all wanted their stories to be told.
The whole Yada Yada journey has been full of surprises. First were the reader letters:
• “I laughed. I cried. It’s been a long time—if ever—that a work of fiction touched me spiritually like this series did. I have begun to think of my prayer life in a whole new way.”
• “Your [novel] has reawakened my desire to have that kind of relationship with God, where praise and thanksgiving are a natural part of my life.”
• “Your thoughtful way of making prayer and praise seem possible is inspiring. The diversity [in your characters] keeps me hopeful.”
• “These books made me want to start a Yada Yada Prayer Group”
This was the second surprise: Yada Yada Prayer Groups began springing up all over the globe. What a thrill—to think that God was using this series to bring women together to pray. Totally knocked my socks off.
And now . . . the Yada Yada sisters are about to be reborn! Thomas Nelson Publishers has repackaged the series with new covers and is sending them out to a new generation of readers. Wahoo! (Wait . . . new covers? Replace the crazy socks? So when I saw the new covers, I showed them to the toughest critic of all—my almost-grown, very with-it granddaughter, who said, “I love these covers! I’d buy a book with a cover like that.” So there you go.)
I’m excited to introduce the Yada Yada sisters to you. While the novels are fiction, the stories and characters were inspired by many real people and events God has used to encourage me and show me the gift of the beautiful diversity within the body of Christ. And the fact that we need each other (see 1 Cor. 12:21–26).
If you join me on this journey, I’d love to hear from you!
DaveNeta@daveneta.com