Prayers: Elizabeth Woolman

I’ve recently re-read John Woolman’s Journal and have found it to be very challenging and nurturing once again. If you haven’t read it yet I can’t recommend it enough (here is a free ebook version. It is also available via independent bookstores like Powells (see below) and Quaker Books). But one of my favorite parts of the Journal is actually the part where he writes out some of the prayers his sister had written in her Journal. While Elizabeth Woolman is not as well-known as her brother John, she clearly had a very deep sense of connection with God as well. Here are some of her prayers:

Oh! that my head were as waters and mine eyes as a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night until acquainted with my God.

O Lord that I may enjoy thy presence, or else my time is lost and my life a snare to the soul.

O Lord that I may receive bread from thy table and that thy grace may abound in me.

O Lord that I may be acquainted with they presence, that I may be seasoned with thy salt, that they grace may abound in me.

The Journal and Major Essays of John Woolman – affiliate Link.