Praying for a Wounded Child by Virginia Wells is a devotional prayer guide for parents, grandparents, foster and adoptive caregivers, and anyone carrying deep concern for a child who has been traumatized. Wells names her audience with tenderness, then offers this simple reassurance: “God sees your pain and cares. I do too.” That sentence captures the heart of the book. It’s pastoral, personal, and written for people who are tired, confused, and still trying to love well.

The book is built around seven sections that move from the caregiver’s relationship with God, to spiritual practices, family life, child development, trauma, the child’s relationship with God, and the caregiver’s own wellness. Wells doesn’t rush straight into fixing the child. She starts with the adult’s soul, then widens the lens to the whole family and the long work of healing.

Wells’s voice is conversational, faith-filled, and grounded in lived experience. She writes, “This book was carved out of times of desperation,” and that honesty gives the prayers weight. The chapters often combine reflection, Scripture, guided prayer, practical prompts, and “Going Deeper” questions, so the book feels less like a lecture and more like a companion someone might keep beside a Bible, journal, or nightstand.

One of the strongest parts of the book is how specific it gets. Wells writes about abandonment, abuse, neglect, incarceration, prejudice, birth mothers, heritage, education, identity, siblings, marriage, single parenting, and self-care. The prayers don’t stay vague. They give readers language for situations that are often messy, lonely, and hard to talk about. Her reminder that therapy and interventions are encouraged alongside prayer also helps the book feel responsible rather than simplistic.

Praying for a Wounded Child is a warm, Scripture-centered resource for caregivers who want to pray but may not know what to say anymore. It’s not mainly a trauma textbook or a parenting manual. It’s a prayer companion shaped by counseling experience, chaplaincy, parenting, and Christian conviction. For readers who share Wells’s faith framework, it offers steady encouragement, practical reflection, and language for loving a wounded child without forgetting the caregiver’s own need for restoration.

Pages: 292 | ISBN : 978-1646458707