I was in a bar when God called me to make rosaries. And no, I hadn’t been drinking, I’m not Catholic, and I had never made a rosary before. Though for the past twenty years I have collected rosaries, icons, Santos, retablos, and even Jesus action figures, so it seemed to fit. So now I’m trusting God, accepting the call, and running with it, curious to see where it leads.

Since then, I've learned about a format for Protestant (Anglican) prayer beads, which is great for a Methodist girl like me. And that's led to a desire to explore the history of the use of prayer beads among Christians.

I'm also learning that this call was only partially about making rosaries/prayer beads. It seems to be more about prayer, that is, finally getting me to develop a prayer life, to overcome my dis-ease with prayer, and possibly encourage others to prayer as well.

As a result of all this, my husband and son and I have created a company called Prayerworks Studio. Together we are exploring this call, learning to make and sell prayer beads and other tools for prayer. Given that my husband and I both have graduate degrees in theology we will also be leading workshops in prayer to help people strengthen (or even begin!) their prayer life and relationship with God.

We hope you’ll join us on this journey that had somewhat of a kooky beginning, but which proves to be a fascinating and fulfilling adventure. We’re taking it one bead at a time.

If you are interested in purchasing any of our prayer beads, go to: www.prayerworksstudio.etsy.com.

We also write devotions for prayer beads at www.abeadnaprayer.wordpress.com.