Most Americans know George Washington as the father of our country, a dedicated patriot, brilliant general and gifted leader who guided our fledgling nation through bitter revolution and became our first president. He was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen. What most people don’t know is that Washington was a deeply spiritual man.

A devout Christian, Washington’s religious beliefs influenced his life as a young surveyor on the dangerous frontier through his heroics as a militia leader in the French and Indian War to the dark days of Valley Forge and the triumph of the presidency. He was held in the highest regard by his fellow citizens and history has canonized him as the most esteemed of the Founding Fathers. At the root of that esteem was his spirituality.

In The Spiritual Journey of George Washington , bestselling author Janice T. Connell examines the spiritual life of our first president. She takes us on a journey from his boyhood scarred by the early death of his father to the pinnacle of the presidency.

Washington was no stranger to sorrow, cold, hunger, persecution, violence, or terrorism. His great accomplishment was to face misfortune and conquer it. He achieved his victory by discipline, commitment, prayer, and the graced ability to bend his will under the yoke of Divine Providence.

Featuring the full text of Washington’s private prayers (some possibly composed by Washington himself), The Spiritual Journey of George Washington shines a light on the previously unrecognized faith of our Founding Father, illuminating his personal religious convictions and explaining how they guided his public acts of heroism and his philosophy of governance.

In this modern world, wracked by wars, terrorism, disease, starvation, immorality, and tyranny, George Washington has much to teach us. His accomplishments and writing disclose that Providence was in him, around him, and always with him, as It must be with us.