Faces of Children: Prayer Requests

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Our mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, we seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Prayer Concerns for the week of 10/03/11

AFRICA - Pray for pregnant women in Africa who lack access to decent medical care because of a shortage of funding, doctors, midwives, health workers, essential medicines, and basic supplies. Pray for the families and children of those who have died during childbirth. An estimated 170,000 African women die each year from pregnancy-related causes.
A report from the New York Times
• Give thanks to God that many African countries are abolishing patient fees for public health care. Pray for government leaders who have authority over these health systems. Pray they manage them with integrity and transparency, and make care for the vulnerable a priority.
• Pray for viable solutions to the complicated issues surrounding the impact of foreign aid on Africa's struggling public health systems. The United States and other donors have given African nations billions of dollars to fight infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, yet most of those African governments have reduced their spending on domestic health care.


THAILAND - Give God thanks and praise for the Garden of Hope's children's ministry project TawSaeng (Thai for "to shine") in a bar/massage parlor district near Chiang Mai's night bazaar.
TawSaeng web page
• Pray for the 38 hill tribe children with whom TawSaeng staff and volunteers minister on a daily basis. Many of these displaced children were ripe for exploitation or sexual abuse as they sold flowers or trinkets in the bar district near their slum homes. Praise God they're at the drop-in center now and not on the streets late at night.
• Thanks be to God for the dedication of TawSaeng's staff and volunteers who reach out to these hill tribe children and provide them with healthy meals, educational assistance, school supplies and uniforms, social survival skills training, and an opportunity to play and study in a safe environment at the children's drop-in center. Give God thanks for providing the resources needed to pay rent and cover the cost of several projects.
• Pray that God will provide the documentation, resources, and training needed for the parents of these ethnic hill tribe children to obtain jobs that pay living wages. Pray for God's encouragement and peace for parents who took their children out of poverty in the village only to find it again in the city.

UNITED STATES - Continue to keep 11-year-old Dallas held close in prayer as he experiences the hard consequences of his mother Betty's * questionable decisions. Betty was recently arrested for driving without insurance and ended up in jail over a holiday weekend. Dallas was placed in foster care when his sitter called police to report Betty for neglect. Please pray that God will bring stability and consistency into Dallas' life. Please pray for his emotional and psychological health. Pray that Betty will maintain her hard won sobriety throughout this difficult experience. Please pray that Betty will make better choices for herself and Dallas in the future.
* Name changed for confidentiality and/or protection
• Pray for the children and families of Minot, North Dakota who, because of heavy flooding last August, were forced from their homes and into temporary housing. Pray for those living in hotels who will now have to move to Red Cross shelters because the hotels are already booked for Norsk Høstfest, North America's largest Scandinavian festival.(http://www.hostfest.com/concerts/index.asp) Pray for those living in tents and campers in their backyards who will also have to move to shelters because the weather is getting colder. Please pray that all of the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) trailers needed to house these families will be put into place quickly.
• Please continue to pray for Ben who suffers from psychological problems as a result of severe physical and emotional abuse in his childhood. Last year Ben had to be placed in a mental hospital because of these issues. Pray for Ben's adoptive parents as they face even more challenges. Four of the children they adopted from a sibling group of five are showing signs of mental illness. Pray for these children as they go through this tough time. Pray for healing and for the peace of God that surpasses all understanding for Ben, his brothers and sisters, and his adoptive parents.

FACES OF CHILDREN - Please continue to pray that more churches and individuals will join with the ministry of Faces of Children in spreading awareness about children in crisis and inviting more people to pray for children at risk.
• Please pray for Brittney, the 26-year-old friend of a Faces of Children prayer partner, as she begins treatment for a very rare form of cancer in a tumor on her neck. Pray that God will comfort and provide for this young woman who must have very radical surgery to treat this type of cancer.
• If you have prayer requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to Chris Laufer, FOC Coordinator, at claufer@facesofchildren.net