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).Invitation to Prayer, TOMORROW
Hi Friends,
I look forward to our prayer time together this Wednesday at 11:30, in the gym conference room at First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, followed by lunch.
Also, Faces of Children is now on Facebook ! I invite you to like our page so that you can see regular stories, prayer needs, and updates from partner ministries.
Thank you!
Carrie
Dear Intercessors,
This last week, I had the incredible opportunity to attend International Justice Mission's Global Prayer Gathering in Washington DC. Along with 3 other members of our Faces of Children Leadership Team, I gathered with 1,600 of our brothers and sisters from around the world to learn about the anti-slavery work of IJM and pray for God's justice to roll down like a mighty river.
There are so many things that I learned in my time there. But perhaps the most impactful was a simple exchange with one of IJM's staff from India. An attorney who works to free slaves named "R" and I had a chance to pray together during one of the sessions. After our prayer time, I opened up my schedule to see what was next on the day's agenda, and the booklet fell open to a photograph of an Indian family joyfully clutching their official Release Certificates, the legal papers proving they are no longer slaves. "R" pointed at the picture and rather casually said, "They were my first case. I helped free them."
I paused to really take the picture in... to let their joyous smiles of freedom sink deep into my heart. Relief, hope, expectation, pride - all of this shone through the picture, and I knew I was seeing the Imago Dei; the image of God. Freedom is the mark of His sons and daughters, and this family was radiant with it.
I asked R about what happened next... did they go home to their village? What kept them from being snared again in slavery's dark net? His answer surprised me. He told me about IJM's two-year aftercare program every freed slave participates in. In a country thick with complicated caste-system rules and traditions, resulting in generations of people vulnerable to the abusive power of others, R said the key to protecting former slaves from becoming slaves again is their own understanding.
"When they understand they are free, no one can enslave them again."
When they know who they are, they are truly free.
I came back to Midland and joined others in my community to listen to the co-founders of NightLight International Ministies, Natalie Shirley and Annie Dieselberg, talk about the root causes of human trafficking in the commercial sex industry. NightLight staff work both in Bangkok and the USA with women in the commercial sex industry, and they said that regardless of the country, a common denominator among the women is that their childhoods were almost always characterized by abuse, neglect, and rampant devaluation. They are susceptible to traffickers because they do not understand they have value. They do not look in the mirror and see the Imago Dei.
They do not know who they are, so they are not free.
Father, help us to raise a generation of children who know their value and understand they are created in your image. For those children who have been discarded, thrown away, and scorned, help us to be instruments of their healing; piecing together shattered lives with joyful expectation they will someday understand they are created in your image. Father, help us to slow down in our busy lives so that we can notice those around us and really see the Imago Dei in them; in your mercy, enable us to call it forth and fan it into flames when it seems to be only the faintest of flickers. And perhaps most of all, help us to see the Imago Dei in ourselves and live in the freedom that comes from knowing who we are as your sons and daughters; for until we walk in the truth of our identity in you, we cannot fully bring this truth and freedom to others.
Sincerely,
Carrie
Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153
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 info@facesofchildren.net
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