Invitation to Prayer from Faces of Children ... TODAY

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, TODAY

Hi Friends,

Thank you for joining me in prayer for the children of the world. If you can, we'd love to have you pray together with us this Wednesday - TODAY -  at 11:30 a.m., in the gym conference room at First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas, followed by lunch together.

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.

All the best,

Carrie

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Dear Intercessors,

We could have missed this.

It's a refrain that has been echoing around the adoption community for the last few weeks as adoptive families have reflected on their journeys during National Adoption Month. As part of National Adoption Month, November is also a time to encourage more people to consider adoption and ask the church to pray about how she can better care for orphans and foster children. And for many families who hear this call, its an overwhelming prospect. The stakes are high, the cost is huge, and the possible ways that adoption or foster care can introduce heartache, angst, and anxiety into our lives are too many too list.

The call is undoubtedly there... but to say yes? That is terrifying.

But on the other side of the yes? Speaking as an adoptive mama, when I feel my little girl lean in for a hug and hear her tell me she loves me, my heart almost stops when I think, "We could have missed this."

There are so many reasons to say no. It's so expensive. The process is unpredictable. The child might have more medical needs than the file says. She may not adjust well. He might be too angry and disruptive. What if he takes my attention away from the child I already have? How can I meet her needs? I'm not that great of a mama, how could I step up my parenting game to help a child who has experienced such loss? It is so easy to say no.

But this week, a few days after Thanksgiving, I'd like to invite you to listen to the families who have said yes. I want you to see the faces and hear the stories from mamas and daddies who, with hearts full of gratitude for their children, want the world to know, "We could have missed this." You can read hundreds here, or you can simply enjoy just this one:

Photo by Stefanie @ Ni Hao Ya'll

November 18, 2014. In a police station in Changsha China, we had our first glimpse of our girl. Adoption day had been set for the day before but Clementine was in a hospital in Beijing that day - fighting pneumonia and not well enough to leave. On this day, though, she traveled by plane and bus and car to meet us, surely frightened to be leaving all that was familiar. Then, finally, she was carried into the police station wrapped in a thick yellow bunting, flat on her back, and quickly plopped onto a cardboard box for her passport photo.... her last moments as an orphan. Our eyes met: me, a hesitant mama and her, a hesitant daughter. Remnants of medical tape on her face and an IV port still in her ankle, the crackle of her breathing was audible across the room... and I was completely overwhelmed with fear that I was not enough for her. That I didn't know enough, or have enough. What I wasn't counting on, in that moment of almost debilitating fear, was that He is enough. In all things and at all times - He is enough. Adoption is risky and messy, born out of loss and grief, it's the knitting together broken and traumatized people. But oh, if we had allowed fear to have its way in our hearts that day. Because this girl? A million times worth it.

I know I don't speak only for myself as an adoptive parent when I say, but for the grace of God and His spirit guiding us through the steps and leading us through the hard days, we would have missed this! And I'm so grateful we didn't miss it!

In the week after Thanksgiving and at the close of National Adoption Month, I think it is good for us to pause and give thanks for these children and families who are living out the ministry of restoration and healing in their homes. Thank God for these families who demonstrate that He alone can set the lonely in families, bind up the brokenhearted, and care for the fatherless. Please join me in praising God for adoptive families and asking Him to strengthen them emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically. Pray for Him to meet their every need, and to surround them with supportive communities who can help carry them when they are too tired to continue. And please pray for more families to listen to that quiet whisper in their hearts... may it be louder than their fears.

Praying with you,

Carrie

Carrie J. McKean
Faces of Children Director
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas
(432) 684-7821 x153

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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