Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Their mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, they 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 ... Wednesday
Hi Friends,
If you're in town and free, please join us to pray together on Wednesday at
11:00 a.m., in the gym conference room at
First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas.
Please note the new time. We are trying this for one semester so that we have less time conflict with the new women's Bible study that is starting on Wednesdays at 11:30.
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
She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me, " for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."
Genesis 16:13
Dear Intercessors,
El Roi. The God who sees. Hagar first used this name of God when she was fleeing her mistress. In the midst of her flight, she encountered God. A servant -- powerless, hopeless, scared -- fleeing her powerful mistress. Presumably, Hagar didn't have much value assigned to her in the household where she served... another set of hands, another body, another tool. And yet as she was running, she did not escape God's notice. He saw her. And somehow in being seen, Hagar was able to see her worth and to see God.
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| New York Times Photo |
The Rohingya, a persecuted people group in Myanmar we have been praying for over the last few years, is in desperate need of being seen. Over the last few weeks, violence in the camps has escalated and what little outside support they were receiving has mostly ceased as the Myanmar government cracks down on small groups of Rohingya insurgents.
Currently 123,000 Rohingya have fled western Myanmar since August 25, trying to enter Bangladesh as refugees but being turned back at the border.
Sadly, this escalation has corresponded with other headline-grabbing events, such as Hurricane Harvey and the simmering crisis in the Korean peninsula. And as a result, most of the world's attention is diverted elsewhere, and thousands of Rohingya suffer and die without many noticing.
They need to know El Roi.
We need to know El Roi.
We need to open our eyes and see. We need to look at the mothers, scrambling over steep ravines clinging to listless, dehydrated babies, trying to find safety. We need to look at the fathers, backed into corners of deprivation, watching their children slowly starve and being stripped of their land, property, animals, and livelihoods. We need to look at the children, who have grown up knowing only hunger, thirst, sickness, and violence - the spark of childhood innocence and playfulness never able to take root.
We need to confess that we are too quick to focus our attention, empathy, and assistance on neighbors who are close-by... whose tragedies feel more familiar. We ignore those whose sorrows and losses seem so overwhelmingly large and unsolvable. We don't know what to do, so we look away.
And as we see and confess and pray, may we also find some comfort in the fact that we serve a God named El Roi. He sees every single Rohingya person. He sees their sorrow, loss, and pain. He sees their hunger and their heartache. He sees their suffering. Even as we pray for the alleviation of all the brutality they face, may we also pray that in the midst of it all, they are able to behold El Roi, the One who sees them. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Praying with you,
Carrie
PS: Finally, as we see, confess, pray and trust, may we also give thanks for groups like
Partner's Relief and Development who have never fallen silent and who continue to tirelessly work to bring relief, attention, and hope to the Rohingya.
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
Steve and Oddny Gumaer started Partners Relief and Development in response to the needs of refugees and displaced people from Burma, and now in the Middle East, as well. Their mission is to demonstrate, through holistic action, God’s love to children and communities made vulnerable by war in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and other conflict zones.
The China Aid Association is a non-profit Christian organization - based in Midland, Texas - with a mission to uncover and reveal the truth about religious persecution in China, focusing especially on the unofficial church. They do this, they explain in their website, by exposing the abuses, encouraging the abused and equipping the saints to advance the kingdom of God throughout China.
Founded in 2001, Free Wheelchair Mission is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations. Headquartered in Irvine, California, FWM works around the world in partnership with a vast network of humanitarian, faith-based and government organizations, sending wheelchairs to hundreds of thousands of disabled people, providing not only the gift of mobility, but of dignity, independence, and hope.
