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,
We will be meeting this Wednesday - at 11:30 a.m. -, in the gym conference room at First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. I hope you can join us to pray together for children in our community and around the world!
Starting the first Wednesday in May - this Wednesday - we move our meeting time back to 11:30! Hope that enables some of you to rejoin us!
Warmly,
Carrie
Written April 26, 2018
A little girl, the same age as my own eldest daughter, and her three older brothers woke up this morning just a few miles from where my children were waking up. They woke up under the same bright blue sky with the same soft breeze. But today she woke up with no daddy, and all he did was go out for a bike ride with friends. A driver plowed into three riders last night and shattered so many lives in an instant; a heartbreaking loss for our entire community that will reverberate for generations. And as her mama stands looking out the window at the rising sun over her kitchen sink, I can only imagine how she must barely be able to breathe. How do you take those first steps forward when it feels like you're tumbling headlong into the darkest abyss? Oh God, it must feel dark.
Little Gia was born with a broken heart, and how it must have broken over and over again in the years she spent in an orphanage. But in what seemed like a fairy tale ending, she was adopted, had heart surgery, and lived the sweetest and happiest life on a farm, clutching baby rabbits and holding baby chicks in the palm of her hand, surrounded by the nurturing love of a family. Over the last few weeks, we've been praying for her as she fiercely battled to overcome a suddenly failing heart and lungs. She lost her earthly battle this past week, and now her family is burying her... and as her mama stands looking out the window at the rising sun over her kitchen sink, I can only imagine how she must barely be able to breathe. How do you take those first steps forward when it feels like you're tumbling headlong into the darkest abyss? Oh God, it must feel dark.
It feels like madness. The drunk driver gets away unharmed while the man on the bike, a father and community leader and lover of people, is instantly gone. A family goes to the ends of the earth to bring home their daughter, and she dies a few years later. It makes no sense. There's no equation one can follow to sidestep the pain. It feels like we're being swallowed up, tumbling headlong into the darkest abyss.
We can't see you, Father God, but we are standing on the promise that you never forsake us. In some ways, it feels like the greatest sort of human stubbornness to me... this clinging to you when we can't see you in the darkness. But you still remain.
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
Romans 8:26
Help us know how to pray, Father God. We don't have the words to fight this darkness. Sometimes we don't know how to find you in the darkness. Help us not to lose heart. Amen
Praying with you,
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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