Australia
·
Please keep the
children and people of New South Wales, Australia close in prayer as they deal
with huge bushfires in the greater Sydney area, the Blue Mountains, and the
Hunter valley. Pray for those who have lost homes and livelihoods in the 58
fires burning in this region. http://tinyurl.com/kz7ggqt http://tinyurl.com/6lv34e
·
Pray for children
whose schools and daycare centers have been closed because of the dangerous
threat the fires pose. Pray for children and families who have yet to evacuate
in regions threatened by the bushfires.
·
Please pray for
the safety of the hundreds and hundreds of firefighters working to contain and
extinguish these massive fires. http://tinyurl.com/kbvtrvf http://tinyurl.com/l2mvp9m
http://tinyurl.com/kcd5e3y
Child Brides
·
Please lift in prayer
the 38,000 girls who are sold into marriage every day in what UNICEF calls “the
most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls.” Pray for girls
who are married off or sold to much older men, leaving child brides to be subjects,
not partners, of their husbands. Pray for girl children who experience marital
rape in unions where they have no power or control. http://tinyurl.com/kflcxco
·
Please keep in
prayer the thousands of girls from Egypt’s poor rural communities who are
trafficked into child sex tourism under the guise of temporary “marriages.” In
an effort to get around Islamic rules against pre-marital sex, underage girls
are sold by their parents into these temporary “marriages” to wealthy men
visiting from Gulf countries. Pray for those whose “marriages” last a couple of
days or weeks…some girls have been “married” 60 times by the time they are 18
years old.
Pakistan
·
Pray for the children
and families of Pakistan’s Christian community who were affected by the Sunday morning,
September 22 attack on All Saints Church in Peshawar. Pray for the family and
friends of the 85 people killed in the suicide bombing…many were children
attending Sunday school. http://tinyurl.com/l4xl78r
·
Please keep in
prayer the estimated 120 injured in the attack, what church leaders call the
deadliest attack on Christians in the country’s 66-year history.
·
Pray for
14-year-old Shaloom Nazir who lost his mother, father, sister, brother, and
uncle in the bombing. Please pray God will bring him comfort and surround him
with a community of love and support.
·
Give thanks to
God for the outpouring of support for some victims by their Muslim neighbors. Pray
for harmony between the minority Christian population and the majority Muslim population.
·
Pray Christians,
who make up only 1 to 2 percent of Pakistan’s population, will be protected
from violent acts like this by Islamist militants. http://tinyurl.com/mvbdxsf
United States
·
Give God thanks
for 11-year-old Jordan Peterson’s return home to North Dakota following nearly
a year spent in Houston where he had a double-lung transplant. Thanks be to God
for the success of Jordan’s transplant surgery…he has been cleared by doctors
to play hockey again. http://tinyurl.com/npbv2q2
·
Please keep close
in prayer Laura and her husband Steve, and their three children: 6-year-old
Trent and 3-year-old twins Amber and Tara. Laura has been diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer and has been given a very short time to live. Pray Laura and
her family will find moments of joy in this difficult season and that God will
comfort them all and bring them peace. Pray for a community of support to
surround this young family in crisis.
·
Give thanks to
God that 17-year-old Teresa* has managed to overcome her difficult home
situation so far and is doing well in her senior year of high school. Continue
to pray God will protect her from the high risk environment in her biological
mother’s home. Teresa’s mother frequently spent her time drinking with men in her
apartment, exposing her teenage daughter to harmful situations. Thanks be to
God for Teresa’s recent acceptance into a university where she plans to study
forensic science. She is the first in her immediate family to attend college.
*Name changed for confidentiality and/or protection.
Faces of Children
·
Keep the Faces of
Children exhibit team in prayer as they share this ministry with the participants
at the Synod of the South Atlantic 2013 Gathering of Presbyterian Women on St.
Simon’s Island, Georgia. Give God thanks for the women whom God is calling to
visit the Faces of Children exhibit booth this week. Pray the hearts and minds
of those with whom the team visits will be open to praying for children through
Faces of Children.
