1 Week Left!!

Sweet prayer warriors!! 1 week left of the October challenge!!

24 days of prayer so far. 7 days left.

Has God been growing your heart for the orphans through this?? Convicting you?? Encouraging you?? I hope and pray so!!

If you need some inspiration for the last 7 days, my bloggy friend Sharon shared this link with me: http://www.pearpod.com/oc/downloads/40DaysofPrayer.pdf I wish I had known about this at the beginning of the month!! But I'm definitely going to utilize it for the last 7 daysof this prayer challenge and then keep it up until I finish the 40 Days of Prayer that it gives.

I already know what we're going to do next month and I'm EXCITED!!! Get ready for a hands-on opportunity to serve children in another country without leaving your town!! :)

Belief

God has definitely been working in my heart the past few weeks as I've prayed for the fatherless.

He is breaking me again in places that I don't want to be broken. He's brought my thoughts and emotions back to the children who have captured my heart. Both children I've met and those who have no face, no voice, but are oh SO THERE. I just feel the heaviness of the knowledge of the millions of children.

It hurts. It hurts to remember, to be reminded. It hurts to acknowledge disappointment, shattered dreams, the reality of the future for many of these kids.

It shakes me to the core.

The Lord has shown me the past few weeks my lack of belief. Yes I pray. But do I pray with HOPE? Do I pray believing that God IS going to do something? I talk about it alot. All the time really. I preach it to myself everyday. That there is hope for these kids.

But sometimes I just can't get that into my heart. As I look back now, I realize the Lord met me last week late at night. I was having one of those days. Those days where your heart is heavy, where this life I'm living feels rather meaningless compared to the work I could be doing, where Guatemala feels far away, where hope of Claudia ever getting adopted feels oh so unlikely.

I was laying in bed and was just really wrestling with God. As I prayed I had the realization that I wasn't believing. I was praying but I prayed with doubt, guarding my heart. Did I believe God was big enough? Yes. Did I believe He could and would do things? Yes. Was I believing it for these kids, specifically Claudia? Nope.

I cried as the conviction settled in my heart. I was so ashamed of the lack of faith and hope that I had.

There IS hope for these kids. Our prayers ARE being heard,and answered according to His sovereign will. I DO believe this without a shadow of a doubt. I just needed to be reminded.

"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."
Psalm 31:24



I think all of you read my primary blog ( http://www.guatemolly1.blogspot.com ). But in case you haven't, it's time you meet Claudia.

Week 1!!

We've almost finished week 1 of October Challenge. Thank you prayer warriors, and thank you sweet ones for commenting. It is so encouraging.

As I've been praying this past week the Lord has been turning my prayers not to provision of physical needs for the orphans (though this is important) but to their hearts.

Whenever I pray for Claudia, I always pray that the Lord would grow her relationship with Jesus. By God's grace, at the moment she is in an orphanage where she does get to learn about Christ. She goes to church and attends a fabulous Christian school. But she is one very fortunate little girl. This is not the norm for most of the orphans. Many of them have nobody to tell them about Jesus. We need to be praying for the salvation of these kids.

One thing the Lord has done in my heart since experiencing Guatemala has been an expansion of my focus. Before Guatemala, I always thought of orphans as being little babies. There are many many babies, but there are also orphans who are even 15 years old. There are teenage orphans who are searching for a purpose, hope, something to believe in. That thing is Christ. We need to be praying that God would place people in these kids lives who will share the hope of Jesus with them.

The human heart is a beautiful, tender, sensitive thing. We feel deep. Really deep. Children are no different. Many of these kids hearts have been bruised, broken, and pierced by abuse and neglect. Kids are even coming home to their families with stories of mistreatment from their orphanages- places that should provide shelter and refuge for them. These kids hearts are full of doubt, fear, and mistrust. They wonder what is wrong, why they don't have a family, what did they do to deserve this loneliness?? Their hearts are broken and hurting.

So as you go to the Father in prayer, pray for the binding of the brokenhearted, healing of the wounds that these children have received. The Father knows their hearts and their needs better than we ever can.

Thank you sweet prayer warriors. Together we will entrust these children to Him!