But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your loving kindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold And a refuge in the day of my distress. (Psalm 59:16)
Dear Father,
We ask for the miracle of Your comfort for the women who feel the emptiness of their arms and struggle to learn contentment in this season of want. The loss of a child, the inability to conceive, the single woman’s desire for a family break many women’s hearts.
You are Lord of Life and the Giver of Life. You are also the Only One Who will comfort these women with Your love and encouragement. Please help our attendees who are feeling this kind of grief discover how You are meeting this deep need in their heart.
And, we ask for the other women at the retreat to know how to come alongside their sisters who mourn their barrenness. May they be sensitive and welcoming, may they be willing to listen and hold the stories of waiting for a child with dignity and compassion. Please help them to realize they can’t fix this problem but they can be a companion in the sorrow and a pathway for You to restore hope and joy to the hopeless and mourning.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
©2017 Thrive
Attendee Country of Service Prayer Focus Nation: Italy
Challenges for Prayer:
The need for expatriate workers has not diminished, but it has changed. Helping the existing Italian Church mature, expand and reach out, as partners and with a servant attitude, is now needed. Attrition is traditionally high here, often due to inadequate preparation, entrenched opposition and relatively low fruitfulness. Some significant groups (and a number of expatriates) in the country are CB/CMML/EoS, TEAM, Avant, Missions-gesellschaft, Campus Missions International. Italian Ministries is a field-based mission, started in 1998, that has a positive impact in further enabling foreign workers.
Literature and Bible distribution have not had a wide impact due to Italians’ reluctance to read. There are about 15 Christian bookshops, including CLC with nine bookstores and The Bible Society with Italy’s largest Bible and literature centre. Pray for the growing number of Italian publishing houses – ADI Media (AoG), Alfa & Omega (Reformed publishers), GBU and Passaggio, among others. Pray also for the spread of the newly published Bible dictionary (GBU) and theological dictionary (by IFED). Pray for a hunger for God’s Word, for a desire for wholesome Christian literature and that quality material that leads people to Christ would be found in the more than 1,000 Catholic bookshops. The Gideons are active throughout Italy in distributing Scripture. Italy For Christ has spearheaded the distribution of over 600,000 NTs in schools as well as many copies of the evangelistic Book of Hope.
Excerpts taken from Operation World