Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.
But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
Luke 5:5
Lord, you created us to be workers, even when work is hard to find. Please provide work for the young people from Mia’s Children who are moving into life on their own. Use them in the Romanian workforce to bless the nations. And show your comfort and provision to those close to us who are also in need of work. Amen.
Mia is flying to Milan today to see a doctor about some problems with her ear that might be very complicated. She has seen numerous doctors in Romania to no avail, and now she has the chance to get a firm diagnosis through a specialist.
Our great thanks to friends from Switzerland who took it upon themselves to find a doctor and fly her to Italy!
Please pray that the doctors will know what to do and how to help her. Please also pray for Costi and Oana – Mia’s son and daughter-in-law – as they temporarily lead the mission while Mia is away.
Mia is in great spirits. She writes, “Through faith we are confident that His plan for us is beyond what we can imagine, and even through pain and suffering His glory is perfect.”
We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love,
and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 1:3
Lord, this week we thank you for the way your Church has survived in Romania after decades of severe persecution. We thank you for the many saints who endured torture and death without denouncing you. Please use their legacies to continue growing your church in Romania. Teach us by their example how to love you more and how to endure when you ask us to. Amen.
(CNN) — Romania has become a major transit for the sale of people into the European Union. Victims as young as 12 years old are trafficked into Romania from destinations as far-reaching as Honduras, Afghanistan, the Congo, and China. Once they reach Romania, many of these victims are assigned for passage beyond into Western Europe.
While Romanian law officially prohibits all forms of human trafficking, the country’s strategic geographic location — a crossroads between East and West — makes it a source, transit and destination country for the people trade. The country’s 2007 admission into the European Union brought more relaxed border regulations and enhanced its attraction for international human traffickers.
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5
God, please give Romanians the hope that comes from knowing your love. Many people in Eastern Europe are still very affected by half a century under communism. They struggle with despair and cynicism. Make Mia’s Children a place where Romanian young people can break the bonds of communism by learning to trust in you and experience hope for their futures. Amen.
Our winter newsletter is on its way, and in it we’ve included pictures of the new headquarters, along with a few remaining needs for the building.
Many needs have already been met by volunteers in Romania and donors in the United States. One particularly large end-of-year gift went to cover 40 sets of dishes and a video monitoring system for the building!
One of the biggest needs still unmet is a set of fire alarms/smoke detectors. The building is so big that we need 10! Including installation, the cost comes to $700.
Will you consider giving to this effort? We are praying for seven $100 gifts, ten $70 gifts, or twenty $35 gifts. On our right sidebar we’ve added a fundraising thermometer that we’ll keep updated as together we reach this goal!
Let this be written for a future generation,
that a people not yet created may praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high,
from heaven he viewed the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners
and release those condemned to death.”
Psalm 102:18-20
God we pray this week for the many people unjustly imprisoned in Eastern Europe even today. Please give them your peace and hope in a place filled with despair. We pray for all of the prisoners in Romania, that you would treat them with compassion and free them from the brokenness that has brought them there. Please teach us to love prisoners in our own country and around the world, and to fight for their salvation, as you do. Amen.
See, a king will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water in the desert
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
Isaiah 32:1-2
Lord, we pray this week for the rulers who you have placed over Romania. Please give them wisdom and compassionate hearts for the people of their country. We pray for President Traian Băsescu, and for the Romanian parliament, that they would bow to your leadership first and foremost. Please protect them from the sins of pride and oppression, and protect your people through their governance. Amen.
Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises, he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth.”
– Hosea 6:3 (NIV)
God we pray for the many men, women and children who do not have a warm place to live and sleep this winter. Please protect them from the cold, and from hopelessness and despair. Use us, your living presence on earth, to show them your compassion and to care for their needs. Amen.
O righteous God,
who searches minds and hearts,
bring an end to the violence of the wicked
and make the righteous secure.
Psalm 7:9
We pray for the many victims of violence in our world. Be their great comforter.