Praying for Families in Greater Montgomery

FAMILY:
Most of you have heard this horrific story from yesterday(link at bottom). It made national news. A family is devastated. I can't even imagine what they are going through right now. We don't know what really went down to get to this point but I think we can all agree that this "didn't happen" overnight. Dad didn't just wake up and decide to kill all five of his children one day. I have been around the foster care/adoption/mental health scene for a very long time now and know that things like this, when they happen, is a build up of YEARS of dysfunction, sin and family issues that are very, very deep. IN MONTGOMERY, every year, many kids are placed into the foster care system because of abuse, neglect and sometimes horrific acts of violence.

Families from ALL walks of life can become prey to this. It is not just the poor or uneducated or blacks or whites. The family is under attack every day....not from necessarily physical attacks but spiritual ones. And it comes in many forms. It does not have to be extreme like the story below. It does not even have to involves social services.....it comes in many forms: rebellion from children, parents bad decisions, mental health problems and the list goes on.

THIS WEEK: pray for families in the GREATER MONTGOMERY area. Here are a few prayer points to guide you to prayer.

1. Pray for parents in our area to stop, think, act before they do something they will regret. Pray for hearts of parents to change. Not every parent will kill all of their children physically, but we can murder our kids with our words...things we can't take back. A kid we fostered once said to me(not that this is okay, but he made a point)-he said: " my bruises healed on my skin from being hit, but the bruises of my moms words have never gone away". 

2. Pray for the kids in our area who go to school every day with sadness, depression, mental health issues and other things that no one ever notices. Pray for someone to notice. 

3. Pray for HEARTS to be changed all over our city, our county and surrounding areas....starting with our own. Only then, can things change. 

4. Pray for your involvement in supporting foster care and adoption. Can you help a family get back on their feet by being a helping family to their kids? Or do you have room for one more kid who needs a family? Pray and see what the Lord tells you. You don't have to have a child in your home to help the foster care and adoption ministry in this area.If you would like more information on supporting this ministry in our area, contact Lisa Rose at 334-271-6794 or email her at lrose@mgmbaptist.org

God's Word says this: "The Lord is CLOSE to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed". Psalm 34:18 


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/09/deputies-seek-5-children-missing-from-sc/15350941/

Get Out of Self.....

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” – Philippians 2:3, NKJV

This is one of the basic premises of being a follower of Christ. Put others first. The way that we can see Montgomery "changed" is that we start thinking of others needs above our own. See, we are very blessed. If we have an intimate relationship with Christ, we already have our needs taken care of. We don't have to scratch and claw for our needs to be met. Jesus has that handled. He really does. 

Because He has that handled in our lives, we can then set aside focusing on self to focusing on being "little Christs" to others especially those who don't have Him to meet their needs. 

In our area, there are thousands of people who woke up this morning hurting, scared and lonely. They are frightened of what the day will hold for them. YOU and I can be that "hope" they need today. Look around you at work, at the grocery store, in the restaurant.....they are hurting....they need God! You have that great gift to give to others.

Ready for the day? I am!! Let's make ourselves get out of "our self" and see the need around us. Ask the Lord to show you the world around you today. See people through Christ's eyes. Don't judge. Minister instead.

Do that because it is the "Christ" thing to do. Crime, Racial issues, poverty, school problems, lack of jobs, consumerism and other core issues that exist in Montgomery can only be overcome if HEARTS are changed. Plans and strategies are good but only HEART CHANGE can make the real difference.