WORLD DAY OF PRAYER

 

Celeste welcomed ladies to the World Day of Prayer meeting at 9:30 on Friday, March 3rd. A nice brunch of pastries and fruit was enjoyed.  The theme this year was "I Heard About your Faith" inspired by Ephesians 1:15-19. Women of the World Day of Prayer Committee of Taiwan wrote the program.

About 8 local churches and 60 women were present. 

 Taiwan  was covered with prayer. 

 Letters to women in Taiwan were read telling about their struggles and their faithfulness. 

A middle-aged women who had been a homemaker for years needed to find a job to support her family. Social rules said she was neglecting her family by working. While taking care of her family was the reason for getting a job. She trusted God's guidance and found a way to support her family by teaching traditional weaving. She is a wonderful blessing that inspires other women.

Her father told her to get a job rather then pursue her education. Marriage was more important than an education. She asked God to give her wisdom and talk to her father to change his mind.  To understand that daughters and sons have the same right to an education. After graduating she went to work. Then at work she was looked down on as a professional woman by the men at her workplace.  She realize it is a long path until gender discrimination is over. She has not given up and continues to try her best to show women and men have equal rights. 

As a hospital cleaner on the frontline during Covid-19 she risked her life to clean and sanitize patient rooms.  She did not go home after work so she would not infect her three young children. She sacrificed taking care of her family, renting a room to stay in on her meager salary, and was lonely and frustrated. She needed the prayers of others for strength.

 She thanks God for her recovery from verbal and sexual abuse when she was little. Once she questioned if  she deserved love. A teacher came to her rescue when she was 14. She found support from social workers and people who cared about her. Through them she experienced God's love and became a follower of Christ. 

The song I have heard About Your Faith was played after each story was read. The words to the song say " I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I have heard about your love toward all the saints. I have not stopped giving thanks for you, and remembering you in my prayers."

 May God hear our stories and keep us in faith.