India, Turkey, Ethiopia - Three countries on three continents. Different people, different cultures and different governments. Yet all three are tied together by a common thread. Every day in each of these countries Christians are being persecuted. Their homes are burned, their animals slaughtered and their bodies beaten. These are not the only places were Christians are being persecuted. As far away as Indonesia and as close as Colombia, Christians are facing fierce opposition from all sides. The worst part of it- These are all countries were Christianity is legal.
It is hard to describe the feeling I get when I look up from school work or playing around on my iPod and seeing the map from Voice of the Martyrs on my wall; and then remembering that the red and yellow spots are people. Different countries on different continents. Different people, cultures and governments . But we’re all tied together by a common thread- our faith in Christ.
Each month, twice a month, I blog about the work Voice of the Martyrs is doing to help persecuted Christians around the world. Every time I sit down to write for them I try to come up with something different, as not to repeat myself. But I need to repeat myself, I need to write this and remember those dots are people. Sometimes we forget there are people on the other side of the world. People who we cannot communicate with; people we cannot touch or see. People who look to us and can only dream about our blessings. People we forget to pray for because we didn’t have the time.
Often I forget to make the time to pray. But we must make the time- get up early, stay up late, put off science tests and French lessons. I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of this but lives depend on it. This isn’t a topic for debate or something we can simply “care” about. Right now, all around the globe, Christians are dying because we aren’t doing anything about it. All we have to do is open our mouths in protest and believe God will help them. We protest against peanut butter sandwiches and doing someone else’s chores everyday so why not this? Pray, believe, and let God do His job. That’s all there is to it. ~ Elise
Thank you so much for this entry. I think most of us need the reminder from time to time, to pray for our brothers and sisters all over the world. I've just been reading in Ephesians lately, about how God has united Christians into one whole body. That's just so incredible to me, and we NEED to pray for each other. Thanks again for the great post.
Regarding your comment - no, our summers are hardly ever lazy either! Those are a distant memory from my early childhood. :-) For most of my school years, we schooled 2-3 days a week during the summer... not as much as during the rest of the year, so there was time for summer fun - swimming, vacations, etc. Now that I'm in college, I have free summers w/o school! haha. But they are definitely filled up with activities, mission work, camps, etc. It's all fun, though. :-)
Thank you so much for your prayers about our trip to Guatemala.
Have a great weekend!
Ashley
If you have read tens of thousands of books, the spirit of learning will flow from your brush as you write. ~ Chinese poem
Written by a high school student,
this blog is a place for me to learn
and reflect on the things I’ve found
through my own writing and the
writing’s of others. All writing will
be signed with my pen name, Elise
Sunday- Voice of the Martyrs
Monday- Freewrite
Tuesday- School
Wednesday- art project
Thursday- link to a great post
Friday- fashion
Saturday- a new site
