The Bible says a lot about the power of prayer and fasting. In the book of Joel the Lord calls His people to turn to Him with their entire heart so He can respond with kindness and not harm.

“Now, therefore,” says the LORD,

“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the LORD your God,
For He is gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm. Joel 2:12-13 (NKJV)

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and the same kindness He wants to extend to His people in the verses above is the same kindness He wants to extend to us today.

The innocence, trust, and impressionability of children in the 4/14 Window make them open to Christ but also make them extremely vulnerable to the evils in our world that seek to forever ruin their lives and potential.

The 4/14 Window Global Initiative has called us to fast and pray today to promote the need for children worldwide to have an opportunity to experience the life-transforming hope of Christ.

Will you join us and the other supporters of the 4/14 Window Global Initiative by putting the power of fasting and prayer to work for children in our churches, cities, nations, and world?

Together, we can be a great, unified voice coming before God’s throne, praying for a new generation of Christ-followers who will transform the world.

There are three items we are highlighting about this day of fasting and prayer.

1. The theme of this fast is based on the biblical story of Esther, an orphaned girl, likely in her early teens, who called for a three-day fast to precede her intercession with the king that saved her people from annihilation. We are asking people to specifically ponder verse 4:14.
2. Join “The Esther Fast” today, fasting specifically for the protection of children in the 4/14 Window, asking God for their deliverance from the destructive influences of Satan.
3. Spend the day in prayer for the raising up of a new generation of Christ’s disciples from the 4/14 Window in your church, city, nation and world. If you are working today or have other obligations, we hope you will use your free times to pray.

Thank you for participating in this important event. Please come back and let us know how God touches your heart and mind today.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

In the 1990s there was a big push to target the 10/40 Window for prayer and missions. For those who may not know, the 10/40 Window is the geographical band around the world located between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator that is where the majority of the world’s people unreached by the gospel live.

This geographical window, including regions like South Asia and the Middle East, has always been a core focus of missions efforts, but recently another window of great mission significance has been identified – the 4/14 Window.

The 4/14 Window represents children between the ages of 4 and 14. Worldwide, there are 1.2 billion of these children needing to hear about Jesus and how much He cares for them.

As a result of this identification, the 4/14 Window Global Initiative was created. This initiative is dedicated to raising global church awareness about the strategic importance of reaching and raising up a new generation of Christ followers.

This is a generation that, by experiencing a personal transformation through Jesus, can be mobilized as agents for transformation throughout the world.

You may be wondering why is it so important to share the gospel message with children between the ages of 4 and 14. Besides the fact that God loves them, studies by well-known researcher George Barna have revealed these interesting facts:

• 85 percent of Christians in America who accept Christ do so before the age of 15.
• Most of a person’s moral beliefs are formed by age 9.
• People’s life-long spiritual identity is typically in place by age 13.

As a result of these findings, Barna concludes:

“The implication of these findings is clear. Anyone who wishes to have significant influence on the development of a person’s moral and spiritual foundations had better exert that influence while the person is still open-minded and impressionable — in other words, while the person is still young.”

Tragically, Satan also understands the importance of the 4/14 Window. That’s why he unleashes some of his most vicious attacks against children within this age span in the form of poverty, war, hunger, disease, neglect and abuse. He will do anything to ruin children’s lives and their potential for spiritual transformation in Christ.

Tomorrow we are joining other supporters of the 4/14 Window Global Initiative in a day of fasting and prayer for children who live in this critical window of time in our cities, churches, nations and world.

As a dedicated champion of children, you are invited to participate in this important effort to focus the Church’s attention on those children in the 4/14 Window through fervent, targeted fasting and intercessory prayer.

Will you join us by praying or fasting for these children?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

• First of all, I have been trying to remember to pray at each meal for those who are hungry. I thank God for what He has provided for me, and then I acknowledge that there are many who will not eat a meal today, or will not eat enough to fill them. I ask God to tenderly care for them in whatever way He chooses to do that –- even if that means leading me to do something for one or more of them (like specifically my sponsored children –- perhaps sending them a monetary family gift to help with their expenses).
• Secondly, I have been trying to get rid of phrases from my vocabulary that are just not true. For example, I came home from work yesterday, and I was hungry. I had eaten a bagel with peanut butter for lunch, but it truly didn’t stick with me, and by 6:30 PM I was ready for dinner. I even had a headache. I walked into the house and started to say to my husband, “I’m starving!” This is a typical thing that I say every time I am really hungry. But it’s just not true –- obviously, not even close to being true. And it shows my disrespect or lack of appreciation of what it means to starve, truly starve.
• Another phrase I am trying to get rid of is “There is nothing to eat in this house!” I think we all say that when we don’t like or don’t feel like eating what is in our refrigerators, cupboards, and canisters. Other than when I have moved into a new place and haven’t yet unpacked the moving boxes, I don’t think I have even had a moment in any house I have lived in where there is truly nothing at all to eat. When I look in the cupboards and feel tempted to complain, I am trying to instead utter a quick word of thanksgiving for what God has graciously provided for me.
• Finally, I am trying to gather together with others on a regular basis to pray for those who are hungry, and to help keep the awareness of this issue in front of my neighbors and friends. It is easy for all of us to get on with our lives and forget this silent tsunami. I want to help keep it in the forefront of people’s minds and hearts so they can be open to acting as God leads them.

On the Day of Fasting and Prayer for the Global Food Crisis, I ended my day with a gathering at my house after work. I had announced an open invitation the previous Sunday at my church, inviting anyone who wanted to come. I emailed friends, co-workers, and neighbors about it. Thirteen people showed up.

We prayed from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, and then we broke our 24-hour fast with a simple meal of rice and beans, water and unsweetened iced tea. No dessert, no fancy beverages. No veggies or meat in the rice. We had seasoned salt and a can of Creole seasoning though, and most of us used a lot of that!

The evening was a powerful time of prayer and a wonderful time of community. It had the feel of doing something important, something meaningful. Even though it was really very, very simple.

One lady brought her two sons, ages 5 and 7. She had prepared them for the day through a great learning experience that I am sure they will long remember. She took them to Denver the previous day for a typical summer, American kid fun day out. They ate lunch at a fast food restaurant, they got ice cream, they went to the museum, they played in a park. But there was a catch. They kept a log of what they ate and how much they spent.

The next morning, the day of prayer, they watched an online movie produced by the Washington Post (Becky wrote about this and linked to the video two weeks ago) about two families in Mauritania and what they had to do to provide food for their families given the current increase in prices. In the movie, the mother made rice pudding for her family — rice, with sugar and some oil and water. That was what they had to eat. That was all.

So, my friend Lisa made rice pudding with her boys according to the recipe used by the lady in Mauritania. They each ate a half cup of it for breakfast, a half cup for lunch and then came to my house for rice and beans for dinner. Afterward, Lisa took time to talk through with her boys about how they felt. She helped them consider the differences in the quantity and variety of foods they ate on Tuesday in Denver when they ate like “normal Americans” and then on Wednesday as they ate like a lot of the rest of the world. They discussed the amount spent and how much less the large amount they spent on Tuesday was for their family’s income versus how much the small amount spent on Wednesday would have been for the family in Mauritania.

Perhaps you will want to try this or something similar with your children or your niece or next door neighbor’s child (assuming their parents approve!) Children can be taught at an early age to be compassionate and caring for those in need. Lessons like this one can set a firm foundation upon which a life of reaching out and being sensitive and responsive to the needs of others can be built.

As soon as I finish this post, I am going to send out an e-mail to my friends, neighbors and church family to report on our day of prayer gathering and to ask folks to do it again next week.

• I hope others come.
• I hope we get repeat participants.
• I hope we get too big to fit in my house and have to spill out onto my deck!
• I hope some more little kids come so their parents can help form their little hearts to love like Jesus loves!

Stay posted and I’ll let you know how it goes. Or better yet, try your own event and let us know how yours went!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

I am not a Compassion exec or even a Compassion advocate (yet!), I was never a sponsored child myself nor am I a fabulous Christian recording artist. My perspective is simply that of a sponsor with a passion for Compassion — and someone who deeply loves her sponsored kids. I have to confess that the day of fasting and prayer on behalf of the global food crisis did not impact me. At all.

I fasted — I felt some minor discomfort — but speaking as a mother, one day without food is like a drop in the bucket of sacrifices I’ve made since my child was born. You mothers understand.

We have sacrificed our sleep, our free time, our career goals, our figures, our freedom to watch anything on television that isn’t animated. One day without food — not a problem. To be a mom is to sacrifice for others.

Now I’ll tell you what would impact me — and again I’ll speak as a mother.

Ask me to wake my child in the morning and tell her she will have nothing to eat today. Ask me to put her to bed at night crying because she is so hungry. When she looks at me with complete love and trust — knowing that she depends on me for everything — ask me to tell her there will be nothing to eat tomorrow either. Now ask me to repeat this daily until her ribs protrude, her tummy bloats, and she can hardly walk.

As a mom, I want to give my child everything — the best of everything. Now tell me that I can give her nothing — not even the food she needs to keep her alive.

In a heartbeat, what was once a token activity would take on an awful significance.

Sixteen thousand children die of hunger-related causes each day. Each day — 16,000!

Even as I write this, I feel the need to go back and double check that figure, because I think surely it must be wrong. It is not.

The majority of these deaths are not attributable to outright starvation, but to diseases that move in on children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger. (1) I weep for these children — but I weep doubly for their mothers. I cannot imagine their pain.

How easy it is for the rest of us. We don’t have to live that reality. We don’t even have to watch it happen. In fact, we can lead our daily lives pretending that it doesn’t happen. And I think that would be not just sad but heartlessly cruel. These mothers need our help, and if we can offer it, we should.

So I’m asking you moms today to dig deep and do what you can. Give generously and often to the Global Food Crisis Fund.

I have to add that I won’t feel bad if there aren’t a lot of comments on my post. I know firsthand that you mothers are incredibly busy laughing, cuddling and playing with your kids — and cleaning up a mess or two, or twenty, along the way. (I cleaned an entire can of blue Play-Doh off the cat today. That was a new one.) So all I’m asking is that you give me an “amen” or two — then donate what you can.

Thank you for everything you do — and will do — to help children and their mothers. I know they would do the same for you.

P.S. My husband said “ditto for the dads.”

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Within our families, it’s stuff like weddings and birthdays and soccer tournaments. At church, it’s retreats, sermon series, small group studies, and, if you’re liturgical like my church, feast days and liturgical seasons measured in colors — we move from white to red to green.

It’s already been a week since we fasted and prayed for the millions of children and families affected by the global food crisis. I missed my chance to immediately write and thank you. I meant to — you were on my heart.

The day came and was powerful and passed. Almost instantly I was off to the next “important” thing.

Yet, the kids are still hungry. They still need our prayers and our actions. They are not on to the next thing. They are still dealing with and living this one big thing. Hunger.

Over 6,500 of you committed to pray and fast with us last week. And I do want to say thank you for that! Even though my thanks are a bit late, they are heartfelt nonetheless.

I hope your day of prayer and fasting was a day in which you encountered the Lord and His tender heart for those who are suffering. I hope it was a day when you felt a bit more deeply the Lord’s love for these children.

Let’s keep doing that — feeling His love for them. Sharing His compassion with them. Not just on one day. Let’s pray regularly for them. Perhaps when we sit down to dinner to say grace. When we lie down in bed at night. When we rise to another beautiful summer day. Let’s thank the Lord for His astounding provision to us and lift up those who so desperately need a touch of His hand.

A few of Compassion’s international partners are holding days of fasting and prayer just like we did on June 25.

If you enjoy the feeling of joining together with believers across the globe to fast and pray, then you might consider praying with:

• Netherlands on July 6
• United Kingdom on July 13
• South Korea on July 24

Please continue to tell others about the global food crisis. Continue to help raise awareness. Let’s take our focus off gas prices in the U.S. and put the spotlight on the deep and growing needs the children have worldwide.

Don’t assume everyone around you already knows about this and is doing something to make a difference. Most people don’t know, and those who do know, don’t know how to help in a way that will make a tangible difference. Tell them what we’re doing.

In the month of July alone we’re sending $1.5 million to nine of our field countries to help feed children and provide emergency supplemental food for their families. We hope to do the same for the next several months, if the funds come in.

We are also working on a longer term plan that will help the children’s families and our church partners address this problem, into the future, in ways that are sustainable and developmental.

Let’s not let this moment pass in our everyday busyness. In the rush to move along to the next thing in our lives …let’s pause here. Let’s join together and make a difference.

This is important. Really important! Who is going to do it if you and I don’t?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

It’s after work and I’m in my business casual, walking through the mall having just bought a not-so-scrumptious dinner of Sbarro’s pizza when I see a sad sight before my eyes.

A girl, probably about 12 years old, of the tomboyish type with short brown hair, is kinda hobbling along. Her left leg is in a cast of some sort. It crosses my mind that I’d seen this girl a bit earlier, walking in the same condition — looking rather lost with a super sad face. Destitute was the word that came to mind. Well, not really destitute as far as her clothes went, just the expression on her face was. As I get closer to her, she looks at me with that look you can recognize anywhere — you know, the look that says “I need help, can you help me?!” I immediately start wondering what she’s about to ask me … could it be that this poor little orphan child was abandoned by her parents and has no way to get home? Could it be that she’s starving and hungry?”

With sad, puppy dog eyes, she asks in a fast, mumblish, barely audible fashion, “Miss, do you have a second?” And I answer, all sympathetic, “Sure,” just knowing she was about to ask me if I had some cash to spare. And even though I didn’t have any on me, I’d do my good samaritan deed for the day and walk back over to the food court and buy her something with my debit card. I had almost kept walking because of that lack of cash, but the look on her face was just THAT sad that I couldn’t help but stop.

But there was no way, absolutely no way I could’ve been prepared for what she said next. With complete seriousness and the same sad face, she says, “I was in this store and they have this new DVD and I was going to buy it, but then they told me they had this other version, the special edition version, and I wanted to buy it but it was $4 more, so I was wondering if you might have $4 to spare?”

I did a double-take, not quite sure I’d heard right.

So I asked her to repeat herself and she repeated the whole “sad” story again.

Yep, I’d heard right.

I was astounded. Was this girl SERIOUS?!!

I then told her no, I didn’t have any cash, sorry.

I wish you could’ve seen the look on her face. It looked like death warmed over. Like she’d just lost her best friend. Like I’d just told her I couldn’t help her get home or like she’d have to wait days for her next meal. I mean the look on her face almost made me turn around and take her to that store to buy the DVD, it was that pitiful. But just in time I caught myself: I had just been begged — FOR A DVD. It wasn’t even that she couldn’t afford the DVD period — she just couldn’t afford the special edition version!! Did I look like I was rich or something, that I had $4 to freely give to anyone who asked for it? Sadly, the poor child would have to wait.

I quickly turned away so she wouldn’t see the laughter bubbling up inside of me that threatened to spill out (and did) as soon as I walked away. Before you say I’m cruel or something, you just have to realize that I was caught completely off guard and so I found the situation in that moment hilarious.

But now that I’m sitting here writing this, I feel sadness washing over me. Sadness that a child would be so oblivious to the world around them that they’d actually stop to beg people to help them get a DVD. I wish I had taken her aside and said “Child, do you REALIZE how many people are starving in this world?! How many people make less than $2 A DAY in developing countries and that the cost of food has gone up so much that they can’t even afford to eat?!! And you’re begging me to get the latest and greatest version of a DVD?!!”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that because people are starving we should give up all semblances of fun and entertainment forever. But I am saying that this perspective, that a DVD is a NEED and needed so much that you must beg for it if you don’t have the money for it NOW … WOW. I guess you can’t really blame her for trying, and I know I have lived in an American bubble for much of my life — but wow.

Anyhow, maybe some of you haven’t heard about it yet, but there is a food crisis going on in the rest of the world and tomorrow, June 25th, Compassion International is hosting a Day of Prayer and Fasting to pray for the people, the children, that are in REAL dire situations. AND, did you know that just $13 can feed one child for AN ENTIRE MONTH? Just think: That DVD you were considering buying this month can feed a child for an entire month. Actually, they don’t sell DVDs that cheap so for less than the cost of a DVD you can feed a child for one month. Think about it.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Thank you to everyone who has helped spread the word about the day of fasting and prayer and about the global food crisis.

Thank you to everyone who has donated money to the Global Food Crisis fund.

Thank you to everyone who has shed a tear. We know your sorrow. We share it. For it is Christ’s sorrow.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

The price for rice, beans, corn and other food staples throughout the world has risen exponentially in recent months, creating extreme hardship and suffering for families living on $1 or $2 a day.

Imagine if you had to spend 80 percent of what you earned on groceries. Can you imagine that?

I can’t. And even though I’ve traveled to Rwanda, Kenya and China and seen extreme poverty, I still have a hard time picturing a life where I would live on $2 a day.

80 percent of my income on groceries? If I was in that boat, I’d be selling it. And if I’m in that situation, I can’t afford … I can’t afford anything.

The global food crisis is affecting everyone in some way. But how it affects me is totally different than how it affects my sponsored child, Lerionga. It’s much more intimate for him.

I’m sure you’re well aware of the record high price of gas in the U.S. and the ridiculous price tag for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. I’m usually oblivious to grocery prices, but $4.50 for a loaf of bread that used to be $2.50 got my attention.

My loaf of bread is more than two days salary for many families.

Have you noticed this?

I’m feeling the pinch of the global food crisis, but for the billions of people in extreme poverty my pinch is a bear hug crushing the life out of them. There is no margin.

So in addition to what you’ve already done and the caring and generosity you’ve displayed already, we’re asking for more.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates