Whenever we pay attention to just the news and not God’s Word, it can get depressing, can’t it?! Headlines with doom-filled words like depression and recession and deflation are daunting.

But I recently got an e-mail from our senior vice president of international program, and he included this verse, which helped me take a long deep breath. (I hold my breath when I get stressed. Bad habit.)

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (NIV) 

The peace of God. Exhale. 

Which transcends all understanding (even that of economic forecasters). Inhale.

Will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Exhale.

We are guarded, we are protected by God. We don’t know what will happen in this world or with this economy, but we do know that God has us in his hands. And as David Dahlin reminded us, we have the prayers of a million children surrounding us. All our church partners around the world and all Compassion-assisted children have been asked to pray. To pray for God’s peace, provision, security, direction and wisdom for us. Can you imagine? I’m humbled right down to my marrow.   

A colleague from Kenya, Barrack, shared this message recently:

Throughout the chaos of our economic situation, we should not worry because Compassion will be protected. Although Compassion is accustomed to helping the children, during this season it will be the prayers and the tears of the children that will protect Compassion. 

Wow. Talk about a cloud of witnesses surrounding us. I can think of no better prayer partner. With these little brothers and sisters, let us throw off everything that hinders us and, holding their small hands, run with perseverance, our eyes fixed on Jesus.   

I heard on the radio the other day that it’s probably the biggest thing that’s ever come to Denver. They were talking about the Democratic National Convention, of course. And they’re right … it is big. The local news has been dominated this week by headlines from the convention.

All this political hype has me thinking a lot about who will be the next leader of our country and what that means for children in poverty. While global poverty may not be one of the “hot button” items on the agenda for the convention, it is by no means an insignificant issue.

In fact, I just read this article about how, according to the World Bank, global poverty is much worse than previously thought. Working at a place like Compassion where we are faced daily with stories of injustice and suffering, I have a hard time not making it THE issue of the election.

However, this post is not about politics or my feelings about who should be elected. It’s about children in poverty and our responsibility to care for them.

Don Miller is one of my favorite authors. He said the closing prayer for day one of the convention, and I thought his prayer was worth sharing.

“Father God,

This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.

Help us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.

Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world?
A lot of people don’t like us, but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world?
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.

Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments — but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.

God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.

I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.
Amen.”

Whoever takes the reigns of leading this country in November has an enormous and very difficult job ahead of him. He desperately needs our prayers. One of the best ways I think we can help children suffering from poverty is to pray for the new leadership of our country.

Winston Churchill once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.” We are the richest nation on earth. The man who leads this nation holds great power. Let’s pray that he uses that power to help right the injustices in this world.

This is a true story about a young girl in one of Compassion’s child development centers in India.

Last summer, heavy rains poured into the village where 12-year-old Arpita lives. The ground, already saturated from previous rains, left nowhere else for the waters to go … so the entire village flooded. Muddy water, one foot deep, filled Arpita’s home.

When you live in extreme poverty, access to clean water is hard to come by, but filthy water seems to make its way to your door with great ease.

Arpita was sitting on her raised bed, getting dressed for the day. While she fussed with the fabric of her frock, she clinched an open safety pin between her teeth. Suddenly, the pin wiggled in her mouth, and Arpita found herself choking. The pin was far enough down that her throat’s natural reaction was to swallow.

The sharp edge of the pin scraped along the inside of her esophagus. Arpita ran to her mother and father to tell them what had happened.

The pin made its way all the way down to her stomach. Arpita’s mother was worried it could do severe damage. She had Arpita drink water. She rubbed her little girl’s tummy. But nothing could make the pain go away. She decided to take Arpita to the hospital.

Arpita’s father went to the Compassion project, asking the pastor to have the children pray. An odd request, considering Arpita’s parents weren’t Christians. But they still believed in the power of prayer.

The children prayed. Fervently. Tears streamed down their little faces as they pleaded for God to rescue their friend and classmate.

Meanwhile, Arpita’s doctor performed an x-ray of Arpita’s stomach. Their worst fears were confirmed. The pin was open … and it had lodged in the lining of her stomach.

Short of a miracle, the doctors were going to have to perform a rather risky surgery to open up Arpita’s stomach and remove the pin.

But our God is the God of miracles.

Watch the video to see how the story plays out.

I have been fighting poverty for more than 30 years and throughout that time I have never seen the potential for devastation that I see in the current global food crisis. I know it’s difficult to imagine that something like rising food costs could be so destructive. It’s not as if hunger rumbles like an earthquake. He doesn’t announce himself like a passing wind of a cyclone. He destroys, but you never see him.

Today is the National Day of Prayer.

We encourage you to pray.

Talk to God about our country.
Talk to God about your sponsored child.
Talk to God about poverty.

Just talk to God.

In fact, if you want to share your prayer with the rest of the blog readers, hit us up in the comment section. Then we can join you in that prayer. Let’s move some mountains, people!

Join our Prayer Partner Network.

Read prayer requests from the countries where we work.

I was feeling very bad for myself last week. My car broke down on the side of the road late one night. That same day I had picked up my car from the mechanic. And poor poor me, my husband had taken our other car to the shop that day — so he couldn’t come to my rescue as I froze on the side of the road late at night.

Ricot, my coworker in Haiti, was asking how I was, so I launched into my tale of woe. To Ricot. A Haitian. Who two weeks ago couldn’t go into work because hungry mobs were throwing rocks through the windows of his office. Who, as part of his daily job, visits children who live under scraps of aluminum and eat whatever few bits of food their parents can scrape together that day.

The silent tsunami. That’s what they’re calling it. Those living in extreme poverty often spend more than 50 percent of their income on food. When food prices rise 83 percent in three years, as the World Bank estimates they have, it is like a unstoppable wave towering over and crashing down on these precious creations of God (for that is what they are). Those who ate three meals a day, now eat two. Those who ate two, well, it’s hard even to think of it.

And here I am (in my best Valley-Girl voice), “Yeah, my car broke down, and like it’s really hard, ’cause like, my other car is in the shop, and like if I want to go to the mall, I’m going to have to call a friend, and like I just ate 4,000 calories at Carrabba’s last night on like fried zucchini sticks and lasagna, and I’m like so full, and yeah, my life’s pretty hard.”

Ricot, in turn, doesn’t say: “Let me get this straight, I’m living in a country where 8 out of 10 of my countrymen live on around 90 cents — 90 cents! — a day and are eating mud cakes and you’re complaining about how your two cars — two cars! — are giving you trouble?!!!”

No, he didn’t say that. First of all, I don’t think Haitians say, “Let me get this straight” — that’s a little uptight for an islander. Instead he said, “It’s really funny!” (That is me, with two broken cars is really funny.) “I laugh a little bit, but I am so sorry.”

There you go. Grace from a Haitian. I’ve got a lot to learn around here.

The global food crisis is a really complicated issue, involving things such as globalization, trade law, land use, and so on — a lot of stuff that, honestly, is a bit opaque to me. And what in the world can I do about it?

I can learn. I can remember that these aren’t just numbers I’m reading about, but precious children of God. And I can pray.

• Pray for the world leaders to make wise, sound choices that will honor God’s will on this earth.
• Pray for the children and families who are right now experiencing the immediate affects of this crisis.
• Pray for the honest collaboration of governments, organizations, and people to reach out with that cup of water (or rice) that Jesus says his followers will offer to those who are hungry.