Hello, want to imagine we are somewhere beneath an open sky? Maybe you are reading this at the end of the day we have come to call The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP), or maybe the morning after. I’m glad we have this day, but I also know the ease of which the evening comes and thoughts of the day fade away, this is often good. As is the new day good, it is a mercy to have a fresh canvas, a morning or, in the words of dear Lucy Maud Montgomery, as she so memorably had Anne of Green Gables exclaim,

“Isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”

• L.M. Montgomery

It’s so nice.

Wherever this finds you, I’m glad, and though looking ahead also makes me glad I hope to be a companion to you today in remembrance. The biblical idea of which means action. Let’s remember the men, women, and children whose evenings and mornings are not often at ease, nor feel merciful, and yet from whom we stand to learn so much from, through standing with them beneath open skies. As I contemplate their stories tonight I am particularly aware of the way they often walk so intimately with God.

This is evidenced in what we hear from our family regularly, their number one request for our action: prayer.

I will remember them tonight through praying out-loud, prayer #17, the namesake prayer from Beloved Prayers, A Martyrs’ Cross Prayer Book for the Persecuted. I hope it’s a blessing to you. Press play below if you’d like to join me for a few minutes…I’d love your company.

“God speaks in the silence of the heart. Listening is the beginning of prayer.”

– Mother Teresa

With you in prayer,
Raynna

Beloved Prayers, Available Now.