Pray from Abuse and Violence to Protection.
Take a minute, remember a time in which you snapped — the stress of your bills, schedule, boss, everything built up and pushed itself out in a vulnerable moment. Maybe you yelled at your spouse, or threw something across a room, or raised your hand before snapping back to reality. The present is full of these vulnerable moments and darkness is waiting to take advantage of them.
Darkness thrives in isolation. Symptoms of darkness, such as abuse and domestic violence, are rising as this global pandemic forces us inside and rips our routine and safe havens from our grasp. Everything seems shaky right now, every foundation and hope we have — our jobs, finances, meals, vacations, relationships — seems to be shaken leaving us with a heightened sense of anxiety, anger, disappointment, and without our typically healthy coping mechanisms to offer healing. This can often cause us to take out these pent up emotions on the people closest to us; the same people that Shelter in Place orders has us spending double the hours with.
For many of the students involved in our ministries, school and Campus Life or City Life were their safe place: they knew their leaders loved them and that their needs would be met.
Pray for the students who are currently stuck in the same house with their abuser. Pray for our neighbors who have lost their jobs and the executives in charge of the lay-offs — pray that they find healthy ways to release their stress. Pray for the couples who don’t have an escape from each other now. Pray for your child’s friends by name, that they may be surrounded by safety, love, and light. Pray for them by name and even their parents because you know them. Pray courage over victims to speak up and for the law enforcement and court officials to focus on the light though they walk into darkness. Pray and check-in.
Do you know a young person or family that needs help?
National Child Abuse (1-800-422-4453)
National Sexual Assault (1-800-656-4673)