Help Me Carry This Cross - Part 2

Help Me Carry This Cross - Part 2

Yesterday, we shared discussions during an Iraq Trauma Counseling workshop. Today, we continue.

Trauma training, from Open Doors Ministry, is designed to equip church leaders to help believers in their community survive the emotional and physical shock of the hell they are living in; especially in places like Iraq and Syria. Supporting one another is a big part of the training sessions.

“What can you do when you yourself are overwhelmed?” asked one of the trauma teachers. “As a spiritual leader, sometimes events are just too much for us to handle.” 

The first to hear that a father of five has been kidnapped for ransom; the first to visit a young girl who has just been returned to her family from her captors – raped and tortured; these church leaders have stayed, while thousands of Christians have left. Choosing to stay, these brave church leaders walk the streets each day, proudly displaying the cross and opening their churches to worship, despite the targeted attacks on them.

One pastor adds, “I was called to a house that was set on fire by terrorists. I ran inside and saw a woman and a child in the flames, dying. I carried them out of the house, but I broke down and wept afterward. I can still taste the fire on my lips, and sometimes I wake up in fear.”

“The burdens you carry can feel very heavy.  It is good to share, to experience the respect and love from each other, and to acknowledge that it is hard, and to find places to grieve,” says the trainer.

One With Them
Open Doors sees the need of good support and counsel to suffering Christians in Iraq, and around the world. Please stand One With Them as you pray that all church leaders will support one another, and be able to comfort, and strengthen, the churches in war torn and persecuted regions on the world!

One With Them CHALLENGE

Consider writing a short letter of encouragement to these pastors; then join in this prayer for pastors:

Our Father, who art in Heaven, Holy is Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Thank You, Father, for raising up pastors and church leaders. They help us get to know You better. They help us in our walk with You; to become equipped to take on those things You laid out for us before the beginning of time. Father, please unleash the Holy Spirit in the leaders of Your church, everywhere around the world, so that they speak the words You want heard by Your children, and by those who don’t yet know You. As You make them more like Christ, please shower them with extraordinary blessings in their marriages, with their children and other family members, and in their ministries. Please hear these prayers offered in the Name above all names, Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.

2013.05.30