Prayer Requests

You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its tases, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. Matthew 5:13-14

Hear our prayers, loving God, who created and sustains the universe and everything in it, who breathes life into every living thing, who loves the world so much that you came to walk with us in the person of Jesus Christ, who is present with us today and knows our every need:

We ask you to forgive our lack of faith and our failure to put you first in everything. Help us to really believe that the life you promise us is more precious than any life we can imagine for ourselves. Let us throw off our doubts and put the world aside and dedicate our lives to living in your love.

We lift these individuals in prayer: Jonathan McDonald, the ladies in H-Dorm of Woodman State, Sherry Lynn Bolden Yates, Rosendo Garcia and his family, Yvette Landa and her grandmother, Annie Gant, Karen Scott, Jesse B. Delgado Sr. and his family, Tammy Barnes and her family, Brenda Jo Green and her grandson, Tiajaray, Brenda Williams, Jessica McKay, Cynthia Brady, Donna Marie, Cathy Singleton, Steven Jackson, Kenneth and Christopher Singleton, Billy Jack and Ellen Hilliard, Pearline Renew, all the ladies in CCA/Gadsden in Quincy and in FMC-Carswell in Fort Worth, Sonja Reddick, Sonya Collins and family, Jarvis Wagner, Edward Johnson, Raymond Standifer, Rachaid Wilson, Mario Martin, Norris White, Mary Edwards, Cindy Birch and the women at Q.C.D.C., Judy Kay, Sherri Gonzalez, Crystal Gordon, all the men and women across the country who are working out their salvation in prisons and jails.

Restore our lives, renew our energy, remove from us our desire to do our own will, and replace it with the vision and trust to follow your will for our lives. We ask, and we have faith that we will receive all that we need. In Jesus we pray, Amen.

Urgent Need: Pen Pals

If you have 30 minutes a week, or 30 minutes a month, and feel led to reach out to someone who is in a place of real spiritual seeking, think about becoming a pen pal to a Christian prisoner. As you read in the previous post, we get many requests for individual contact. However, with the volume of requests we handle each week, we are only able to contact a fraction of those individually. We pray that God will provide us with persons who are called to reach out and become a friend, a mentor, a Christian example of the love and compassion that Jesus Christ has shown us to be.

If you would like to become a pen pal, please email this ministry. We will provide you with names and addresses. There are many other Christian pen pal sites on the web as well.

Wherever you get names and addresses, be smart about your correspondence. While the vast majority of those seeking pen pals through our ministry are sincere, there are always a few who may seek to manipulate or exploit. We suggest the following guidelines:

1.)Use a neutral address, such as a p.o. box, office or church address, for all correspondence. If you establish a correspondence through this site, and wish to use our church address as your neutral address, we will be happy to receive mail and then forward it to you.

2.)Establish clear boundaries for your relationship as a Christian friend. Don't feel pressured to do everything you are asked. If someone asks you to copy, mail, or type legal documents, or provide financial assistance or prerelease assistance, you can say no. Decide in advance and be clear about how involved you are willing to become in the prisoner's life: Will you accept collect telephone calls, make visits, help with release preparation, provide financial donations? These and other gifts may be welcome but should be your choice. If your pen pal oversteps, don't overreact, but be firm and clear in explaining your boundaries. If inappropriate requests continue, you may decide to end the correspondence.

3.)Regulations for what is acceptable in the mail vary by state, federal or local institution. Go online, or write to the institution to find out what you may and may not send to the inmate.

4.)Share only as much personal information about yourself as you are comfortable sharing. A prisoner may tell you his or her life story. You are not required to do the same. Remember our ministry is to comfort, inspire and share God's word. It is not necessary to share personal details about your living arrangements, family, or relationships to do that.

Prayer Requests

“I ask you to please pray for me. God has called me to teach the Good News. Pray that I will use all the studies he has given me for his glory and not my own.” Larry W., Canon City, CO

“Please pray that God will keep me in the right direction and use me for His purposes… restore my daughter and grant her back her kids…” Lorene C., Quincy, FL

“God bless and keep the ministry, because we need your prayers.” Pamela B., McKinney, TX

“I want to get my life back, to find a normal way of living. Without the Lord it just isn’t possible. I feel like I’m nobody and the whole world hates me. I feel worthless. Please pray for me.” Teena V., Pueblo, CO

We lift up Julie Ann King, Brenda Nicholas Ramos and her family in Guatemala, Martha Williams, Christine Lewis and all the women in the Jefferson Parish Jail at Gretna, LA

“I am looking for a Christian sponsor to correspond with through the mail. Please pray for me that I will hear from the right person.” April G., Quincy, FL

“Could you pray for me? If you’re able, could you please notify any brother that’s grounded in the word of God that would be a mentor, someone that could write me and share the word of God with me. My goal is to grow in the word, realizing that its not about me, if there was no trouble, there would be no triumph, and I realize nothing happens without purpose.” Douglas H., Scotlandville, LA

We pray for Wanda Hoskins and the women of Otter Creek Correctional in Wheelwright, KY

“It has been in the most devastating times of my life that God has performed His greatest miracles! In a world that cries out for peace, let me be an ambassador of hope, love, peace and of strength! May God our Father use me as an instrument so that He may be glorified! Amen!” Billie D., Madison, IN

We lift up these, and all your children, who are in need of your grace. In your power and mercy, seek us, search us, try us, mend us, and use us in service to your kingdom here on earth.

We pray for this ministry, especially for Karen, Marianne, and Debbie. Also for everyone at IFI and Prison Fellowship, Marian and others at M2 Texas, Jan and Boyd and everyone at C.O.O.L. Ministries. For volunteer chaplains, institutional chaplains, and jailhouse preachers. May all be used to the glory of God, and may the Word be manifest through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

God's Promise

This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it—the LORD is his name: 3 "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33:2-3

Some things seem to escape our understanding, no matter how hard we try. Right now, we may be facing challenges and hardships of which no end is in sight. Health concerns or financial strain, grief or anxiety, anger or despair; each can create in us a sense of “desolate waste” if we face them alone. If we turn to God in all our times of need, and trust the promise made to Jeremiah, then this is also our promise to claim.

God of all the world, you see and know the challenges faced by each of your children. You know the conflicts that exist in the world and within our hearts. You have promised your people that by turning to you, we will learn and understand things that we do not know. Help us now as we call upon you in humility, we place our trust in you. Show us what we need to know, give us your grace to understand and to live in faithfulness to you.

We offer our prayers for the women of Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women, especially the friends who are grieving the death of Mona Neace. We trust in your endless mercy that you have a place for Mona in your kingdom, forgiven and made new by the blood of Jesus Christ. Comfort her friends and family, bring them closer to you.

We pray for Sharon Daniels to be uplifted by your word.

Help Laura Conlon overcome her addictions, remove all evil that is standing in her way, knock down the walls that prevent her from becoming the whole person you intend for her to be.

We lift up Linda Williams and her children, protect and guide them, keep them safe and restore their family in your love.

Okey Anumnu is searching for your path for his life, guide him in the way you want him to go, and strengthen him for whatever lies ahead. Let his faith in you be his sustinance, let him be nourished by your word, and give him peace.

Lori Arnold and Leo Cyr to have a safe place to live and her family to be restored to wholeness in your love.

Kaleisha Bennett, William J. Pitman, Kendra Nealy, Jason Cano and his family and friends, Gigi and Kenneth Bowen, Morris and Dawn Vallier and their family, Jamie Riddle and Rebecca Turner, Maria Celia Garcia and her children, Norma Rodriguez Barron and her children, Cindy Castillo and her family, Reyes and Frances Rodriguez, Gooser and Gina Flores, Cynthia Cantu Rodriguez and Alfredo Ramirez, San Juan Rodriguez, Donna Hackler and her family and friends, Sonja Reddick, Melinda Washington, Jennifer Gentry, Stefanie Bolton, Shelly and Patricia Soyck, Kenneth Perry and his family and friends, Sherry Lopez and her loved ones, Robert Crenshaw, Dean Holmes, Sannon Jasper and her family and friends, Godfrey and Desrie Fagot, Patricia Timmons and her boys, Eddie Dean Owens and his family, and all your children seeking your will for their lives, protect, strengthen and guide them all.

We praise you for your covenant stands with each of us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ your Son and our Lord. Amen.