In case any of you might be having a momentary lapse and be wondering, “Does prayer really work?”

Let us tell you a story.

Place: Boone, N.C. November 5, 2016

What: the second meeting of the Appalachian House of Prayer World Shapers Club/Family Prayer Day.

Emphasis: prayer for schools on the continent of Africa with special emphasis on the Central Republic of Africa.

Our conversation and prayer for Africa touched on countries where children in many areas were not in school due to violence, lack of resources/teachers  and, sometimes, lack of permission or validation.

We prayed primarily for the Central Republic of Africa as well as  S. Sudan, Kenya and African education in general.

Our Boone group (most all of them elementary students themselves) had a spirited discussion of what school was like in the U.S. as opposed to what school looked like in the few pictures we were able to share of schools in rural and war-torn Africa. Our pray-ers were full of compassion and passion for their counterparts a continent away.

Fast forward:

Same place. Same group. December 3, 2016

Emphasis: PRAISE REPORTS/ANSWERED PRAYERS!!

Two weeks before our December meeting, we were contacted by the Head Teacher from a Good Shepherd Primary School in Uganda. He found ENI/WSC on the internet and now those students are World Shapers! We have been able to trade videos with them. God is putting faces to our prayers and prayer partners! Read more about them in another article.

Then, just two days before the December meeting, I saw this headline:

EU pledges 2.2 billion to rebuild war-torn Central African Republic.

I wish you could have seen the eyes on our young prayer warriors as they heard these answers to their prayers from the month before. I’m not sure who was more excited, the children or the adults. I can tell you that we celebrated and praised God for hearing and answering our prayers. Of course, that just led to more prayers!

THANK YOU, JESUS!

Mary