That’s because some mothers are serving prison sentences. According to a September 2025 Bureau of Justice Statistics report, 980,300 women were under correctional supervision in the United States at the end of 2023. That includes women under probation or parole as well as those in prison.

“There are many incarcerated moms. It’s a whole tragic thing to think about— even kids of various ages,” says Dee Peterson, the Director of Discipleship at Prisoners For Christ (PFC).

Here’s what is being done to reach these women. The literature distribution department at PFC sends biblical resources to hundreds of prison chaplains. These include books, tracts, digital resources, and, more recently, films.

Photo courtesy of Yohan Joy via Unsplash.

“If you look at the saturation of non-Christian movies in the American culture, we reasonably assume as a ministry that it’s similar in the prison system,” says Peterson.

With the support of a Southern California church, PFC secured permission this year to distribute “The Forge” to prison inmates. This 2024 faith-based film was produced by Affirm Films, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures.  The story follows a teenage boy struggling in life, and what happens as his mom prays and a Christian man begins to mentor him.

“One of the focal points is the power of prayer, as well as the redemption and forgiveness,” says Peterson. “[Incarcerated mothers’] hearts are hurting, and they are burdened for their kids. So to have [“The Forge” depict] a praying mom and praying friends that can lift her up as she’s praying for her son [is] really, really important.”

One incarcerated woman from West Virginia shared this response to the film through the local prison chaplain:

“I wish I was one tenth of the woman as [the single mom in “The Forge”]. I wish I had seen this movie 20 years ago. “The Forge” illustrates with extraordinary clarity the value and power of Christian mentorship. It also shines light on what I see as overlooked forms of poverty in our society, like the roles of fatherhood and community — social responsibility, if you like. They’re minimized and fading. A generation or two now has been raised electronically. Modern times dictate that everyone has the tech, the things, cell phones, video systems, wireless, everything. It is a culture of individual and isolation. Conversation is obsolete. Human interaction is brief and transaction-based. We are called by our heavenly Father to be part of His family — brothers and sisters — and yes, to be each other’s keepers, united, bonded in Christ’s love and God’s grace. To be aware, to care, support each other. To teach and correct, lead by example, to see past ourselves and to love each other. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.”

(Stock photo courtesy of Tim Wildsmith via Unsplash)

Find your place in the story

Whether through films, books, or other media, Prisoners for Christ is on a mission to reach inmates with the hope of Jesus. They ship brand-new biblical resources to prison chaplains free of charge.

“Prison ministry fulfills so many God-honoring things. The Great Commission. We see lives changed,” says Peterson. “They [inmates] need knowledge. They need the Word of God. That is what someone contributes to when they contribute to our ministry.”

Learn more about supporting PFC’s Bible and literature distribution here!

Header image is a stock photo courtesy of RDNE Stock project via Pexels.

But that’s led to an urgent prayer request from FMI’s partners. 

Patrick Anthony with FMI says the investigations are definitely a positive thing, but they’ve had unexpected consequences. “What that’s done, though, is it has closed some buildings that our partners were planning to use to house children for their Christian summer camps,” he says.

Summer camps (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Camps begin next month. They are life-changing moments where kids and their families hear the gospel, many for the first time.

“Local leaders tell us they think there [are] about 10,000 Christians out of [Türkiye’s] 85 million population,” Anthony says. With so few believers scattered across the country, summer camp offers a much-needed time of fellowship and discipleship for Christian children. 

Another thing gives this year’s summer camps special meaning. FMI’s partner — a pastor we’ll call Izzet —and his team are celebrating 35 years of fruitful ministry. 

“It has not been easy for 35 years,” Izzet writes. “We have experienced much oppression and cruelty, but every year we have seen the hand of the Lord protecting and providing. Sometimes our camp was attacked with axes, sometimes with guns. Sometimes we were interrogated by soldiers and police. Sometimes we were kicked out of the facility in the middle of the camp. But we never put out our campfire for 35 years. Our prayer is that one day our campfire will burn in every city of Türkiye.”

Over the decades, Izzet and his team have watched campers grow into pastors and ministry leaders. Some kids have aged out of the program return as camp counselors.

Please pray for safe solutions to this summer’s urgent housing needs. Anthony says the challenges are signs of spiritual opposition. 

“At the same time, it shouldn’t surprise us and should really encourage us to be praying more and looking for the Lord to deliver in ways that perhaps we didn’t expect,” he says. “The director of the ministry (Izzet) is asking for people to pray.”

To support FMI summer camps financially, make a gift to the Tangible Resources fund at FMI’s website.

Header photo courtesy of FMI. 

“When you have the frequency and the amount of stories coming out of Nigeria, people become numb to it. But these are our brothers and sisters in Christ,” says Greg Musselman with Voice of the Martyrs Canada.

(Map courtesy Voice of the Martyrs Canada)

“We have to keep sharp in terms of not losing that passion and continue to pray for what’s going on in Nigeria, because it’s a genocide and it’s an atrocity that’s taking place in that country.”

According to a July report from International Christian Concern (ICC), more than 50,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2009, the year the Boko Haram insurgency began. (Read the comprehensive ICC report online here.)

So why has the United States largely been silent on the religious freedom violations and slaughter of Christians that Nigeria’s government tolerates? The State Department’s 2023 list of Countries of Particular Concern ignored Nigeria entirely. 

“There’s no way that Nigeria should be off that list,” Musselman says. “But politics often get in the way, and that’s very troubling for those that are working in Nigeria.” 

National leaders may be ignoring Nigeria right now, but God sees everything happening there and He cares deeply. Would you commit to praying regularly for your fellow Christians in Nigeria? Ask God to dramatically reverse the direction their nation is going in and make the gospel of Jesus multiply despite intense opposition. 

“[Pray] that the Christians in Nigeria don’t become demoralized. We need to pray for God’s protection on them, and then also for organizations that are working in the country,” Musselman says. 

Learn more about Voice of the Martyrs Canada’s ministry among Nigerian believers here.  

Header image shows the aftermath of an attack in Nigeria against Christians. Photo courtesy of Voice of the Martyrs Canada on Facebook.

But there is another long-term consequence that isn’t always so quickly seen, though it is just as devastating: loss of education.

David Durance with TeachBeyond says, “As they go through this initial crisis, what we have found is that education stops. Usually, it’s that three- to six-month period where the triage of essential needs — in other words, food and water, and shelter — are starting or trying to be met.

(Photo courtesy of TeachBeyond)

“Then the question is, ‘What do we do now that we’re in this situation?’ It’s that phase two where education becomes a major question.” 

TeachBeyond steps in as people reach out for insight and resources. 

“That (phase two) is where we start responding and start thinking about how we can start delivering education that is timely, relevant and able to actually deliver on what is needed in that context,” Durance says. 

Koshe/Korah, Ethiopia (Photo courtesy of TeachBeyond)

Education is a major intervention to prevent the cycle of purposelessness and violence across a generation and nation. 

“God redeems the world, often through education. This is one of the ways that he does (what) we call ‘big T transformation’ — in other words, becoming all that God intends,” Durance says. 

“You go to countries where the education system has been broken for a whole generation, and that next wave of youth — guess what? They’re following in their parents’ footsteps. The violence is perpetuated, the hatred is perpetuated and the jobs aren’t there. Here we are, many, many years later, still suffering in places like Syria and in countries in Central Africa. We’re praying against that in Haiti and Ukraine, but we’re seeing some of that happen, and we’re so concerned about this.”

You can be a part of this redemption with TeachBeyond by praying and taking action.

“We’re just one of many missions, but missions like TeachBeyond are actively prepared to deliver education in some of these contexts that we’ve been talking about,” Durance says. 

“God can redeem this (global situation) as people respond in prayer and then look for ways to be involved. That can be everything from using your skills — if you’re an administrator, an educator or whatever God’s put on your heart — or funding some of the people that go respond to these things. It’s not hopeless, that’s my point.”

Connect with TeachBeyond on social media or their website to be informed on how you can pray. Learn how you can GO with TeachBeyond here. 

Header photo is a representative stock image taken in a refugee camp in Iraq, courtesy of Jonathan Ramalho/Unsplash.

Director of Keys for Kids, Greg Yoder, says, “We now have an agreement that we are working together to translate Keys for Kids, into Nepali, and we’re just really excited about this new partnership where we could potentially see 2 to 3 million children hear the good news of Jesus Christ, and actually read it as well.”

The Plan

First, immigrants from Nepal living in the Michigan area will take Keys for Kids devotionals and contextualize them to Nepali culture, even while they are still in English.

Keys for Kids Storytellers (Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

The devotions will then be sent to Nepal to be translated into Nepali. The translators will then send them back to Michigan to be examined again by the Nepali immigrants.

Yoder says Keys for Kids will even travel to Nepal to train locals and produce audio versions of the translated stories. These will be used in Keys for Kids Storytellers, solar-powered mp3 players with the Bible and Keys for Kids content. Yoder says they have been an effective tool for advancing the Gospel. “And the great news about these storytellers is that people are coming to Christ, kids are coming to Christ and His parents start seeing changes in their kids. They want to come find out about it, and churches are actually being planted.”

Yoder is excited about the possibility of reaching the Nepalese. “This is an unreached people in an area of Nepal where . . . they started talking about Jesus And a few of them said, we don’t know Jesus, where was he born? And what city does he live in? And what family is he from?”

This work will go well with the work Good News Nepal is already doing. “They’re currently doing evangelism and church planting as well as just teaching new Christians theological truths. So this is going to be part and parcel of their program there.”

The challenges

Houses in Nepal (Image courtesy of pixabay)

Yoder hopes for the project to get off the ground in under a year, but it will depend on how quickly the stories are translated. He says he expects challenges in the process.

Meanwhile, religious freedom in Nepal grows more and more strained thanks to bordering India. The Indian government has, in recent years, become more and more adamant that the whole country should be Hindu. Nepal has even released anti-conversion laws in its effort to control religious expression.

Yoder isn’t concerned. “I’m sorry, but no law is going to challenge the Holy Spirit and is going to defeat the Holy Spirit’s work in Nepal. It’s just not going to happen.”

Pray that Keys for Kids staff and workers with Good News Nepal would be safe, and that the Lord would grant them resources to finish their translation work. Pray that the Holy Spirit would move powerfully in Nepal.

Mountains in Nepal (Image by Glorious Himalaya Trekking Pvt Ltd. from Pixabay)

Jerry Meadows of Global Disciples says there is something we Christians need to do to prepare for that day. He brings our attention to something Oswald J Smith said about Jesus coming again:

“We talk of the Second Coming; half the world has never heard of the first.” – Oswald J Smith

(Image and header photo courtesy of Global Disciples)

That is why Global Disciples is running their GoGlobal 1Day campaign—a day asking people to pray, share, and give towards reaching every last person with the Gospel.

Meadows explains, “You know, at first glance, you would think it was a giving campaign. And actually, I think it’s a sharing the heart of God campaign—the heart of God for the lost. So, praying, and sharing about God’s heart for the lost, and giving are all part of this campaign.”

GoGlobal 1Day is meant to draw the Body of Christ into being an active part of the Great Commission.

“We want to help church leaders and group leaders really involve their groups or congregations, and especially the next generation,” Meadows says.

He believes that in order for Christians to be an effective part of sharing the love of Jesus, it’s imperative that they are inspired, informed, and involved.

“When we tell a mission story and we simply inspire people, it’s hype and it doesn’t last long. It can lead to disillusionment. People are very interested or intrigued in how God’s working around the world, but they don’t know how to be involved. That really doesn’t activate the heart of God in our congregation. If we inform them, that can actually be a bit boring. Information without inspiration is rather boring.

(Image courtesy of Global Disciples)

“But both of those—information and inspiration—with involvement, leads to transformation.”

GoGlobal 1Day encourages groups of people, be it full congregations, men’s and women’s groups, or even children’s groups to join together and learn more about the people who are without knowledge of Jesus.

“Then they can actually do something together, use their own gifts and their own skills, their own interests, to raise funds and raise awareness and raise intercession for the least-reached people of the world.”

Last year, 1Day encouraged people to donate an entire day’s wage to Great Commission efforts. This year, they’re still encouraging people to do that if they want. But they also have a list of other ways groups of people can raise awareness, prayers, and gifts.

GoGlobal 1Day is on September 7. But really, Meadows says, people can participate on any day. In fact, the resources are available until October 1.

(Image courtesy of Global Disciples)

“It’s not kind of one day of giving or one day of interest or prayer for the least-reached. We need 365 days a year where our heart is towards the least-reached in the world. But this is the one day where we’re noting our hearts are there with the Lord, and the one day we’re working towards when every person on the planet will have heard the Gospel.”

To begin your GoGlobal 1Day journey, head to the website and learn more about this movement and the people who are at the center of it.

“And then form that group,” Meadows says. “Don’t do this alone. And don’t see it just as a giving campaign. See it as a prayer campaign and a sharing campaign and a giving campaign.”

To learn more, register, and find ideas for your GoGlobal 1Day, click here.

That’s why Global Disciples has someone praying for the advance of God’s Kingdom and their ministry every hour of every day year-round.

The Prayer Chain

Barry* with Global Disciples says, “We have over 1,000 programs which are training programs for church planters focused on least-reached areas. Each of them is called to have an intercessory prayer team that supports them. We then use those teams and those teams are all over the world and invite them to choose an hour sometime during the month that they are going to pray every month.”

There are approximately 944 hours in a 31-day month, so the 1,000 teams easily cover each month with 24-hour continuous prayer. It’s been going on for a year now, and Global Disciples is planning to keep it going!

By covering their ministry in continuous prayer, these prayer teams are girding Global Disciples’ evangelists, church planters, and pastors in spiritual protection and providing round-the-clock encouragement as God opens doors for outreach.

If you would like to join a team or even create your own team of at least two or more people to take an hour of prayer for Global Disciples and missions to the least-reached, you can contact Global Disciples to learn more!

Prayer Journeys

But their focus on prayer doesn’t stop there. Global Disciples also has prayer trips that add a whole new dimension to the purpose and power of prayer.

(Photo courtesy of Global Disciples)

“We believe that prayer also is effective in breaking ground, in a sense, sowing seeds of faith and prayer and breaking ground in some new territories where we’re looking to push into with our programming, with our church planter training,” explains Barry.

These prayer trips consist of a small team, mostly of people from the region they’re going into. One of Barry’s latest prayer trips with Global Disciples was into Nigeria as Global Disciples hopes to push into northern Africa.

“I joined about four other people from Nigeria and we did a trip into one of the least-reached areas in that country and particularly spent about five days trekking in the area, praying as we went, and making a few connections with a little bit of the work that is being done in that region.”

Global Disciples primarily works in Africa and Asia with a few programs in Latin America as well. Other prayer trips have gone into Bhutan, Nepal, North Africa, and Morocco, just to name a few. And another trip is going on right now in Pakistan.

Mama Atima: An Intercessor’s Legacy

Those who are prayer warriors and intercessors with Global Disciples are planting seeds of faith and creating a legacy of Great Commission harvest. Barry shares the story of one such person named Mama Atima, a woman in her 60s who lived near northern Nigeria. Mama Atima was organizing another prayer trip for Global Disciples going once again into Nigeria.

The prayer trip into Nigeria was scheduled for late in September this year. The area they were venturing into was heavily Islamic and very difficult for ministry. But Mama Atima and the others pressed forward in faith.

Barry says she “had such a passion to see the Gospel moving into that region, so she was very excited about the trip and about moving into that area. On the way there, there was an automobile accident and in a little bit of a freak situation, she was injured seriously and lost her life shortly after getting to the hospital…. That was a really challenging season for me just over the last weeks.

“We know that this intercessor of ours lost her life and for many of us it grieves us to know we won’t get to pray alongside her anymore. Yet we believe that the seeds of her faith will rise up in that land and produce a harvest as well.”

They’ve had other challenges in their prayer trips as well from border arrests to scheduling changes. “I think it assures us that there’s Kingdom expansion happening and the enemy is not always so thrilled about some of the things that are taking place.”

Ways to Pray Today

For now, Global Disciples would love having the Body of Christ uplift these prayer points:

(Photo courtesy of Global Disciples via Facebook)

“The overall prayer of our hearts comes out of the Gospels where Jesus on two different occasions encouraged the disciples to pray that the Lord of the harvest would send more workers into the harvest fields that are ripe.”

Barry asks, “I would say right now, specifically, one of the areas that we’re really sensing God calling us into and struggling is the region of North Africa. So we would love to have people join us in praying for God to open doors that can’t be shut into North Africa.

“And, like I said, right at this moment we have someone who is in Pakistan on a prayer trip and trying to make some connections there, so that’s another region where we would love to have people praying into on our behalf, that God would give us favor in those regions.”

Click here for more prayer requests with Global Disciples at their website.

*Full name omitted for security purposes.

Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo courtesy of Prayitno Photography via Flickr under Creative Commons: https://goo.gl/BBRGwa)

The shooter rained gunfire into a crowd of over 22,000 people from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. When police broke into the hotel room where the gunman was holed up, he was found dead. Investigative authorities are still searching for a motive behind the vicious attack.

Greg Jao with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship says they have chapters at college campuses in Nevada. “We have had InterVarsity students who were at the concert. So far, we’ve been able to check in with the ones that we know about and they all seem to be physically fine. They’re obviously still reeling from the experience and we’re checking with the larger chapter population.”

Jao says one way Christians can respond is, “If we’re part of a larger network or denomination, to support the churches in Las Vegas that are engaging this issue. Issues like mass shootings…call for extraordinary resources on the ground, and supporting those churches is really critical.”

Also, he says it’s important to “engage the people around us in the conversations our hearts long to have. There was a death at Hamilton College this past week and our staff and students went on campus and asked people, ‘What are the prayers you would want to pray in a moment like this?’ And several hundred students stopped and wrote down prayers, many of whom said they weren’t religious but were longing for a way to express their grief, their anger, [and] their confusion. And I think for Christians in moments of tragedy to listen and to invite conversation is part of the way that the Church extends Christ’s healing hand in the world.”

Many are praying for the victims, but prayer is sometimes criticized as a lackluster response — sort of doing the bare minimum. Jao says we need to be careful not to use ‘praying for you’ offhandedly in tragedies like this.

“I think the first thing is to acknowledge the critique that it’s easy to say that we’re praying without choosing to engage the brokenness, evil, and hurt that cause shootings or allow shootings to happen… So to the extent that we say, well, we’re praying so we don’t have to do anything else, I think we fail to understand what prayer really is.

“At the same time,” he adds, “I absolutely believe that prayer is the first, most authentically human and most authentically Christian response to tragedy and disaster. When we’re confronted by a shooting or a hurricane or an earthquake, our first response should be calling out as a human being, recognizing our limitation. We cannot change anything about this nor can we fix the situation for those who are hurt or dying, so we turn to the only one who can actually bring help, healing, and aid which is God himself.

“I think when we pray, ultimately, what we’re doing is we’re also confronting the principalities and powers that drive these kinds of evils.”

Luke 10:2-3 illustrates this interplay for prayer and action in the Church. In the passage, Jesus is speaking to his disciples: “He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”

Jao says of the Scripture reference, “I think this brings it full circle. When we pray, we’re actually telling God that we choose to be available and desire to be used by him to engage the issues that we pray around…. When we say, ‘Lord, would you do something in the midst of the continual shootings that we see in the United States?’ I think he’s also telling the Church, if you are willing to pray that, then go and make a difference in those situations.

“So I don’t think it’s actually a ‘bare minimum’ response. I think in fact prayer is, as I said, the most authentically human and Christian response, but it also is the Church saying, ‘I’m willing to be used to change this. Lord, allow me the privilege of being an answer to the prayers that I pray.’”

Pray for Christ to comfort those hurt by the Las Vegas shooting — whether they were injured or have lost loved ones or have seen their community broken by this. Pray for the grieving, for the healing, and for eternal hope.

Simultaneously, Jao says we need to ask this question among our churches:

“If this were to happen in my community, is my church prepared to respond? If there’s a shooting in the schools in my community, how is my church prepared to respond? Because unless we’ve planned for these events we’ll be caught scrambling.

“Frequently, where the Church shines in its witness in the world is when we’re prepared to act in the face of tragedy, when we run towards the cries of pain rather than away from them, when we open up our churches as places of shelter and prayer, when we’re quick on the scene to help those who are most in need.”

(Photo courtesy of Paul O’Brien with MAF)

Brad Westom with MAF’s Spiritual Enrichment Team explains what MAF’s Worldwide Day of Prayer is all about.

“All of our programs overseas, including MAF International, we all stop what we’re doing. We take a half-day and we share prayer requests with each other and we pray for each other and pray for our work and safety and the Lord’s ministry, the Kingdom advance. That’s what the day is, and we’re all praying together even in different places.”

For any Christian ministry pursuing the advance of the Great Commission, prayer is a major force behind the Kingdom work. But why dedicate an entire day for an organization to have a Worldwide Day of Prayer?

(Photo courtesy of MAF)

To put it simply, says Westom, “We’re all busy. Taking that time to pray together kind of helps us remember why we’re so busy and why we’re overseas doing the things we’re doing. This is really about God’s Kingdom work, but it’s easy to get lost kind of in the details and the busyness of life and forget that. So this helps us refocus. There’s just amazing power when people pray together in groups and corporate prayer, so that’s a second reason for us to do that. And third, it’s just a great time for us to share stories from all around the world, where we’re normally focused on our little program in our country in our part of the world. We get to hear what’s going on in other places and get to pray for our brothers and sisters who are serving God in different places.”

If you’d like to join forces with MAF in prayer tomorrow, mark a reminder for MAF’s Worldwide Day of Prayer on April 5th. Here are a few things Westom shares that you can pray for:

• Aviation Safety – “I would pray for safety in our flight operations, in our maintenance, and everything to do with airplanes.”
• International Relationships – “The world is changing, as everyone knows, so pray for continued favor and good relationship with the government entities that we work with so we can operate as a legal entity in a lot of the countries we serve.”
• Ministry Stamina – “Pray for strength and health.”
• Intimacy with God – “Pray for our staff, that they would really maintain and grow in their intimacy with God. I believe it’s out of that intimacy with God where the ministry really happens with other people, so if our people get busy and forget their quiet time or their own personal prayer time — which again, is pretty common with everybody I think — then the ministry impact diminishes. So pray for our individual people, that they can guard that intimacy with God.”

Click here to learn more about Mission Aviation Fellowship and their unique ministry!

Karen Carlson has been on the mission field for some time. She calls the United States her home country, but where she and her husband served for several years, she calls her heart country.

(Photo courtesy of United Nations Photo via Flickr: https://flic.kr/p/8haGt7)

It was in the DRC that God opened her eyes to the widespread atrocities women around the world face every day. Carlson knew bad stuff was going on, but she wasn’t sure of the extent.

She came to a point in life where she had some extra time, and with it she began to do research about this country.

“I bought a couple of books and began reading them and there were times when I couldn’t read because I was crying so hard. There were times I couldn’t sleep because of what I was finding out.”

The crimes against these women that happened all the time — they were unfathomable. Unimaginable. It was a hard season for Carlson.

“As I began to read outside of my context, I saw that trafficking, and war crimes, and pornography, and how women are viewed and how they are used as chattel — all of those things were not just in my heart country […], it was throughout the world.”

War against women

It was at this time that Carlson saw clearly — women are at war. She realized that the enemy uses these crimes not only to hurt women, but to destabilize families and ultimately destabilize entire nations.

Fighting a war from home

Carlson knew God was asking her to do something with this information. But how could she help if she couldn’t go and do something? God was calling her to pray. He was also calling her to lead others in prayer.

She came up with 30 different topics that relate to the challenges facing women and children. Then, she asked God to show her how to pray for each one of them. This part, she said, was easy. God brought to mind different Scripture verses as she wrote up the prayers.

She was writing a book.

Her book, Prayer for Crowned Jewels, is a 30 day prayer guide to help people pray for women and children who have become targets of violence and abuse.

It’s available at Youversion, here.

Or online here.

Transformation

In the center of these prayers, Carlson says, is the Gospel.

“How do you go through something like this apart from Christ? So, many of the prayers actually are talking about their access to Scripture. Do they have the Scripture in their heart language? And if they don’t, then I pray for that.

“I pray for evangelism, I pray for missionaries to have access, I pray for church leaders to rise up and to shepherd their congregation and to reach out and to look for those. We pray for the lost — all of those things are central to this.”

She believes in the power of prayer because she believes in the power of Jesus. He has much more to offer than the world does.

“I have read reports from non-believing standpoints and they said, ‘Some of these things women will never get over.’ And I want to say, ‘No! I don’t believe that. I believe that Jesus can go into the deepest pit, and I believe that Jesus can heal the greatest heartache that any of these women and children have gone through.’ But they have to know Jesus.”

Praying for others affects you

Through this journey, Carlson has discovered the powerful impact of praying for others.

“When people start praying for women and children who are, for the most part, worse off than we are, if there’s healing that needs to be done in their own life because they have had sexual abuse, or because they’ve not been valued as a woman, as you start praying God’s Word for other people, God starts working in your heart and healing your heart.”

God begins to share His heart on these issues with you. And this, Carlson explains, can draw you into action. Prayer is the beginning, the foundation, of ministry. She believes God will bring opportunity to express your heart for these issues in a new way.