July 2012

Dear praying friend,

This month’s prayer focus takes us into the hidden places of the heart. You will be invited to step into the dark corners of human existence where the pain and suffering are extreme, where tears flow freely and where Jesus is the only, but also the all-sufficient, hope.

How do I know? My mother-in-law became a widow at only 32 years old. But in spite of and through all the suffering she faced during World War II, she learned to trust and rely fully on God alone. She became a tower of strength, resilience and faith. She left an indelible imprint in the souls of three generations of her family; and not in a detached way – rather, in a wise and practical sense. Daily I benefit from the legacy she left in my husband’s life, whose character she helped mold. Without husbands, widows have to raise their children alone, and God has a message to the church regarding these women.

His Word says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress …” (James 1:27). In my travels I see widows and orphans inevitably at the bottom of the pile. But God’s love and light can best be seen against the backdrop of dark despair and pain. It moves me deeply thinking that over and over again God assures us of His love for widows, especially when He says in Isaiah, “For your husband is your Maker!”

As I have traveled in more than 75 countries, I’ve found “widows of living husbands,” abandoned and left to raise their children alone, and my heart breaks! Let’s pray for healing of these families! Pray for their release from shame and pain caused by Satan’s oppression and cultural prejudices. God never intended that the women raise their children alone! Through our prayers and their hearing of Women of Hope, widows worldwide learn and experience God’s love as their “husband and Maker” and are helped “in their distress.”

I firmly believe that our earnest prayers for widows and their children will bring an unprecedented number of women into the worldwide choir of widows and orphans who have learned to sing songs of deliverance again while facing life’s storms.

Thank you for praying fervently and expectantly with me!

Marli Spieker
Global Ministry Director/Founder
Project Hannah
TWR