power in prayer

The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.
Psalm 145:18-19

Every Sunday in San Andres, we have women who come at the end of our day - when we are tired and ready to go home. We call them "the stragglers". I have learned that many times they are the ones who come for prayer. Yesterday, two women came who I remembered from some months ago. They had come asking for food. They told me similar stories of their lives married to men who drink too much and cannot care for their families. They told me about how there was no food in the house, about men who were angry and violent toward them and their children. We of course, gave them a small bag of food. But more importantly, we talked with them about a God who sees and hears the cry of His children, who had seen the injustice in their lives. As we prayed for them they both cried tears of anguish and pain. We promised to continue to pray for their husbands - that the Lord would open their eyes and soften their hearts to Jesus. I always write down the names of husbands or other family members and take them home to add to my prayer list. So yesterday when they came, they told us about how, since we prayed, their husbands had stopped drinking and how their homes had changed. They - along with another friend that they brought with them - expressed a desire to accept the Lord as their Savior. Their husbands however, had said that they could not until the men had (women are not allowed to lead...in anything here). But they asked that we write down all the names of their family members that we could continue to pray for them.


It is not uncommon for women to come and say that they want to have a relationship with Jesus but that their husbands will not let them. Indignation always rises within me when I hear that. But I have learned that this is how this culture is and to ask a woman to defy her husband only creates confusion. So we pray for a heart change in her husband and we encourage women to begin to pray themselves, for their husbands. Often, we have to clarify that to pray for her husband doesn't mean that she can pray that the Lord will stike her husband dead! So many times we have seen the Lord begin to move in the hearts of these men and as a result, entire families come to Jesus. He truly is "near to those who call upon Him..."