Family Focused Friday!

For the past several months we have been participants in a program from Voices of the Martyrs called prisoner alert. Voices of the Martyrs works closely with churches and individuals around the world who are persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. When we get the alerts of either a new person who has been persecuted for their faith...or an update on their sentence...we have the opportunity to write a letter to them in prison.

They have pre-chosen sentences and verses that are able to be translated into their language that you can choose from online. It then composes the message and allows you to print off the letter and the address.

This is our way, as a family with younger children, to "visit those in prison" and to help set the oppressed free. We also send pre-made letters online to their officials asking for the release of those Christians. It is a way we can be involved with the kind of "fasting" God desires and outlines in Isaiah 58.

Here is the link and you can check it out for yourself:
http://www.prisoneralert.com/

If you sign up they will always update you on what the status is on individuals in prison...and also remind you to pray and write. We choose the wording of the letter together (like I said, the sentences are pre-written you just get to choose the ones you want) and then the girls always add stickers and pictures to brighten the day of those in prison.

There are rules to sending these letters on the website...please read those for your own safety and the safety of those who work for this agency and those in prison. I NEVER put my home return address. They tell you that anyone in that prison could take that letter and then have access to your personal info. Other than that...I just use our first names to sign the letters and mail it off...praying over it with our family.

Will every letter that we write get to the person...who knows. But, we can only be faithful to the commands God has given us in His Word about caring for our neighbors all over the world as we care for ourselves and our families. Please check this out...it's a great kid-friendly way to get involved with what is going on in God's church around the world! It will open your kids eyes to the blessings we experience here as Christians compared to what it costs those around the world.

Have a family-focused Friday idea of your own? Leave a comment and let us all know! Let's encourage each other in this journey of obedience to spend our vapor life on what is eternal!