Pray with Jordan, March 5, 2023

Lectionary Selection: John 3: 1-17

Prayer from Jordan

Heavenly Father,

We thank you for our beautiful country and that we live in the same place where you were baptized, the Jordan River. It is a great privilege that you have honored every Jordanian with. We ask you, Lord, to give our leadership and its representatives the wisdom and perseverance to lead and take the right path toward keeping our country secure and stable. We pray that rain will fall abundantly and fill the dams in Jordan. We place our team at the Middle East Council of Churches here in Jordan, their families, and the most vulnerable people they serve between your merciful hands and love; Lord, offer them warmth during this harsh winter and provide them with enough fuel to stay warm. We pray that you lift diseases and epidemics from the world and our country because people are suffering from many other obstacles, especially economic hardship, food shortage, living in refuge, family breakdowns, and chronic diseases. We place the children and elderly under your mercy and love, so they are not abused or mistreated. We ask you to feed, clothe, and visit the sick and every little one through us, our humble team members, who truly are dedicated to serving you. We pray for our partners who trust us to serve through their resources, that you keep them away from evil. We thank you for every gift, seen or unseen, that you have offered us, and we thank you for accepting us as your servants This is not only great, but it’s a badge of honor that we wear.

Lord, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.

Mission Moment from Jordan

The Sewing Training Course
From among twenty Iraqi, Syrian, Egyptian, and Jordanian women, two special needs young women were selected by the local church priest to attend a three-month training course offered by the Middle East Council of Churches in Jordan. A first-time experience for our team, we were nervous and unsure of how best to work with them. We wanted to be sure they did not accidentally hurt themselves on a needle, scissors, or the sewing machine.

We approached the priest about our concerns, seeking guidance and possibilities. Moreover, we brought our concerns to the Lord in prayer until Azmi, one of our team members, suggested that we must accept this challenge and learn.
Both sisters were very fragile. They cried often. The day we celebrated one sister’s birthday, she also cried. At that moment, a volcano of love, care, and attention erupted from all participants to them, and we understood it as God’s way of teaching us how to be tender, caring, and resilient, accepting the challenge of leaving our comfort zone and bending to the meet the vulnerable. It was God’s purpose to teach us and strengthen us by entrusting us with these two special girls. We praise God’s name.

We saw things changing: their self-confidence started showing, and their learning abilities and positive attitude became clear. They are now sewing and wool knitting, to everyone’s surprise. We witnessed the two sisters with their big smiles wrapping up the training course, but the truth is they have wrapped us with knowledge and wisdom, with humbleness and love.

We share this with you because, through you and our partnership, we were all offered this gift of starting again, given the chance to be born again, as our Lord Jesus answered Nicodemus in John 3:5: Flesh gives birth to Flesh, but Spirit gives birth to Spirit.
How grateful and humbled we are to have You, O Lord, tailoring us to be merciful. We know it’s only a small part of Your Mercy towards us.

Written by Wafa Gousous, Global Ministries International Board member, Director of the Middle East Council of Churches in Jordan and the Orthodox Initiative of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

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