Pray for Australia!

Photo courtesy of National Geographic
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/photogalleries/australia-fires/index.html

For those who have not heard from us in a while, thanks for your patience. We had a major laptop failure during our second week here in Australia that took a few weeks to get fixed. During that time we had limited access to the internet and very few email addresses at our disposal. Now that we are gratefully back up and running we're trying to catch up with more frequent blog updates and newsletters.

Please pray for Australia. Australians are facing an historically unprecedented number of natural disaster catastrophes right now. Deadly heat waves in South Australia. Severe flooding in Queensland. Devastating bush fires in Victoria. Last report I heard was pushing the death toll toward 300 people with many more Australians losing homes, jobs and family members. All of this as the global economic crisis heads to the great south land, too. It's been called the worst period in Australian history already. It is having a profound effect on the entire nation and her guests. Please pray for Australia.

Dear Lord Jesus,
Have mercy on Australia in her darkest hour. We know you can redeem even this terrible time of trial for all Australians. Help the relief workers and fire fighters. Stop the evil schemes of the enemy that would burn people alive or flood them out of their homes. Create a wave of restoration to sweep across the land bringing renewal, healing and righteousness. We know you are there for all Australians to find comfort in your arms, the arms of the Living God! May you be glorified as the redeemer of all Australia as the nation turns their attention to you, Lord, with their cries of “help” and their cries of “Why, Lord.” Have mercy, Lord, for Australia.

Thank you, friends, also for your faithful prayers for us. We are alive and well in Western Australia, which has seen far fewer incidents of arson than out East. We have been very active day and night in a fantastic missions training program and will plan to share more information about it in our next post and newsletter.

Feel free to add your own prayers for Australia as comments to this post.