I remember a child who was abducted and murdered 25 years ago in Sunset, Utah, a few years after I graduated from high school. I still remember her name.
When Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped, I prayed for every day for months. Long after the media forgot her, I prayed for her. I didn't know Elizabeth or her family but I grew up in Utah and it just seemed that prayer was something I could do. I loved hearing the news that she was found alive and that she has continued to heal and get on with her life.
This little four year old girl, Madeleine, disappeared in Portugal when her parents, who were there vacationing with the family, went out to dinner. Millions of dollars (US) have been pledged to help in whatever way it can help. Perhaps greed will cause someone to step forward. Perhaps humanity. Perhaps guilt. But someone knows what happened to her.
Father, Thou who lovest all children, keep a watchful eye over little Madeleine McCann. Keep her safe. Touch her captor's heart. Let her be found alive and well. Let people be especially vigilant. May the police, who have called off the search, continue to work through good leads to find her. May her parents be comforted and may friends step forward from all around the world to lift them up.
And father, there are little children taken every day in every country. What a terrible, terrible plague! I sometimes think that Thou art watching to see if we will rise up and put a stop to pornograpy, to child prostitution, to the selling of children all over the world, to cruelty and neglect and exploitation. What is the point of Thine intervention minute by minute when we continue to look the other way?
May my teeny bit of faith be joined with hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of others who pray and seek for the safety of children all over the world. Keep our eyes open so that on each of our individual watches, not another child is exploited.
And father, there are little children taken every day in every country. What a terrible, terrible plague! I sometimes think that Thou art watching to see if we will rise up and put a stop to pornograpy, to child prostitution, to the selling of children all over the world, to cruelty and neglect and exploitation. What is the point of Thine intervention minute by minute when we continue to look the other way?
May my teeny bit of faith be joined with hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of others who pray and seek for the safety of children all over the world. Keep our eyes open so that on each of our individual watches, not another child is exploited.
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