-Personally, it has been a really rough time. Please pray for encouragement, perseverance and continual clinging to the Lord for me. I really don’t want to highlight the difficulty but I want to be honest. I am learning to praise out of obedience, rather then out of whether I feel like it or not. I am learning to read the Word and prayer whether I feel like I can or not. My need for the Lord has been very obvious. There are days that it is hard to do anything and then there have been days that I feel much more normal. I KNOW that God is and will work the good out of this time. I have seen and have had other people tell me that they see growth in me. This is very encouraging. I have a sense that the Lord is pruning me and it is not easy. I see the answers to a lot of my prayers but not in the way I thought they would come! An example of this is that I’ve prayed for a long time for the renewing of my mind. I’ve never had such a battle for my thoughts and against lies from the enemy like I have had now. Please pray for me to have the power to combat the lies (I don’t have to accept them! These are not from God) and to believe God’s truth. I now see what a process renewing the mind is and it is only through the Holy Spirit that they can be renewed.
-Pray for Heather Carney (my roomate) as she is making the transition from being a full time missionary in Cairo to being a full time math teacher at the High School in Cairo. Pray for our team as it transitions, as we continue to seek God’s will for our house of prayer and for us as a family. We have lived together for 3 and a half years and we know God continues to call us to go deeper.
-Pray for the new prayer meeting that will be starting with some interested kids at the elementary kids on Mondays. May the Lord has His way there.
-Pray that I’ll be able to keep meeting with the mom that have done Bible Study with as things keep seeming to come up. Pray for God’s will in this time.
-Pray for direction with the two girls that I tutor/mentor/diciple.
-Pray as we seek God’s will for the summer. Our summers are never the same and this one we really aren’t sure what to expect!
1.Buildings. We have officially told the Catholic Church (that owns the building that we have been using for the last three years) that we are leaving the building after the summer. This is something that we have been praying about for a while. The building costs too much for us and we do not use all the space, except for during the summer and we think that someone else could utilize it more effectively. Most importantly we have been united in sensing God’s call for us to leave the building through prayer. So, we need prayer for direction for the Fall and for a place to meet. We are willing to meet in our houses. We also have sensed a need for a separate building just for prayer for the community for the summer as our current building is in use by Youthworks (they are the missions groups that come in all summer) and we know they are supposed to be in our building. Our summer schedule begins next week. So, this is an immediate request! We are hoping for even a building on the main street so it is easy access to the community. We believe people will walk off the street in need of prayer.
2. Summer Direction/Schedule. Our Father has completely thrown us for a loop this summer. He told us to do 24/7 prayer, so we spent time creating a website, applications and inviting people to come join us for sixty days. We had no one apply! Although we are not sure why He had us walk through this process we know that we were supposed to walk through it. It has caused us to decide not to work with Youthworks as much as we have in the past (They are still housed in our building.) so this has freed up more of our time. We know we desire to continue relationships in the community that the Lord has given us and to pray as a team wherever God sends us.
3. Summer Prayer. No matter what it looks like, we will pray this summer! We know this is our focus. We know that we are going to pray “on location” around Cairo. Pray that we will have such listening ears.
4. Healing. It has especially been our hearts (since we went to Florida) to pray for people to need healing in Cairo whether it is physically, emotionally or spiritually. There are so many that are in need of healing. We’ve already seen evidence of His healing hand in Cairo. Please pray for opportunities to pray for healing.
5. Support. I praise the Lord for how He has provided thus far because He has way beyond my expectations! Raising support has not been this horribly painful process that I thought it would be. It has grown my faith in how God provides for his people and His Work. I have seen this in my daily needs and my also my teams’. I am now in need of continued funds to live on.
6. Kids in the summer. Just as I was writing I had several kids come in the office who are now too old for Kid’s Club and have nothing to do this summer! They are bored! Some of these kids are kids we’ve worked with for years. Pray for direction of how we can plug them into things and for things for them to get interested in instead of roaming the streets all summer.
MARCH/APRIL UPDATE:
Hello all!
March has been a month of seeing the Holy Spirit at work in Cairo. There have been many moments where we’ve had to reflect afterwards and say, “That had to be the Lord!”. There are changes within people’s lives that we have only prayed for but now we’re seeing evidence of real change! We’re seeing victory, freedom, understanding, peace, understanding of the Word where there was only confusion and chaos before. And we know that this is only the beginning….I don’t ever what to limit the Lord or say that this is all He can do, because there is always more to Him and His power until we reach Heaven or He comes back!
Check out my recent blogs at www.stacyciha.wordpress.com to hear more of what has happened with me, ministry and in Cairo this past month.
Check out what we moving towards in the summer, with ”The Siege” at www.thecairosiege.com. If anyone is interested in joining us or may know someone that might, let me know!
Updates/Prayer Requests:
1.Freedom. This has always been the word word prayer request that I could think of that would cover a lot of areas. We have recently gone through as staff a biblical couseling session designed by Stan Anderson to open the door for freedom in people’s lives. We have begun to go through it with people in the community as we sense leading. Pray for complete freedom in each of Two Rivers Staff. Pray for us as we take it to individuals in the community. Pray for complete freedom from everything that is hindering people in Cairo!
2. That we keep fighting. As we experience God’s real movement, there are real spiritual attacks that follow. In my life there are things that have come up within the last couple weeks that God has brought me from! I know that I don’t have to believe the lies of the enemy but it can get difficult so pray for strength! I believe in complete healing. Pray for the armor (Eph 6) to be on all of us staff as well as the people we’re closest to in the community.
3.April 26th. Sara and I will be running in the half-marathon in Nashville on that day. Pray for our physical, emotional and spiritual preparation and endurance. Pray for us on race day. On that same day there will be people gathering for silent prayer at the capitals of all 50 states against abortion. We will be there in Nashville and a few of our staff is going to Springfield.
4.For all the Bible Studies and Mentoring/Dicipling we lead or take part in. Here are the specific ones you can pray for me with:
Tuesday: 3-5- Bible Study/Drama(We do a different activity each month) with kids 2-6th grades at the housing project.
Wednesday: 1:30- Bible Study with single mother.
4:30-6- Bible Study with a small group of mainly 5th and 6th graders
Thursday:3:30-Mentoring/Tutoring 3rd grade girl (This is just beginning!)
Friday:3- Mentoring/Dicipling 5th grade girl
5. For conflict resolution skills for the kids. Recently, the fifth grades girls keep getting into fights. The cycle seems like it never stops and they are usually fighting over nothing! Please pray for an opening of minds that there is another way. Pray that this cycle of violence ends in Cairo!
6. Pray for our preparations and planning for the 50 day prayer adventure we are embarking on this summer. It can be hard admidst all of our other commitments but it is very important.
These verses relate to a lot that I am seeing and experiencing lately, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is(D) set before us, 2looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,(E) who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising(F) the shame, and(G) is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” ~ Hebrews 12
Thank you for all of your support. I really, really appeciate it.
By Faith,
Stacy
January 2008 Praises/Prayer Requests (This month they truly seem intertwined!)
1. As of January 1st, to my astonishment, God provided all the money I needed for the month of January! This was without even sending out any support letters and doing what the Lord had led me to do so far, which was simply and to share the story of what God is doing to anyone that came across my path. It was an amazing confirmation that I am where He wants me to be! It truly increased my faith! I am also ok for the next months, up to spring, financially. He is providing! Praise the Lord! Keep praying!
2. We see the most fruit in the children of Cairo. Keep praying for my friend Melissa’s class of fifth graders. There are quite a few in that class that are bringing their bibles to school to read. Pray that they may not only read, but live it out. Pray for the children we mentor/disciple. Pray for wisdom. Pray for me especially as I work with the girl I mentor. She is a very compassionate girl, that has accepted Christ ,but she has anger issues. We’ve been reading and talking about loving your enemies in Luke 6. Pray for her to be open to God’s transforming power and to go against the crowd. Pray for us also as we’ve started going to one of the housing projects and doing a bible study and learning a skill (we’re teaching them how to knit!) once a week with a group of kids there.
3. Pray for us as we have begun leading times of worship and prayer at one of the housing projects once a month on Fridays and we might also start having one weekly on Tuesday mornings. There are many people in Cairo that love the Lord but do not have a church where they worship. There are many people that do not know the Lord, but like all of us, have a desperate need for Him. There are believers that are a part of a church. We hope that this could be a place and time where all would come.
4. Pray for 12th Street Baptist Church. A couple days ago a storm in town blew the roof off of this church. This was the only building that was damaged, it was a very strange thing! We are not sure exactly what is going on… This was a church where many children have begun attending. This pastor is a friend of ours and is one of the pastors in town that meets weekly to pray with other pastors. Pray that God’s will may be done in this and that it may be used for unity in the body here and for God’s glory!
5. Pray for Regional 24/7 prayer to raised up here. This would mean that different groups of believers in the region together would cover different hours during the day in prayer. Many people are now interested in this where they weren’t before! We sense that this could be God’s timing. Also pray for us as it is on our hearts to have 24/7 prayer in Cairo this summer as we also will have Youthworks and their ministry here. How powerful it would be to have people praying and have people going out in the community in ministry at the same time! We are seeking what the Lord wants for this summer.
Thank you.
All of this is the Lord’s.
Love,
stacy.
December 2007 PRAISES and PRAYER REQUESTS…
Praises:
1. That God hears our prayers.2. That God has kept our team in unity thus far. Whenever we’re not, we pray.3.That God does lead us, just as He has led us this Fall.4. For all the open doors in ministry. Such as the lady who wants to be a part of our church. God has brought many of the people in the fringes to us, that need a home, and need love.5. For the favor we’ve had so far in the community.6. For a ten year old that accepted the Lord a couple weeks ago. Pray for:
- We have traveled a lot in the past months. We sense that God wants us to be mobile. For us as we want our focus to be on the community and what that means as we also travel in the future.
- Confirmation in the direction we are going, the ministries that we are in and beginning. (Bible studies, time with kid’s at one of the local housing projects that begins next week…)
- Vision for the ministry, and community of believers that God is building here. We have not hoped to have a church and we actually still say we are not a church, but we are the church. This gets very confusing to us and the community! We have worship times in the morning and with the community our focus is Friday nights where we have a meal and then worship and prayer. Pray for these times..
- How to share what is going on here with the community, our families and friends. I so want to be honest with all of you, but sometimes I think too much about the reaction that I’m going to get…
- Growth in faith and trust.
- JOY as we walk in this! What an adventure…
- God’s provision.
