2024 in Prayer - Calendar

Prayer Calendar 2023 Girl with face paint
Prayer Calendar 2023 Boy
Prayer Calendar 2023 Girl with smile
Prayer Calendar 2023 Girl in tribal cloths
Prayer Calendar 2023 oldest boy
Prayer Calendar 2023 Girl eating noodles

Find below the focus and prayer requests for the month.  Each month, you can learn more about GROW and have a focused way of praying for the ministry.  Subscribe and donate to help rescue more children.

April - 2024
Focus: Water Festival
Pray for the Gospel

A Bit About Thai Culture

In Thailand with summer in full swing, one of the most popular celebrations is the Songkran Water Festival. The Songkran marks the beginning of the Thai New Year. Water is a big part of the celebration. In Thai the water represents making a fresh start with a splash. Furthermore, the water splashing is also seen as washing away the bad luck from the previous year. If you are traveling in Thailand during this time, expect to get water thrown on you from just about everywhere. With it being the hottest month of the year, it may be a welcomed inconvenience.

Other Songkran activities include parades and parties. Depending on location, the festival is likely to include either a traditional or modern flare and sometimes a mixture of modern and traditional activities. However, the festival always includes a recognition honoring Buddha, as people carry his image as they march through the cities.

Biblical Significance of Water

John 4:13-15 Jesus was with the Samaritan woman at the well.

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh bubbling spring within them giving them eternal life.”

“Please sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I will never be thirsty again . . . . ”

A God-Appointment

The spreading of this water reminds me of the need to spread the Gospel. I recall while taking a trip with Faa in February to meet some children in Thailand, God gave her the opportunity to do just that. We had been driving all day and were almost out of gas. Being just minutes from our lodging for the night, Faa decided she was too tired to fill the tank and that it could wait until morning. After what seemed like a short night, we headed out again for a two to three-hour trip to our next destination. About an hour into the trip, Faa noticed the bright orange color of the gas gauge light indicating that we were very low on gas. We were in the middle of nowhere. So, we prayed. We didn’t know how long the light had been on, and no gas was in sight. Finally, we came upon a little spot along the road where there were a couple of modest places to get a bite to eat and a few people who had set up shop on little tables alongside the road. We decided to stop and ask how far to the next gas station. We pulled up beside one such table, and Faa got out to make the inquiry. Time went on, and Faa was still engaged in conversation with the women at her humble stand selling avocados and other produce. About twenty minutes later, I see Faa making a purchase. I stepped out to see what was happening. Next thing I knew the lady was
putting extra avocados into Faa’s bag. When we returned to the thirsty vehicle, I asked her what that was all about. Faa told me how she had engaged this woman in conversation. When the women learned that Faa had her social worker’s license, she began sharing her life’s story with Faa. She unfolded her past hardships and current struggles with losing her husband, working to pay off their debt and the loneliness she experienced every day. She had nobody to talk to. Faa asked her if she went to church or to the temple. Then Faa shared the Gospel with this thirsty woman. I realized then that this was a divine appointment. There was purpose in our “forgetting” to fill the tank that morning. Faa encouraged the women and told her the next time she passed through here, she would stop and ask her how she was doing.

This occurrence was not a one-time event for Faa. She actively searches for people with whom to share the Gospel as she goes about her days. How can we also search out the divine appointments God may have for us?

We did end up making it to the gas station just 10 miles farther down the road and on to our next scheduled appointment, but I’m sure glad we didn’t miss this God-Appointed appointment.

The brokenness of this world always leaves it with a longing for a fresh start, a new beginning. As Christians, we know that only Christ can give a new beginning. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old is gone, the new is here.” He is the substance of change, the living water. When the Samaritan woman at the well recognized that Jesus was the living water and was offering her eternal life, she immediately went out and started sharing the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ. GROW wants to be like the Samaritan woman and bring water to a thirsty world longing for a new beginning. 

PRAYER: Pray that GROW can reach Thailand with living water, the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jan '24 Prayer Focus
Feb '24 Prayer Focus
Mar '24 Prayer Focus

APRIL
Focus:
Water Festival
Pray for
Gospel

MAY
Focus:
School
Pray for kids’
studies

JUNE
Focus:
Construction 2
Pray for the crew’s salvation

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER