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Thursday, November 1, 2012

November ePrayer Alert


Dear Faithful Prayer Partners,

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to intercede for Beauty From Ashes™ staff, interns, volunteers, & clients. As we continue to grow in the number of clients we serve and in the programs and services we offer to them, your prayers are relied upon and appreciated each day. 

CLIENTS: Praise God that many of the clients we serve have strengthened their walk with Him through increased faith & trust in His plans for their lives.  Please pray that their faith would be contagious in the lives of our new clients & that when possible, our clients would reach out to support each other in their journey. Pray that each of our clients would take every thought captive & continually be reminded that God did not make a mistake in making them. Pray that they would be able to walk in His love and His vision for their life & that they would not hold onto the shame from the past. Pray that God would reveal each part of His plan for each of our clients in His time & that they would learn to put one foot in front of the other,` trusting in Him alone. Agree with us that as they continue to build new life, they would be blessed with healthy friendships centered on Christ.  

OUTREACHES:  As we continue our weekly outREACHes in the inner-city, life-skills/support groups, and daily social media outREACHes, we ask for continued prayers for us to be Jesus' hands and feet to the world, delivering His hope & the life saving Gospel message. We are so thankful for our continued favor with our "adopted" strip club, giving us the opportunity to build relationships with both the management and employees. It is our prayer that the Lord's love shines through our outREACH ministry teams and that those we reach begin to see just how much He loves them, how He has a purpose for every one of their lives, and He is their Deliverer and Healer. We ask that you pray for favor as we expand our strip club outREACHes. Pray that our outREACH ministry teams would continue to multiply as our territory expands according to God's will. 

PROGRAMS & SERVICES:  Pray for the 30+, victim centered programs and services that BFA provides free of charge to the community. Pray for the new programs as they are developed out of client's needs. Our newest is tutoring services to clients' children. Agree with us that all programs and services be glorifying to God, while providing practical needs to clients and the community. 

CURRENT NEEDS:  We are currently in need of the following pieces of furniture for our office: desk, 2 rolling office chairs, full size bookcase, and 2-4 industrial shelving units.  Please pray that God would bring forth individuals or a business ready to sponsor clients, their families, and their recovery. Agree with us for the provision of bus passes, Bibles, gift cards, client sponsorship, pharmacy cards, refrigerator, etc. CLICK HERE for entire list of our needs. 

EQUINE FACILITY:  Pray for those participating in both the Prevention Mentoring and Aftercare Restoration/Mentoring Equine Programs.  Pray that God would bring us funding so that we can renovate the horse barn by adding a restroom and mother in laws' suite ASAP. For more information on the programs and facility, CLICK HERE

FUNDING:  Pray that God would raise up more committed partners willing to support us financially so that we can continue offering our services to victims of sexual exploitation, abuse, & trafficking. Thank God for the resources from the East, West, North, and South.

PARTNERSHIPS:  Please pray that more churches will support the first and only overcomer-led, faith based, human sex trafficking victim service agency in the state of Florida.  Pray that churches would add BFA to their list of home missions support and begin supporting us with time, talent and resources.  May community partnerships continue to increase. Also pray for protection and strengthening of existing networking, in addition to protecting our partners.  Where the enemy is trying to come against our partners, rejoice with us that a standard is being raised to protect them.  

EVENTS:  Wisdom and discernment to know what and/or who BFA is to be involved with or not. Pray for our team, throughout the month of November, to have increased energy as we move into our busiest season with awareness events, presentations on top of the ongoing outREACHes and programs we offer each week. Pray that God would bless us with the ability to reach many people this month through our speaking engagements at a variety of venues.

VOLUNTEERS & INTERNS:  Pray for God to bring us more interns for the Spring of 2013 that are as passionate & dedicated as the interns we currently have.  Pray that God would lay a strong desire on the hearts of local women to get involved as faithful volunteers. Especially pray that God would bring us 2-3 women with a desire to transport our clients to and from necessary appointments, group counseling sessions, and to the Equine Facility for services.  Pray with us for an Event Coordinator and individual(s) to consistently assist in the day to day operations.  

STAFF:  Pray that our Founder, Julie Shematz, and Program Manager, Christa Hicks, would sustain balance and priorities as they work diligently to prevent, reach, rescue, & restore victims of sex trafficking and sexual exploitation.  Praise God that He has given Julie the energy and strength to balance her family life, full time school work, & duties as Executive Director of BFA. Pray for Julie as she continues in her final year of graduate school and internship, through the end of the year, at the nation's largest Salvation Army Social Services Center, as a mental health clinician intern. Pray that the Lord will refresh and renew Christa on a daily basis as she manages the programs, meets with clients, supervises interns and volunteers, and holds Julie accountable for balance. May both women prioritize their daily personal time with the Lord in order to fulfill the call on their lives as servants and leaders. Pray for both overcomer's husbands as they provide support to them.  May they maintain prioritized personal time with their spouses and family and those relationships flourish.  

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & ADVISORS:  Agree with us that all advisors and directors be of God's perfect will for such a time as this. Praise God abundantly for bringing our newest advisor Dr. Dawn Opitz, a psychologist with immense experience in Mental Health issues ranging from Depression, Anxiety, Adjustment Disorders, PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, ADHD, Dissociative Disorder, Schizophrenia, Personality Disorders, & Dementia. Continue to pray that God would pour out His blessings on each member of our board & advisory team.  Agree with us that their health, family, and resources be protected. 

OTHER LIKE MINISTRIES/AGENCIES:  Pray for unity amongst one another and humility, wisdom, and patience in reaching, rescuing and restoring victims.  May the level of professionalism be raised and licensed counselors and professional service providers unite with them to provide restoration services and program development.  Pray for balance, biblical priorities, and protection of marriages and families.  May strong boundaries be established and maintained for aftercare providers.  May God's strength and encouragement be imparted to all in the name of Jesus.  

WEEKLY GLOBAL PRAYER:  Please join us each Friday from 8-9am EST to intercede for victims of sexual exploitation, sex slavery, & sex trafficking, as well as the agencies servicing them.  CLICK HERE for Prayer Guide.  Locally, we meet in North Fort Myers at the Equine Facility.  Contact us for directions.

PRAYER REQUESTS:  Send us your prayer requests by CLICKING HERE.

BFA E-NEWSLETTERCLICK HERE to view our latest eNews and sign up to receive them in the future.

For the Lord your God is living among you.  He is a mighty Savior.  He will take great delight in you with gladness.  With His love, He will calm all your fears.  He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.  Zephaniah 3:17 NLT

On behalf of Julie Shematz and the Beauty From Ashes™ Ministries FREEdom™ Team, thank you for your commitment to prayer & intercession for our staff, clients, board, & partners!  We appreciate each of you!

Nancy Sampson and Sandra Spencer
Prayer Team Coordinators
Where Victims Become Overcomers