PRAYING TOGETHER FOR YOUR COMMUNITY
The Foster Care PRAYER JOURNAL
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
EPHESIANS 3:20-21 (NIV)
Praying together until there’s more than enough in
We all feel the gap
BETWEEN WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER AND WHAT IS ACTUALLY NEEDED.
It’s the same feeling the disciples had when they scoured the crowd for food to feed five thousand and returned with five loaves and two fish. Not only was it not enough, but it was so utterly inadequate that one might wonder why this minuscule offering even got mentioned in the pages of scripture.
When we consider vulnerable children and families in our communities, we feel the same way. We bring what we have, but compared to the crushing need, what we are offering doesn’t seem worth mentioning. The gap between “not enough” and “more than enough” extends beyond our wildest imagination.
But we serve a God that, for whatever reason, likes to live and move right there beyond our wildest imagination. He is the God of more than enough. He’s the only one who can fill the gap between our measly loaves and fish and the overflowing baskets of nourishment for those who so desperately need it.
This prayer journal is for those who understand that all of our striving cannot fill the gap. It’s a place where we remember those in our communities who work so hard for children and families. And it’s a place where we recognize that all that effort will amount to overflowing abundance only if the God of the universe steps in.
This journal contains 30 entries designed to help you pray with others for foster care where you live. These entries are divided into three sections:
Praying for Our Shared Vision (4 entries)
Praying for Our Community (22 entries)
Praying for Our Collaborative Work Together (4 entries)
Each entry includes a quote or scripture, a reflection question, some prayer prompts, and a space for you to note people, requests, and prayers that God has answered. This prayer journal can be navigated as a group with other collaborators in your community, on your own, or both.
More than enough for children and families before, during, and beyond foster care in your community is possible, but God is the only One who can do it.
LET’S ASK HIM.
Shared Vision
Regardless of your personal passion or your organizational mission, we can all agree that we want to see God provide more than enough for children and families before, during, and beyond foster care in our communities. These next few days, we’ll be praying for God to provide more than enough in four specific areas:
More than enough foster and kinship families for every child to have an ideal placement.
More than enough adoptive families for every child who needs one.
More than enough help for biological families trying to stay together or get back together.
More than enough wrap-around support for foster, kinship, adoptive, and biological families.
MORE THAN ENOUGH
Foster & Kinship Families 1
“What if there were more families waiting for children than children waiting for families?”
BISHOP AARON BLAKE Harvest Family Life Ministries
PRAYER REFLECTION
Imagine there were more than enough foster and kinship families in your community for every child to have an ideal placement. How might that impact the other professionals connected to foster care where you live?
Pray that God would…
• Provide many more foster families.
• Enable social workers, CASAs, and other advocates to quickly identify great kinship placements for children in crisis.
• Help churches in your community support existing kinship and foster families so that fewer new families will need to be recruited.
Prayer Requests
DATE REQUEST HOW GOD ANSWERED
MORE THAN ENOUGH
Adoptive Families 2
“We all know that waiting is reasonable and appropriate for a lot of things. But then there are things it seems that people shouldn’t have to wait extended amounts of time for. Getting a family is one of them.”
JASON WEBER
More Than Enough | CAFO
PRAYER REFLECTION
What if waiting for an adoptive family was no longer part of the equation for older children in your community — just like it has not been part of the equation for healthy infants needing adoption for some time? How might your community be different?
Pray that God would…
• Raise up adoptive families for the hardest-to-place children and youth in your community.
• Provide kinship family members as a permanent placement for children who cannot safely return home.
• Help adoptive families get the help they need so their families can stay strong and so their children can heal.
Prayer Requests
DATE REQUEST HOW GOD ANSWERED
MORE THAN ENOUGH
Help for Biological Families 3
“We started hearing their stories, and we realized that none of these biological family members, none of these biological relatives, set out to abuse their kids, but a lot of times, these were people who had very difficult upbringings themselves. We discovered that they were broken people made in the image of God and, therefore, were worthy of love and dignity.”
JOHNSTON MOORE Foster and Adoptive Parent
PRAYER REFLECTION
As you consider the main causes of family separation in your community, what would it look like for these families to be so well-supported that their children would not have to enter foster care?
Pray that God would…
• Raise up multiple churches in your community that can skillfully and compassionately walk alongside biological families.
• Provide missing community resources for families and strengthen connections to existing resources.
• Create an environment in your community where biological family restoration is celebrated and well-supported.
Prayer Requests
DATE REQUEST HOW GOD ANSWERED
MORE THAN ENOUGH
Wrap Around Support 4
“One of the most common questions that I hear when a family really starts to explore foster care is, ‘Do we have what it takes?’
And the truth is that for many of us, in and of ourselves, we’re not enough. But when you have the spirit of God that fills you and the local church that is surrounding you with love and resources, you do have what it takes. You’ll have more than enough.”
PHILIP PATTISON
Foster the City
PRAYER REFLECTION
Describe a time when you watched a community of people surround and care for a person or family in crisis. What difference did this make in the person or family’s story?
Pray that God would…
• Mobilize multiple churches in your community to establish wrap-around support for foster and adoptive families.
• Enable wrap-around supporters to provide an “extended family” to children in care.
• Provide great creativity to those providing support so families can get what they need to thrive.
Prayer Requests
DATE REQUEST HOW GOD ANSWERED
