Since the death of her father and burdened with the cost of her sister’s college tuition, the financial strains in Shirisha’s home are many.
Her mother is doing the best she can as a municipal worker, cleaning the roads in her town. But often the neighbors raise concerns about how Shirisha and her family will get by. They tell her it’s impossible for her mother to bear the expenses for their studies and that Shirisha’s future is not promising.
The worry and anxiety at the center of Shirisha’s life need to be replaced with hope for her future.
In unit seven of her J127 club’s curriculum, Shirisha was taught what it means to give her worries to God in prayer. “I have stopped worrying and being fearful. I have learned to leave everything in God’s hands.”
Scripture:
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
Philippians 4:6-7 msg
Prayer:
God, we know from Jeremiah 29:11 that you have given each one of us a hope and future, but today we intercede on behalf of Shirisha and her widowed mother, who is working hard to give her daughters a hope and future. And there are so many other single mothers just like Shirisha’s mother. Please God, provide for them. Do not let them slip and fall. Be their hope.
What about you?
What are you holding onto and worrying about? Why aren’t you giving it to God and letting Him figure it out? Isn’t God bigger than your problems?
Do what Shirisha did – give it to God in prayer. What have you go to lose?
Update: In 2018, David C Cook transferred oversight of the J127 clubs to an in-country partner which continues to shepherd and grow this program. By supporting David C Cook’s Life on Life curriculum, you will be helping support this program as well.