Prayer Please!

My heart is breaking for this country and these people. I have fallen in love with this amazing country. Father's heart is also breaking for this amazing place. This place is full of darkness, people put their hope in things that are hopeless, also many people think they have nothing to live for and take their lives.

I have visited the temple twice and my heart breaks even more each time. I have been brought to tears at that place. People are putting their hope in rocks, metals, and people all of these will fail them. I have hope in the one true God who will never fail me. He will never forsake me, break my heart, or hurt me. He loves me.

"The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;they have ears, but cannot hear,nor is there breath in their mouths.Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them."
Psalms 135 :15-18

Another thing that breaks my heart is a viscous cycle. Proverbs 22:6 says "Train a child up in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it." This is a scary truth. I see parents at the temple teaching their children to pray to the idols and how to find their fortunes. I was blessed to have parents who brought me up in the church. Others have not been so fortunate. My prayer is that parents will become believers and they will teach those truths to their children. Especially if fathers trust in Father! This is still a very man dominated society. If a Father believes then the mothers are more likely to believe and the children will hopefully become believers. Faith is not guaranteed to children of believers, but being raised in an environment that believing in Father is encouraged is something that is needed in Japan. So many families here will disown a child who believes, no matter their age.

Cleansing area at the Shinto shrine next to the temple.

Directions on how to teach your child to use the cleansing area.

A heartbreaking reality of Japan is the suicide rate. Japan has one the highest suicide rates in the world. What has been hard is when we are riding the trains, on the screens an alert comes up and says "accident" and a sign 人 comes up. This means a suicide has occurred. It is heartbreaking to be riding the trains and to look up and see that two or three suicides have occurred. It is hard to ride the trains everyday and almost everyday you are alerted of an accident. To think that they felt they have nothing to live for and there is no where to turn but death is terrible. On one ride home, I saw three "accident" alerts come up and my train was stopped for the tracks to be cleared. To think that only a few minutes before, someone took their own life is heart wrenching. Father gives us life in Him and hope.

One of my favorite spots is the Starbucks looking over the Shibuya crosswalk. It is also a harsh reality, as I look out on the street and see the thousands of people cross. To think that most of those people do not know Jesus and some may not be alive the next day because of suicide is heart wrenching. It is my favorite spot in Tokyo to sit, read, journal, and most of all pray for the people I see as they cross the intersection. Being there and seeing all the people makes me think of two verses.

"Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
Psalms 46:10

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deed among all peoples."
Psalms 96:3

This picture is of the crosswalk when its not too busy.

Prayer Requests:

Please pray for everything I have covered in this blog. There is so much pain and sorrow here. Pray that the people here will seek Father in their tough times and not other ways of escape or comfort.