Document: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db931215.TXT
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    OUR DAILY BREAD                    Wednesday, December 15, 1993
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    Read:  Ephesians 6:12-20

                           LET'S KEEP PRAYING!

              Praying always ... with all perseverance and
                    supplication for all the saints.
                            --Ephesians 6:18

    Irina Ratushinskaya's childhood quest for God, even while she was
    hearing   school   lectures   promoting   atheism   and   mocking
    Christianity,  led  her  to a deep  and  unflinching  faith.  Her
    poetry  expressed that faith and brought inspiration and hope  to
    believers all over Russia.

    It  also  brought her to the attention of the  KGB.  At  age  28,
    Irina  was  arrested and sentenced to 7 years hard labor  in  the
    Bareshevo  labor  camp.  There she was  subjected  to  relentless
    interrogations, chilling cold, starvation, hard labor, and months
    of solitary confinement.

    Irina's  faith did not break.  During the lonely nights,  huddled
    against  the  cold wall of her cell, she composed poetry  in  her
    head  about God.  When Irina was finally released,  she  credited
    the  prayers  of  believers for sustaining her.  In  one  of  her
    poems, she wrote:

                     Believe me, it was often thus:
                   In solitary cells, on winter nights
                    A sudden sense of joy and warmth
                     And a resounding note of love.
                   And then, unsleeping, I would know
                        A-huddle by an icy wall:
                     Someone is thinking of me now,
                      Petitioning the Lord for me.

    I  wonder,  have we been faithful in praying for people  who  are
    going  through  difficult  situations?  Our prayers  can  make  a
    difference!

    Author:  David C. Egner

    THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
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    You can expect God to intervene if you're willing to intercede.

          
          












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