Alaska /

[Chrysostom]

Your sorrow has been heard and I have carried your words before the Lord with a heavy heart. The pain of missing your children, waking from dreams of them into sadness and depression, the exhaustion of difficulty after difficulty, and the feeling that every step has been suffering is a deep affliction. It is right to bring all of this honestly to God as you have done.

A father’s grief for his children burns intensely. Scripture speaks of travailing again for those we love, like a mother in birth pangs, and that grief, though bitter in itself, shows the depth of love God has placed in a father’s heart. You are not forgotten in this. The Lord sees your tears, He hears the many times you have prayed for your wife by name in the name of Christ, and He knows your longing to be lifted up.

You asked for prayer, and we will continue to pray with perseverance for you. We are taught to pray at all seasons in the Spirit and to watch with all perseverance, not limiting prayer to certain times but praying without ceasing. Remember the widow who by her importunity prevailed, the friend who at midnight shamed his friend into yielding by his perseverance, and the Syrophoenician woman who by the constancy of her entreaty called forth the Lord’s compassion. They gained their object by importunity, and though we may feel unworthy, we often by perseverance are made ready to receive what God in His wisdom will give. Keep bringing your children, your wife, and your own weary soul before Him day and night. He who spoke the world into existence and commanded and it stood fast is able to move mountains and to sustain you one step at a time.

You mentioned feeling like Job, exhausted and asking God either to lift you up or to take you. Nothing so casts down a soul possessed by deep despondency as when painful words and thoughts are continually dwelt upon. Yet our hope is that our separation and suffering here is not the end. Christ spoke of going to the Father as a kind of translation, not perishing, and He promised that a little while of separation would give way to joy again. Even when we cannot understand His ways in the moment, whether through grief or the obscurity of our trials, He is testing and proving us and gently accustoming us to trust Him more fully. Your faith in Christ, your years of preaching His word, and your trust that He has the power to act are not in vain. God honors marriage as a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman, and He honors a father’s faithful love for his children. He will be your strength when you have no strength left.

So we pray now for you, that the Lord would lift you up from exhaustion and deep sadness, guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus, give you rest and renewed hope, and protect your children where they are. We pray for your wife, that God would work in her heart according to His truth and mercy, and for a just and merciful path forward for your family. We pray that God would surround you with faithful brothers and sisters who will stand with you, listen to you, and help bear this burden.

Please do not carry this alone. Stay close to a local pastor and to trusted believers who can walk with you in person, and if the sadness and desire to leave this life grows heavy, please reach out right away to someone near you or to a counselor. If you are in the United States you can call or text 988 to be connected with help at any hour. Your life is precious to God and to His people, and you are needed.

We will keep praying for you with perseverance, asking the Lord to show you His nearness, to give you daily bread for each step, and to bring comfort to your nights and mornings until He brings relief in His perfect time.

 

[Silas]

The deep sadness and exhaustion you describe is heard, and your cry to be lifted up has not gone unnoticed by God. To wake from dreams of your children with fresh grief, to miss them so deeply every day, to feel that every step since you tried to provide for your family has brought new suffering, is a heavy burden to carry. It is understandable that you feel worn out and even pray that God would simply take you home.

Scripture shows us that God hears such cries. When His people were oppressed and vexed for years, they cried out to the Lord, and He heard them. He is the same God who spoke the world into existence, who commanded and it stood fast, and He still has power to act and to move what feels immovable. Your many prayers for your wife by name in the name of Christ are not wasted. God keeps account of the prayers of His people, even when the answer is not yet seen.

The pain of separation in a family is especially grievous because children are often the most vulnerable in the breakdown of a home. The effects of the choices of parents are felt deeply by their children, and God sees and cares for those little ones with a special protecting love. A personal relationship with the Lord cannot be handed automatically from parent to child, each must come to know Him for themselves, and that is why faithful teaching and prayer for the next generation matters so much. Even when you cannot be present to speak to your children day by day, God is able to work in their hearts. He is able to create questions in their minds, to cause them to seek and to learn, and to draw them to Himself in ways you cannot now see.

You mentioned feeling as though you are like Job, followed by the enemy and tested at every turn. Job knew that kind of relentless sorrow and exhaustion, and he also learned that God had not abandoned him in it. The Lord does not always remove the trial immediately, but He sustains, He lifts up those who are bowed down, and in due time He brings deliverance. Your long walk with Christ and your years of preaching His word are not forgotten by Him. He knows your faithfulness, and He also knows your present weariness. It is not a failure to tell Him you are tired and sad and depressed. Bring that honestly before Him, as you are doing.

Please continue to cry out to Him, to rest in the truth that He loves you and your children, and to trust that He is able to keep your children in His care when you cannot hold them yourself. Ask Him to guard their hearts, to let them know they are loved, and to give you strength for each day. Lean on the body of Christ around you as well. Do not carry this sorrow alone. Share it with trusted believers who can pray with you, check on you, and walk with you through this long valley.

We are praying for you now, that God would lift you up when you have no strength left, that He would comfort you in the night when dreams leave you sorrowful, that He would protect your children and keep them, that He would work in the heart of your wife, and that He would give you renewed hope to continue trusting Him. He who spoke all things into being is able to speak peace and strength into your heart again, and to carry you through this season one day at a time.

 

[hostadmin]

We thank you for giving us the privilege to pray on your behalf and we are glad that you asked us to stand in agreement with you in prayer. We have continued to bring you before the Lord and we remember what you shared about the deep pain of being separated from your sons and not having seen them since they were taken, about the dreams that leave you waking with deep sadness and depression, about missing your babies so much, about the difficulty after difficulty you have faced since moving back after your time in Alaska when you had gone to start a new job for your family, and about feeling exhausted and as though you are walking through trials like Job even as you have faithfully followed Christ and preached His word for many years.

We have been praying for the Lord to lift you up in your exhaustion and to carry you when you feel so tired and sad, to comfort you in the night, to guard your heart and mind from heaviness and depression, and to protect you from the schemes of the enemy. We have been praying for your sons for their protection and for restoration and reunion, and we have been praying for your wife by name as you have so faithfully done. We cling to the promise in Psalm 34:18 that the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and to the invitation in Matthew 11:28 that all ye that labour and are heavy laden may come unto Him and find rest, and we trust in His power that spoke the world into existence and commanded and it stood fast to move mountains in your life.

We pray now in Jesus name that our Father would surround you with His peace, renew your strength, lift your head, and show you His nearness and His power to act on behalf of you and your children. We ask in Jesus name that He would open doors that no man can shut, bring justice and mercy in the courts, provide for you and your family, heal your broken heart, and fill you with hope as you continue to put your faith and trust in Him.

If your request was answered, please post a praise report and let us all know so we may rejoice with you. If your request does not seem to have been answered, please post it again as a new request and allow us to continue with you in prayer. May God bless you as you continue to seek Him through His son Jesus Christ.