Prayer Partners
A ministry with two sidesBy Marsha Hartley, Texas-Mexico Border Ministries and Mary Jo Simpson, WGM Partner
April-June 2013
From Marsha:
I cannot overemphasize how prayer has impacted me and my ministry.
One of my ministry partners who has been traveling with me the longest on my missions adventure is Mary Jo Simpson. While I am on homeland ministry assignment this year, I have been meeting with Mary Jo for prayer as often as our schedules allow. I always come away from her home feeling inspired and empowered to travel and share at my next HMA meetings. She is 90 years young, but through her dedicated praying for missionaries, she “travels” all around the world. She still prays for a Japanese lady, now back in Japan, whom I taught in the third grade in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. I know that I could not have followed the Lord on this missions journey of more than 26 years without Mary Jo and other faithful prayer partners “traveling” with me through prayer.
From Mary Jo:
How awesome to see how God answers when we ask Him to open doors for our prayer partners. While we ask, His answer is already on the way. He cares, He protects, and He calms. Usually before Marsha tells me how He answered, I already know. Truly He is an awesome God. I remember when she was first called to be a missionary. She’d never been farther from home than Morehead, Kentucky. Then He called, and she went to Kentucky Mountain Bible College. We prayed for her. Suddenly she stepped out even farther. Kentucky Mountain Holiness Association wanted her, but You, dear Lord, wanted her to go even farther. He sent her to World Gospel Mission, and then to Bolivia. I still pray for some of her students she had in Bolivia. I wrote to one from the time she was 9 years old, a scared little Japanese girl. I’ve continued writing to her ever since, and I’m still praying for her.
How awesome to see how God answers when we ask Him to open doors for our prayer partners. While we ask, His answer is already on the way. He cares, He protects, and He calms. Usually before Marsha tells me how He answered, I already know. Truly He is an awesome God. I remember when she was first called to be a missionary. She’d never been farther from home than Morehead, Kentucky. Then He called, and she went to Kentucky Mountain Bible College. We prayed for her. Suddenly she stepped out even farther. Kentucky Mountain Holiness Association wanted her, but You, dear Lord, wanted her to go even farther. He sent her to World Gospel Mission, and then to Bolivia. I still pray for some of her students she had in Bolivia. I wrote to one from the time she was 9 years old, a scared little Japanese girl. I’ve continued writing to her ever since, and I’m still praying for her.
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