DIRECTion

I am so glad that you have our 2026 Northern Lights Prayer Directory in your hands! (If you have not received a printed copy, and would like one, please contact us!) Anyone at any age can pray. When we were raising our children, we prayed for one missionary family each day at the breakfast table. Today a prayer warrior who is 97 phoned and told me of his desire to get to know the new missionaries that he prays for. He wished he could travel to visit them.

Recently I had a health issue that kept me awake at night with trouble breathing. It was my privilege to pray for many many missionaries in the night. Anyone can pray for missionaries … whether young, elderly, or in between like me.

Let me share one story to encourage you that your prayers can make a real difference. On a trip to northern communities to share the Good News, my coworker and I discovered that the home we were in had just lost to suicide a grandson they had been raising. Our host asked, “What advice would you give to our youth?” So I began to share from Amos 5:4&6 where God says, “Seek the LORD, and you shall live.” Our host stopped me in my tracks and said that he didn’t believe in “that stuff.” We left disappointed.

The next day a family conference was being held in the community’s school gym. I learned more about the dangers of drugs, and how they affect the brain. Then, after the noon feast, I was in classrooms to see what the students were being taught. When I returned to the school atrium, our host from the previous night appeared. To my surprise, he asked if I would be willing to speak to the crowd! I only had a second or two to process, “How could the man who had just shut me down in the privacy of his home, now be asking me to speak publicly?”

I agreed, then quickly texted a prayer supporter to ask for prayer. When I spoke, I shared again from God’s Word, this time more fully. A leader in the room tried to shut me down, but our host told me to keep speaking until I was finished. After I sat down, our host defended me publicly. What an answer to prayer!

2026 is NCEM’s 80th year, and we continue to ask you to pray for us. God does answer prayer! 2 Thessalonians 3:1 says, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified…” Thank you for praying for us as we continue to share God’s message of abundant life in Christ, from coast to coast to coast.