Comment from dragonpoet

Excellent

Mary Kay,
This is a nice rhyming pray of thanks for your faith and for those in need of help and faith. Hopefully all the hostages get our safely.
Keep writing and stay healthy
Joan

 Comment Written 20-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 20-Oct-2021

Thank you so much, Joan, for your great review, kind thoughts and prayers on behalf of the hostages. I appreciate your good wishes. You keep writing, and stay healthy, too, with God?s blessings!
Love, Mary Kay xoxo

reply by dragonpoet on 21-Oct-2021

You are most kindly welcome on all accounts, Mary Kay. I will try to do both.
Joaon

Comment from Senyai

Excellent

Hi Mary Kay,

This is such a plea for prayer for these souls kidnapped while in Haiti. Haiti is in strife with such rampant unrest, politically and economically that the danger is high. Even so these brave souls went with their families to mentor the Haitian people who are in desperate need. I have been to that country in 1986 on my way to the Dominican Republic and even then, it was such a poverty stricken country with the wealth gap so very wide...the few wealthy had it all and the rest of the country begged on the streets day and night. Awful. When we landed at the airport in Port-au-Prince there were soldiers standing everywhere with machine guns strapped to their backs. It was frightening. The poverty was everywhere under their present government at the time and it has not improved today...only gotten worse! An opposing political faction murdered their own President a few months ago. The country continues to be in chaos...

I will pray for these people that they will be kept safe and released.

Always,
Senyai

 Comment Written 20-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 20-Oct-2021

Thank you very much, Senyai, for your meaningful and compassionate review of my poem. Besides what the hostages are facing, the conditions in the nation of Haiti itself are appalling and horrific. While a relatively small number of foreign visitors have been kidnapped by gang members, the vast majority of the 600+ people kidnapped there recently have been Haitians. It was surprising to learn that any nonprofit organizations at all had any presence there, and this is how they were repaid -- of course, their captors couldn't care less about their charitable work, especially if they, themselves, weren't the beneficiaries of it.
Thank you sincerely for your prayers for these hostages, whose lives are obviously in grave danger.
May God bless you.
- Mary Kay

reply by Senyai on 20-Oct-2021

Hi Mary Kay,

What a mess! I pray these people are freed and find safety. Haiti is such a forgotten country. After the earthquake that devastated the country not long ago, things have never been rebuilt, the government there is a free for all and corruption has gotten worse while the Haitian people suffer. It is heartbreaking. I will keep these people there and the whole country in my prayers. Wish I were in a situation to do more. My life is bound to my husband who has a local business here in the states. We are tied here for a while.

Hugs, Senyai

reply by the author on 21-Oct-2021

Thank you again, Senyai. It is a brave and loving thought, to want to go to Haiti and help, especially after this kidnapping incident, which is still unresolved.
I don't often think of going to such places myself (although I pray for them), as my husband and I are now 60+ and have health issues, apartment issues, legal issues, family issues ... it sounds a little more simple for you and your husband, having only the business responsibility, but yet that's a significant issue. But it's a beautiful desire, to want to help.
We have friends who went with a group similar to Doctors Without Borders, several years ago, and they were very blessed by their experience.
Thank you again, for praying.
It's good to know you, Senyai. May God bless you and your husband abundantly! Love, Mary Kay xoxo

Comment from Seshadri_Sreenivasan

Excellent

Happy Born Again Birthday to you! You should be feeling great to be born again as His child. Evil exists in this world. But with Him by our side, we are sure to vanquish the evil and the evil persons sooner than later. Thanks for sharing. God Bless!

 Comment Written 20-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 20-Oct-2021

Thank you, Seshadri, for the Born Again Birthday wishes and blessing, your kind comments, the five stars and especially your prayers for these hostages. The world is in the middle of a war between good and evil, and often people are put in danger. It is primarily a spiritual battle, so we appeal to the Most High God. May God Almighty, who is mighty to save, reach down and bring His people to safety! Yes, it does feel great to be born again into God?s Kingdom -- eternity starts now. Yet we look forward to our heavenly home. May God bless you abundantly!
- Mary Kay

Comment from Dolly'sPoems

Excellent

Unfortunately bad people in the world take advantage of innocent people who want to help others and spread their love. These are terrorists whose mission is a violent one, I feel your pain here Mary and your poem is powerful and poignant, love Dolly x

 Comment Written 20-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 20-Oct-2021

Hi Dolly, thank you kindly for your compassionate review and caring comments. This terrorist gang is not only violent but greedy, demanding exorbitant sums of money, resentful of the contrast in living conditions between their own poor, underdeveloped country and perceived American wealth -- even though most of us live very modestly. It is true that by their standards, many of us are well off, but they apparently feel they have the right to make such demands, in a violent manner.
Many of us are praying not only for the victims and their families back home, but their captors as well; if perchance some may be touched by God to mend their ways.
It is a very difficult situation because negotiators don't want to give in to the demands of terrorists. Appealing to the Most High has no disadvantages! How will He resolve this? We can only appeal to His mercy.
May God bless you, my friend. Love, Mary Kay xoxo

Comment from lyenochka

Excellent

Happy Born Again Birthday! I don't even remember the exact date of mine. It was such a gradual growth from a Christian family. It's wonderful that you have marked the date and celebrate the greater birthday with eternal significance!
Thank you for writing this prayer request poem to call all of us to pray. Yes, we've been praying for these missionaries. I was so thankful that one of our friends did not go there as planned.

 Comment Written 20-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 20-Oct-2021

Thank you, Helen! This seemed a fitting way to mark the occasion. I was brought up Roman Catholic, so I will always be thankful for hearing the Gospel from that pulpit, but it was later when I came to a deeper understanding of grace through faith. Even as a child, I recall moments when God met me with his "prevenient grace," and he was preparing me for a decision I would make, later on. He was always reaching out to me.
I realize that so many people, Christians and otherwise, are already praying for these missionaries! But I thought a special request wouldn't hurt. Our church has a mission, "To Haiti with Love," but I think right now there are only Haitians there, on location. I posted about this on their Facebook page, but the missionaries from the U.S. end were already on top of this, so I felt a little silly, but it was okay, everyone understood one another.
I just love that there is a chorus of prayer going up to God, on behalf of these servants of Christ who unfortunately got taken by these criminals ... I pray some of the gang members' hearts will be changed, and that they will all be released safely! Yes, it's good your friend didn't go there.
Sending love your way, and blessings, Mary Kay xoxo

Comment from Hitcher

Excellent

Haiti is a very dangerous place to live, probably one of the most dangerous places on the planet right now. I'm staggered the church did not pull them out earlier Mary. i bet they are pulling everyone out now, if there is anyone left to pull put that is.

 Comment Written 20-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 20-Oct-2021

I think it depends upon the church and the missionaries, Hitcher. I believe many churches and NGOs have long since pulled out of Haiti. A few groups, like this one, were apparently willing to accept a high level of risk.
I recently heard a story of a missionary family who set out to evangelize people in a remote part of India, many decades ago. They were challenged by the indigenous people there to deny Christ or be killed, beginning with the youngest, until finally only the father was left, and he was killed also. The stunned tribal elders all came to faith in Christ, resulting in widespread faith in that area. This story was confirmed to me (and others in my church) by a man from the same area, who happened, by chance, it would appear, to be visiting our online service from overseas.
Many Christians value our faith more than our lives -- although for most of us, this has never been tested!
I don't want to see anyone in this Christian group die, and hence, my request for prayers. God bless you, my friend. - Mary Kay

Comment from Nancy s

Excellent

Beautiful. Congratulations on you're realization, your acceptance, and your growth. You have shared it in a great way. May the world be blessed with this realization, and in turn, safety, hope joy and blessings. Thanks for sharing!

 Comment Written 19-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 20-Oct-2021

Thank you very much, Nancy, for your lovely review, encouragement, stars, congratulations and prayers. May God bless you, too! Love, Mary Kay xoxo

Comment from Paul McFarland

Excellent

Very nice appeal to people to [ray for the hostages in Haiti. I have been watching gospel music for the last half hour that was the result of the video that you posted.

 Comment Written 19-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 19-Oct-2021

Hi Paul, thanks for your great review, the five stars and your prayers. I'm so glad you're blessed by that video. My husband and I have been listening to various versions of it, for several weeks. Many college choirs have done variations of its arrangement, and we have found it very compelling. May God continue to bless you.
- Mary Kay

Comment from Jasmine Girl

Exceptional

My friend, you are a very generous person and devoted your born-again poem to others who need your help and prayer. I pray for these sixteen Americans and one Canadian who were kidnapped. It's so sad. I sincerely hope they will be safe.

Well done.

 Comment Written 19-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 19-Oct-2021

To my dear friend Lisa, I thank you so much for such a beautiful review, for your compassion for these servants of God and their young ones, and for the six stars.
It really is sad that they've been taken hostage and subjected to such fearful conditions, especially the children, but I'm so thankful that God has given us the opportunity to pray for them and not just sit helplessly by. In one of my Bible translations, God is called "The Lord of Heaven?s Armies" -- and Heaven?s Armies are made up of many angels! Unseen, they engage in spiritual warfare against the forces of darkness. There are probably millions of Christians and other people praying for these 17 souls, throughout the world. God is listening to their cries, and ours. May He bless you, too.
Love, Mary Kay xoxo

Comment from Jannypan (Jan)

Excellent

It is a scary situation, Mary Kay. The missionaries and their kids were there to spread the Word, and now they are in extreme danger. You did a great job with your poem by including their plight along with you born again birthday. I enjoyed reading your well thought out and written poem. Your details are great as are the rhymes and the outstanding message.
Respectfully, Jan

 Comment Written 19-Oct-2021

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reply by the author on 19-Oct-2021

Thank you for your wonderful review, dear Jan, and for your compassionate heart. Thank you for praying along with the rest of us, and for your meaningful comments. God bless you, always.
Love, Mary Kay xoxo