Staying Posted

A high school student in Whitley County, Kentucky, was aware of mental health struggles that her classmates experienced, and a Faithwire article reported that she decided to do something about it. The article relates:

“Our school, along with the middle school, has struggled with suicide,” Sophy Jones told WKYT-TV, referring to her school, Whitley County High. “And, a lot of people struggle with their mental health.”

The article noted she had her own struggles and goes on to say:

After seeing a popular trend on TikTok, the teenager decided to start a prayer wall in her high school. The walls, she said, were created to “help spread God’s Word” to those who need encouragement.

Many of the Bible verses scrawled on sticky notes lining the girls’ bathroom walls are passages that made a huge difference in Jones’ own life.

“God saved me,” the faith-filled student told the local news outlet.

Jones said, “People can just write down a Bible verse or, like, ‘Jesus loves you,’ for example, and you can either take it with you if you want to keep it as a note; you can repost other ones,” adding, “They could take that verse and say they want to read it, or we do have Chromebooks at school, so they can Google the verse.”

Student Evelyn Philpot was also involved in launching the prayer walls. She is quoted by Faithwire: “The other day, I had seen a young female student who had one of the yellow sticky notes with a Bible verse on it…and it just really like made my day to know that this is something that people are loving and it’s actually helping them…”

The students participate in the First Priority organization at the school. Director Todd Lawson noted, “With prayer and God, that’s the only answer we got — that’s our only hope…I may feel not important at home, I may not feel important to a teacher, I may not feel important to somebody, but God loves us and ain’t nothing more important than that.” The television station’s article reported that Lawson mentioned a suicide prevention emphasis at the school.

There are all sorts of creative ways to do prayer! These students saw a need and realized that prayer could have an impact on students in their struggles. We can respond to the needs about which we become aware by coming before Him; Jesus has granted us admission, and He invites us to come before His presence and bring our requests.

This school district had been adversely affected by suicide and mental health concerns, a trend in cities and towns, rural and urban areas – we live in a fallen world, and our young people especially are in peril. We can be diligent to call upon the Lord and realize we should go to God first with our challenges.

This is especially important in light of opposition to public prayer. For instance, there are European officials who desire to place a restriction on prayer. In the aftermath of regulations in the United Kingdom forbidding silent prayer in front of abortion clinics, Germany has proposed its own potential curbs on freedom of expression.

The Christian Post reports:

Christians in Germany are expressing their concerns over a proposed bill that aims to establish censorship zones around abortion facilities, potentially penalizing pro-life prayers and offers of help, with fines up to $5,000, or $6,300. The bill, criticized for its vague language and questionable necessity, seeks to prevent actions the government deems “confusing” or “disturbing” within 100 meters of such facilities.

The international arm of Alliance Defending Freedom, ADF International, has spoken out against this proposal; the article notes:

The bill is ambiguous and lacks evidence supporting the need for this legislation, the rights group ADF International says, pointing out the government’s admission of lacking concrete data on incidents near abortion facilities.

The group draws parallels with the U.K.’s experience, where similar buffer zones have led to legal challenges against individuals praying near abortion clinics, referring to the Public Spaces Protection Orders in the U.K. The PSPOs threaten free speech and the right to peaceful prayer, the group adds.

Wherever we are, whatever time of day, we can continue to be persistent in prayer. Like Daniel, there may be consequences for our obedience to God – in an increasingly hostile atmosphere, harassment may occur: praying is always the right thing to do. We have to be careful not to be complacent or stuck in routine; rather we can make prayer a key part of our routine. By doing so, we can experience a level of enthusiasm from which we can draw supernatural strength. We will see God move in powerful ways as we accept His invitation to come before His throne, realizing that He is with us.