Jill Carroll, a freelance writer currently on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor, was abducted in western Baghdad on Saturday morning, local time. Her Iraqi interpreter was fatally wounded in the kidnapping. Her Iraqi driver escaped unharmed. At this point, no one has claimed responsibility.
Jill, 28, is an established journalist who has been reporting from the Middle East for Jordanian, Italian, and other news organizations over the past three years.
The Monitor joins Jill's colleagues - Iraqi and foreign - in the Baghdad press in calling for her immediate and safe release.
"Jill's ability to help others understand the issues facing all groups in Iraq has been
invaluable. We are urgently seeking information about Ms. Carroll and are pursuing every avenue to secure her release," says Monitor Editor Richard Bergenheim.
"Jill is the latest of 31 journalists to have been kidnapped in Iraq since the beginning
of the war according to Reporters Sans Frontieres, an advocacy group in Paris. Thousands of Iraqis and more than 250 foreigners have been abducted, some by gangs seeking ransom, others by insurgents demanding the departure of US troops from Iraq. Four Christian peace activists are among the dozen or so foreigners still
being held captive.
Last night and this morning I have received a number of prayer requests about this situation. This already proves a fundamental principle about prayer -- we are never alone. The journalist involved, as a reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, hits me a little closer to home.
This is what I know and how I am praying:
- Jill is not alone. She can feel God's presence.
- Her kidnappers are not alone. They can feel the influence of prayer lifting their motives higher.
- "Truth is always the victor." writes Mary Baker Eddy. Truth destroys only that which is untrue. Truth shines on man's higher nature as a child of God.
- There is one God. One Mind. God's ideas cannot prey on one another.
I know that these prayers are effective. A recent incident cements this for me. Before our family made a major move cross-country, we had become very good friends with a family who recently came to the United States from an African country experiencing political strife. The husband had been abducted and the family forced to flee. They did not know the whereabouts of the husband.
The mother and I became close friends. Our prayer centered on seeing them and her husband as in the kingdom of God - the structure of Truth and Love, safe, guarded, and that God is guiding each individual home. Home is the embodiment of all right ideas: peace, companionship, mercy, affections.
We prayed like this for months. Soon we had word that he was found, and a week before we were to move, the husband returned to his family.
I know prayer is effective. In this situation, we saw that every day our prayer had an impact. This helps me see that every day we pray about the situation in Iraq and this situation in particular, it will have an impact. Whatever the outcome, prayer is operating on the behalf of all that is good, right now.
Please see other articles:
A kidnapping in Iraq - spirituality.com
Prayer for the missing - spirituality.com
Hope in Iraq - spirituality.com
Prayer Circles with beliefnet.net
Prayer Circles for Iraq
Prayer Circles for peace
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