Tears

 I know what we’re doing isn’t normal or rational.  I’m aware that it doesn’t make sense to people back home any more than it makes sense to the people here.  Many people here though make assumptions about what we’re doing though as there are many non profit organizations working in the area providing humanitarian aid and Horizons also distributes food as money is given, though for Horizons it isn't the primary focus.  

Yesterday we were visiting a woman we’ve seen on a number of occasions who has been very open to the Gospel and a neighbor came over to join us.  She appeared deep in thought but was looking in my direction, so I inquired what she was thinking about.  She replied that she wanted to know why I had come (to live here).  

I get it.  While my Arabic has improved by leaps and bounds over the last year, I still struggle to keep up with a rate of normal conversation.  Let’s face it, I grew up in the South where my native tongue is generally spoken at a slower rate than most of the English-speaking world.  

I shared briefly how Tommy and I both felt like God was calling us to share His love with the world.  As I continued talking about God’s love and how he wants everyone to know of his love for them, tears started pouring down her face.  I explained that despite the difficult circumstances she’s encountered, God has not forgotten her.  I let her know that as Christians we are not promised a life without suffering, but Christ comes and carries the burdens for us.  

Our conversation continued and some of the team explained that God’s love for us is so deep that Christ came to the cross for us.  Shortly thereafter in the visit I felt moved to sit beside her and pray for her.  She reached out and rested her hand on my knee but didn’t say much but as I began explaining her worth in God’s eyes the tears began to flow again.  

The Holy Sprit never ceases to amaze me!  I know that my Arabic is neither eloquent nor fluent.  But it wasn’t my words at all.  God is moving in her heart.  I don’t even know her story, she didn’t share much, and I wasn’t able to understand much of what she did share.  But God is drawing her to him.  

 

Pray that she will see who she is in Christ.  Pray that she will allow him to come and carry the burdens that she is feeling the weight of.  Pray that she experiences the love of God in such a way that it transforms her completely.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Different this year

Image
  This year doesn’t feel so Christmassy.  Parties are out.  Large Christmas plays or pageants may be super spreaders and grandparents may not be able to attend.  It’s hard readjusting our expectations with traditions that mean so much to us.  I get it.  The last two Christmases our family had to redefine what Christmas looked like to us.     In 2018 we had recently arrived in Lebanon and we were adjusting to life in a new country away from friends and family.  We had been surprised that while Thanksgiving is obviously and American holiday, Black Friday sales are worldwide.  This was definitely to our advantage as we were appreciative for the deep discounts on appliances we needed to purchase for our apartment.   Our neighborhood in Beirut was primarily Muslim sandwiched between two Christian neighborhoods.  We were walking distance from lights and enormous trees, so some scenes ...
Read more

Resurrection

Where are you in your relationship with Christ this Resurrection Sunday? Are you dining at the Passover supper with Jesus- blissfully unaware of what you’ll soon be called to do? Do you know that something is coming, but you’re focused more on who is sitting where? Are you looking for someone to overturn the oppressive government or do you search for a servant king? Maybe you’re in the garden, fighting to stay awake. You know what you’ve been told to do and yet you struggle to obey. Maybe you’ve seen the innocent mistreated and you react in anger and violence rather than allowing God to bring justice. Perhaps you’ve just experienced the death of your Rabbi, teacher and friend. You don’t know what to do and so you hide from this world and wait until things are clearer. You protect yourself by denying your relationship. Maybe you’ve seen the risen Messiah. You have touched his hands and feet. Now he is telling you that you will suffer the same. Will you accept the ...
Read more

Grasping the wind

Image
Sorry I haven’t written regularly in a while.  I’ve truly been at a loss for words.  I keep trying to make sense of the world around me and fail.  I keep trying to make sense of all the things going on in my own little world and fail.  It does feel sometimes that everything is chasing after the wind.  We just finished an overview study of Ecclesiastes with the girls and one of the things that I hadn’t realized is the wrong way I’d been looking at many of the verses contained inside.  I’ve always heard the verses ‘Everything is meaningless’ and struggled to make sense of it next to having a ‘Purpose driven life’.     Apparently though, the original Hebrew doesn’t use a word that implies meaningless in the way we often see it.  We just don’t have words for it in English.  It is a grasping of the wind, or smoke.  It is here one minute and gone the next; it is felt but cannot be held....
Read more