People keep asking me the question, "How was your trip?" That's a tough one to answer. I usually reply with "It was great!" and then wonder how much they really want to hear. It's hard to do the trip justice even with a limitless amount of time, much less while in line at the grocery store or in between carpools.
So... here I will attempt to answer that question with more than just, "It was great." How was my trip? Well, it WAS great.
I've written about my trip to the local hospital (blog entry 4/19), which was tough and left me feeling inadequate, powerless, and hopeless. But what I have wanted to follow up with is my trip to Kadeeja's house that same afternoon.
Kadeeja is the 16-year-old who had heart surgery several weeks ago. The surgery was a huge success and literally saved her life. It was so wonderful to see the excitement in her eyes and the love her family feels for Jessica and the kids. They opened their home to us and treated us like extended family.
I have a very vivid memory of sitting in Kadeeja's home and witnessing Jessica talking Kurdish to about 10 other women of various ages... talking, laughing, hugging, kissing. Occasionally, she would have time and breath to fill me in on the conversation, and other times, I could get the gist of it based on hand and facial gestures.
And I really believe I was witnessing a miracle... I was witnessing relationships tearing down the walls of discrimination, judgement and fear. How easy is it for me to judge that all Muslims hate Americans and are willing to sacrifice their own lives to destroy ours? How easy is it for Muslims to discriminate against all Americans as being the immoral, rich and petty people they see in Hollywood films? And how easy is it for both sides to fear each other... fear what they don't know or understand?
But that one afternoon, in that one home, with that one family, RELATIONSHIP was happening... in the name of Jesus. Jessica was unconditionally loving these women...not judging them or debating with them... but loving them and living life alongside them.
And they were responding... They were responding to love. They were responding to a relationship. They were responding to Jesus.
None of these women are believers yet. But I have no doubt that the Lord is seeking after them and pursuing them, and orchestrating the events in their lives to point to Him. I believe that one of them, maybe two, or possibly even three of these women will one day be followers of Christ. And not because they were talked into it, or shown the error of their ways, but because of one compelling factor: Love.
I saw a lot that day. I saw the despair, the hopelessness, the endless need of proper medical care for a sea of people who lack the money necessary to get it, I saw a child dying, and a desperate mother waiting. And I also saw hope. I saw the difference that love can make for one family. I saw the future of a young muslim girl changed not just because her physical heart was healed, but because of the power of the Holy Spirit to change her spiritual heart.
"But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
1 Cor. 13:13
1 comment:
In all the vacation hubbub, I forgot to tell you that I had a dream about Kedeeja while we were gone! You and I were at your house watching one of your medical diagnosis shows, and we realized that the episode we were watching was about Kadeeja. We would have realized it sooner, but they had to change her name to protect her identity. They changed it to Kadeeba (because evidently my brain wasn't willing to work any harder than that). That's all I remember, except that you were VERY excited to see her story on tv. : ) J
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