Dear faithful readers and friends,
My post today by necessity will be on the vague side. I wish I could give you every detail but for safety's sake, I cannot. But I CAN ask you to pray because this is a very real person and a very real situation.
A friend of mine has been waiting for a long time for all the paperwork to be cleared and now the day is approaching quickly. She will soon be leaving the comforts of home, family, friends, and church to travel to an Muslim country where she hopes to serve in a humanitarian capacity for 1-2 years. She has prepared herself for this venture as much as she possibly could, but there will still be many challenges ahead.
My friend is one of the most visionary and capable women I've ever known, but she will be living in a country where women have notoriously been held back from education and other basic rights we enjoy daily. She will be exchanging her normal western clothing for the traditional styles of the local people she will serve. Then there is the language barrier. As a committed Christian, she will be a distinct minority. There will be health and safety concerns. By modern western standards, living conditions and practices are unsanitary. There is always the potential of violence and other safety issues.
So WHY is she doing this? One word would sum it up: Love. The love of Christ fills her, inspires her, calls and compells her. Would you pray that her every need will be met, physically, emotionally, financially, logistically, and spiritually? Will you also pray that while she serves in her capacity that God will redeem her time there and that she will be able to play a role in the spread of the Gospel in a land that is so needy? That is her heart's desire, above all else.
Thank you friends, I know you will. God bless you!
"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:4-6
