3 Jordanian Women
It may seem funny this far out from leaving the desert, but I am finally beginning to come to terms with the loss of leaving. Two+ years of sitting on floor cushions drinking tea, heart-connects with women who welcomed me and became sisters, and nurturing their small children with the love of Jesus is enough to break the heart. Yet it is sometimes necessary to be broken and given.
And yet there is a bigger story I am aware I am a part of, and it is not limited to the Middle East. As I give my life to the least, to whom I realize I am kindred, there will probably be more seasons of grieving and growing; but on the other side of the grief is joy! The same love I have been given for Arabs extends to every hurting people group in the whole world, which really, is all of us.
“How content you become when you weep with complete brokenness, for you will laugh with unrestrained joy.”
Furthermore I could get frustrated with the season unfolding at a different pace than I anticipated (i.e. waiting on paperwork, etc to start volunteering), or I can learn to see beyond it! What God has been doing is connecting me with a wider cross-section of the Body here in NZ, and showing me different ways the Church here can connect with the heart of God in serving the poor. He is creating capacity for something that seems just out of sight but I am starting to feel the weight of it!
God has also carved out a space of time for me to heal and to invest in relationship with someone else whose heart burns for the nations to encounter Jesus! How can I not laugh with unrestrained joy?!
And how can I not laugh even more when He divinely connects me with three different Jordanian women living in my current city, in the space of a month?!
One morning God spoke to me saying essentially, "relax, I got this, you could walk out your door today having done nothing more than spent time in My presence, and I could connect you with someone walking down the street."Shortly thereafter I went out of my house and as I stepped onto the street I immediately saw a woman in a hijab (headscarf). I tried to tell God off by saying, "just because she is wearing a hijab doesn't mean she is Arabic-speaking." But He won and as I greeted her in Arabic her eyes got wide and exclaimed, "why are you, a blondie, speaking my dialect, perfect Jordanian Arabic to me?!" As she was on her way somewhere else we excitedly chatted and exchanged numbers on the go and parted ways with an invitation to visit her.
Also, since our first meeting, I returned to the restaurant of my other Jordanian friend, and met her other sister who lives in Wellington! She invited me over to her home should I ever be in town. She also snuck me some homemade maglubeh (an Arabic rice dish) from their kitchen.
The third woman I met was when I went to get bloodwork done. I struck up a conversation with the phlabotomist and right before she stuck me in my arm I found out she is from Jordan! I didn't even feel the needle I was so excited to speak with her in Arabic!
God is moving in the ends of the earth, and it's only just the beginning!