Heartbeat

Sumayya*, a Yazidi girl, had attended a seminar about forgiveness at our center. I later visited her at home to ask her about the seminar and her thoughts about the topic. Her mother and two of her siblings were present as well. Sumayya shared that she couldn’t understand how to forgive people who committed horrible acts such as Dae’sh (ISIS) had done to the Yazidi people. They had killed men, raped women and young girls, and destroyed their homes and possessions. Those who survived had to leave their homes and become refugees.

We invited a woman from one of our searching groups to join us for an event explicitly organized to reach people for Christ. The messages we delivered were very clear, and we felt the Holy Spirit surrounding and touching the event and many hearts. When the event was finished, the woman came to me saying: “I loved the message. It was good, but I can’t accept Jesus as Savior for my life. That decision would turn my life upside down.”

I visited a village where I had never been before. I planned to start a house church there and came to gather information about the area, the people and the culture. While sitting at the coffee shop, I prayed and asked God to guide me to a man of peace. From experience, I know the Lord goes before us and brings the right people in our path. Later, I went to a shop to have some of my clothes ironed. While there, I started a conversation with the shop owner. I asked him about his village, and then I asked him where I might find a place to spend the night. He asked me, “Why are you here?”

Em-Elias asked me to have a meeting at her home and speak about love and forgiveness. A few days later, I held the meeting and spoke about the importance of forgiveness in the Christian faith. Em-Elias was listening carefully. After a while, she asked me to repeat what I had been saying. I didn’t know why she asked me to do so. As I started again, I noticed Em-Elias was gazing at Umaima, her daughter-in-law. Umaima was listening carefully.