It took five long, lonely years before Fatima*, an Afghan mother of five, could finally embrace her husband, Sayyid, again. During their escape from their war-ravaged country, Sayyid was shot in the hip by the border police and unable to make the exhausting journey across Turkey and the Mediterranean Sea. Sarah and Andrew – WO global workers – met and befriended Fatima when she arrived with her children at a camp near their town.

During those five years, the family began to change: feeling the freeing effects of a European culture originally based, in part, on biblical ideas. Sarah has had numerous opportunities to pray with Fatima for the safe return of Sayyid, for healing (both are severe diabetics), and the insurmountable paperwork. In response to life questions from their children, Sarah and Andrew have also furnished them two Bibles in their own language. 

Several weeks ago, after a perfunctory tea and Sayyid stepping out of the room, Fatima boldly proclaimed her opinion that Westerners have better ‘hearts’ than Muslims. Andrew disagreed with her, saying that all hearts are evil apart from God’s saving work. 

The challenge with our ‘cousins’ is to move their eyes away from works and religion to issues of the heart, and free grace in Jesus. For this reason, this conversation was a breakthrough moment for Fatima. 

It is a joy and privilege for Andrew and Sarah to walk alongside Fatima, Sayyid, and their family on their journey of integration into a new culture, but also their journey into an encounter with the triune living God through His people. 

There are many other displaced people who share similar stories. Since 2016, Andrew and Sarah have met and worked primarily with Syrians, Afghans, Iranians, and Iraqis – some of whom have become like family. As the horrific events unfolded in Afghanistan last month, they received a voice message from Fatima saying that her family had spent the whole last week weeping over the destruction of their country and friends and family in harm’s way. 

Please join us in prayer for Fatima and Sayyid, and so many other Afghan families alike. 

*Names changed for security of our workers and those they work with.

Written by WO global workers, A & S, serving with refugees in Europe.

For many, these days are full of sleepless nights with anxious hearts. Whether it is the constant threat of a virus which much of the world is unprotected from, a disastrous earthquake in Haiti,  wild fires that are unceasing, or the fall of a government and the rise of another,  we recognize that we are experiencing a broken world. At the root of all of the calamities there is also the Christian hope that one day we have One who is making all things right. However, that redeemed Kingdom is not only far off, but also very ever present in the here and now. We are promised that the LORD who does not slumber, who made all of creation and is recreating it in the image of His son, will bend His ear to His people. If you missed it earlier this week, please watch this link for a call to prayer from Dean and Gabriel.  

Additionally, World Outreach wanted to give specific ways for our people to be praying for the situation in Afghanistan. You’ll see those prayer points below from one of our workers who is intimately involved in that region and among those people. We also ask you to join us next week for a zoom meeting to help answer how we respond as followers of Jesus to Afghanistan’s needs and particularly the refugees coming to the US. If you’d like to connect with your Muslim neighbors (including Afghan refugees in your community), we invite you to also join our workshop taking place in September. 

Let us lift our eyes and our mouths to the LORD, for it is in Him that our help comes.

Last week, we were able to host a webinar around the current situation in Afghanistan and how we can respond as followers of Jesus. A big thank you to everyone who was able to register and attend. We’re so grateful for the care and concern shown for our Afghan neighbors, here and abroad, and appreciate your desire to help – both in action and in showing the love of Christ. We have heard from many of you who weren’t able to attend asking about ways to help and pray. To that end, we wanted to make both the webinar and the resources discussed available to our broader World Outreach family. To request the webinar, simply click below to email us.