A good friend from long ago preached at my church this past week. We were moved, encouraged and challenged.
He recounted the 15 years he and his family lived in Syria, doggedly living out and giving out the gospel of Jesus. I remember their faithful, once-a-month prayer letters (They were better at it than I was, and some of you!) always asking for this: “Pray with us for one Syrian family to follow Jesus.”
He shared when his team gathered weekly for worship and communion, they would set aside a cup and bit of bread for the “one family to follow Jesus” they were asking God for.
At the end of 15 years they went home still waiting for that first family to follow Jesus.
Four years after their return, two things happened: War began to ravage the country of Syria, and a former teammate who’d relocated to Jordan began to share some good news. The coworker reported that two Syrian families had begun to follow Jesus. Shortly after, three more!
In subsequent months and years, my friend has been unable to keep up with the track of the growth. He says, “Out of great horror comes great harvest.”
He and his wife met a Syrian refugee at an iftar (Ramadan meal) who told of having recently baptized eight Syrian women. She later visited Syria and baptized 50. The following summer at her sister’s untimely funeral, 70 were baptized!
The psalmist captured the beauty of my friend’s investment so long before we heard the story, “Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.”
Hang in there friends. God is not finished with you nor with gathering glory for himself from Muslims all over.