Most days here start the same. We wake up early (usually not as early as we planned) and make coffee and eggs. We sit down together to read the Bible, still our souls, and pray together before we get the kids up. Our prayers are often influenced by Ephesians 2:10:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them.
We pray for wisdom from the Spirit, asking for eyes to see what God has for us as we go about the day. One of us takes the kids to school and the day gets going. Sometimes the day is ordinary, but lately God is showing up in extraordinary ways.
We, James and Terri, live on the Arabian Peninsula in a city with people from every corner of the globe. The original Arab people of this land are now minorities in their own country, even though they have great influence in the Arab world. Sadly, even with so many foreigners living here, the influence of the gospel of Jesus Christ hasn’t reached many of the original Arab people. In the Original people, there are only a handful of Christ followers and no regular gatherings of believing Originals.
I (Terri) work as a Physician. I care for people’s physical bodies, but often find myself also caring for people’s souls as they sit in my office. Just recently an Original woman came in for a minor issue. I greeted her in Arabic and the conversation proceeded in a funny mixture of Arabic and English. I heard the woman’s physical concerns. Then the conversation shifted, as it often does. She began to share her emotional struggles. I asked, “Where is God in this for you?” Our conversation continued, and we discovered we live only a few streets apart. The discovery that we were neighbors led to her inviting my family over for dinner. (Do you see God at work here? Isn’t he amazing?) I ended her appointment by asking if I could pray for her. The woman said, “Yes, please.” I prayed for her then, out loud, and with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Soon after this ordained meeting in my office, we gathered at her house to break bread. It was a wonderful evening, filled with some casual conversation and some deeper discussions about life. The night ended with our new friends saying, “baytina baytakum” or “Our Home is Your Home.” We know that God is moving in this relationship, and we are thankful for the opportunity to be ambassadors to our friends.
God has masterfully provided for us: language and cultural understanding, purpose in society, physical proximity, financial provision, and time to invest in relationships. Through these divinely-prepared circumstances, God is repeatedly giving us favor in this people group that historically have been very difficult to connect with.
As partners in the gospel, will you join us in praying for our new friends and our work in this region? Will you pray for more opportunities to build relationships and to share the love of Christ in the Arabian Peninsula? We invite you to pray with us as we ask God to give us casual conversations which become meaningful conversations, and meaningful conversations which become spiritual conversations, and spiritual conversations which become invitations to share Jesus through the scriptures.
We are just one family in a sea of people, but we know with God all things are possible. We know his Word will go forth. And we know if we play our part well, sowing gospel seeds with friends we meet, God just might start a movement of faithful, multiplying Christ followers in this land.