She smiled at me with a deep penetrating smile, her eyes communicating resolve, peace and conviction. She said, “Jesus is worth it all.” This woman knew what she was talking about. Having been raised in Nazareth in a Muslim family, she was discontent with what she was told about God and who she was and she was searching for spiritual truth. She was empty. So as a young woman she read the Koran and then read the Bible and decided that she could no longer follow the tenets of Islam. When her father discovered she had become a Christian, he had a heart attack. Then her family disowned her, threw her out of the house and she had to flee to another city. So alone, single, she forged a new life in Christ, a life that to this day experiences death threats because of her faith. Yet, she is at peace with her decision, counting “all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus…” as her Lord (Phil. 3:8).
In the context of my teaching and training ministry I have the high privilege of serving women like this one in many different cultures. (In just the last two months I have been in 6 different countries.) However, it is often true that I find myself being equally motivated by the very women I am helping. This woman, unnamed for her protection, inspired me with her sacrificial, no holds barred, radical faith, a faith I aspire to. There we were, sitting in a hotel in Jerusalem, while busloads of tourists filed by. It all seemed so unreal. But while other memories of that trip will fade, what I know I will never forget is the fire in her eyes and the intensity of her voice when she talked about reaching her world for Christ, a world filled with miserable veiled women, many of whom have the same spiritual hunger this young woman had. And she needs help. She is only one of two Christian women ministering to other women in Jerusalem. “I need help training and mentoring the many women coming to Christ,” She said. I think to myself, “What can I do?”
I met this Muslim convert in April. Fast forward one month. Now I am sitting in Romania with a group of women who want me to come and help them to grow in their faith. One woman says she wants to understand what God has left her on earth for. She tearfully said in front of the group, “I have a job, I have enough money, but I am empty inside. I want to understand how you have found what you have.” Here were two different women, from very different worlds, both with needs. This woman touched me with her vulnerability and deep desire for answers. I thought to myself again, “what can I do?”
What are you to do? How do you respond to and help the women next door to you, or in your church? Some of them are keenly aware of their spiritual needs. Many of them are from other cultures. And many of them feel empty, lonely, undervalued, less than. As our world becomes increasingly diverse and complex, where cultures and individuals from different cultures interact with each other more and more often, what are we to do? We can’t become experts in so many different cultures. We can’t learn all the languages. But we can understand what the Bible says about the Christ who came to redeem and the universality of the longings of our hearts. We can learn to know the real God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Esther, Deborah and Sarah. And we can learn what He says to us as women, about our value and identity. God’s Word transcends culture. But we must know what it says.
We not only need to understand what the Bible says, we also must live it out in our own lives. Women everywhere long to see God’s truth fleshed out in other women. You don’t have to travel far to discover this truth. Women want hope! They want to be inspired to be all that God designed them to be. And that happens through the context of relationship. We must be willing to let others, Christian and non-Christian, know us and humbly allow ourselves to be role models. Let me tell you: women are watching you and they will not be willing to hear what you say until you demonstrate the truth of what you are saying through your life.
Finally, I think we need to be willing to go wherever God calls us to go (and do whatever God calls us to do). I honestly don’t get up in the morning thinking about the next place I can go. I am a homebody. But I can’t sit home while women around the world are crying for help to understand the truth that will set them free. God has given us “pearls of great price”. How can we not want to share our wealth with others? May we learn the Truth, live the Truth and be willing to go to share the truth wherever He leads. A love as amazing as God’s love, demands our soul, our lives, our all.
In the context of my teaching and training ministry I have the high privilege of serving women like this one in many different cultures. (In just the last two months I have been in 6 different countries.) However, it is often true that I find myself being equally motivated by the very women I am helping. This woman, unnamed for her protection, inspired me with her sacrificial, no holds barred, radical faith, a faith I aspire to. There we were, sitting in a hotel in Jerusalem, while busloads of tourists filed by. It all seemed so unreal. But while other memories of that trip will fade, what I know I will never forget is the fire in her eyes and the intensity of her voice when she talked about reaching her world for Christ, a world filled with miserable veiled women, many of whom have the same spiritual hunger this young woman had. And she needs help. She is only one of two Christian women ministering to other women in Jerusalem. “I need help training and mentoring the many women coming to Christ,” She said. I think to myself, “What can I do?”
I met this Muslim convert in April. Fast forward one month. Now I am sitting in Romania with a group of women who want me to come and help them to grow in their faith. One woman says she wants to understand what God has left her on earth for. She tearfully said in front of the group, “I have a job, I have enough money, but I am empty inside. I want to understand how you have found what you have.” Here were two different women, from very different worlds, both with needs. This woman touched me with her vulnerability and deep desire for answers. I thought to myself again, “what can I do?”
What are you to do? How do you respond to and help the women next door to you, or in your church? Some of them are keenly aware of their spiritual needs. Many of them are from other cultures. And many of them feel empty, lonely, undervalued, less than. As our world becomes increasingly diverse and complex, where cultures and individuals from different cultures interact with each other more and more often, what are we to do? We can’t become experts in so many different cultures. We can’t learn all the languages. But we can understand what the Bible says about the Christ who came to redeem and the universality of the longings of our hearts. We can learn to know the real God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Esther, Deborah and Sarah. And we can learn what He says to us as women, about our value and identity. God’s Word transcends culture. But we must know what it says.
We not only need to understand what the Bible says, we also must live it out in our own lives. Women everywhere long to see God’s truth fleshed out in other women. You don’t have to travel far to discover this truth. Women want hope! They want to be inspired to be all that God designed them to be. And that happens through the context of relationship. We must be willing to let others, Christian and non-Christian, know us and humbly allow ourselves to be role models. Let me tell you: women are watching you and they will not be willing to hear what you say until you demonstrate the truth of what you are saying through your life.
Finally, I think we need to be willing to go wherever God calls us to go (and do whatever God calls us to do). I honestly don’t get up in the morning thinking about the next place I can go. I am a homebody. But I can’t sit home while women around the world are crying for help to understand the truth that will set them free. God has given us “pearls of great price”. How can we not want to share our wealth with others? May we learn the Truth, live the Truth and be willing to go to share the truth wherever He leads. A love as amazing as God’s love, demands our soul, our lives, our all.
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