Wrex and I were working downstairs yesterday afternoon and Sawyer was up playing in her room. We looked at each and smiled every few minutes as we heard her worshiping at the top of her lungs. “I’m running to your arms. I’m running to your arms. Nothing compares to your embrace. Light of the world forever reign.”
We got to talk to her later about what was happening in Iraq and that was the perfect way to initiate the conversation.
The images coming out of that country are absolutely heartbreaking. I’ve come across a few on Facebook and I can hardly bare to look. I try to scroll right past them as quickly as possible…and then have to remind myself that not looking is not going to solve the problem.
I can’t help but see the face of baby Wryder in this photo, instead…
I get so comfortable in my corner of the world. While we’re out going to family reunions and renovating playhouses and worshiping the Lord in our homes, people are being forced from theirs. They’re running for their lives, just hoping to survive. Children and adults are dying of dehydration, are being thrown off of mountains, beheaded and executed. Our people are dying en masse because they proclaim the name of Jesus.
Join me in praying for our people. We are praying that the Lord shows off in the grandest of forms. We’re praying that the shield of protection around these people is impenetrable and that because of that, ISIS members will have their eyes opened to the glory of the Lord. We’re praying for revival, for shifts, for change, for life.
The homes of Christian (and other non-Muslim) families in Iraq are being marked as such.
It’s a symbol used 1) as a mark of shame and 2) to give permission to ISIS members to kill anyone left in the residence and to pillage their belongings. That symbol is nun, 14th letter of the Arabic alphabet. It’s equivalent to the Roman letter ‘n’ and is the first symbol in words like Nazarene…as in Jesus the Nazarene, as in ‘can anything good come from Nazareth?’…it’s a common Arabic term for Christians.
Some Iraqis around the city of Mosul are standing in solidarity and have began to use this symbol (on social media and in their city) as one of hope instead of shame.
We will do the same.
Pray for the persecuted Christian all over the world.
Pray that the Lord will show off and protect His people for His glory.
Pray that the genocide stops, in the name of Jesus.
Pray for our people.