The Amen

II Corinthians 1 For all the promises of God find their Yes in Him. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory. And it is God who establlishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, and who has also put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

This morning my friend and bunkmate, Laura, got up at 6 a.m. to go for a walk before beginning our day. We left Shevet Achim and walked past the Finnish Mission, the King David Hotel and wandered through a park overlooking the Old City walls. She had suggested that we just pray as we went and invite the Lord into our conversation and it just flowed beatifully from prayer to conversation. We prayed for the staff, the children and for Jerusalem herself. It was wonderful and we have decided to make that our goal every morning, offering our day to Him.

We stopped by the bakery to pick up pastry and then by the grocers for yogurt and took that along with coffee into the garden at Shevet Achim. Ryan played guitar and we sang some wonderful old hymns like, Be Thou My Vision. We read aloud from the sermon on the mount and prayed and thanked God for a wonderful start to this morning.

Today I rode with Suhail to Sheba to see Baran and visit with his parents. I was very happy to do this because I have not yet had a chance to get to know Suhail. I wanted to hear his story of coming to the Lord and about the ministry of counseling that he and his wife are involved in. I love it when I ask the right question :) And so on the ride to Tel Aviv I sat happily listening to his story. And in my spirit I hear, Amen. Amen. He spoke of having an empty heart that nothing could fill until he met the Lord. He shared how he was anointed by the Holy Spirit and how that experience made him long to forever be in the presence of the Lord and how that had changed his life completely. He talked of the Lord as if speaking of a friend. A constant companion who had loved him through a relationship that could be felt and touched and over and over an amen rose up in my heart.

My visit was Baran and his parents was not so joyful. Abu Baran is very sick. He looks like he has the flu and this has prevented him from spending time with his son. He asks me to help him, please help him with being able to take his son back to Kurdistan. He says that if Baran has no hope then he would like to remove him from the ventilator, accept all responsibility for that action as his father and take the child and his mother home. There is such a pleading look in his eyes and he is so humble and broken that I feel bruised by his pain. It is palpable, his sense of loss. And I am reminded again of why I am here. And how immense the need is here. For how can we ever do enough to ease their suffering? What can I do for them?

I have returned to the house and will go to the roof and play with the children for a while and let their laughter comfort to me. This place is so special to my heart and I believe in the work that is being done here. But it is hard sometimes.

Father, show me, show us what to do to help these precious, gracious people. Help us to lead them to You Lord. Father be a presence that can be felt with Baran and his parents tonight. I pray that You would be merciful to them, that You would heal them, that You would be found by them. Teach us Lord to be involved in their lives and in their suffering and help us to find ways to help them.