“I saw the storm on their faces… but now, I see the still waters in the green pastures.”
This morning I spoke to dear friends via Zoom for about 35 minutes. One of them shared how they had been to the Afghan border to connect with the refugees pouring into their country. They were there to give out food, drink, clothing, and shelter. She said that she saw “the storm on their faces.” She quickly reflected on the horrors of war and the intensity of the spiritual warfare that was raging and fighting for the souls of these precious people. In those moments she was reminded that position, power, and possessions would not sustain these people. She knew in those moments that these people needed for her to get into the trenches with them and to pray with them, not just for them. When she began to engage with them in prayer, she said that what replaced the “storms on their faces” was “the still waters in green pastures.”
She said, “this is the view from my window,” her soul.
Returning to their city she said that each day is a spiritual battle. It is intense warfare. They feel it deeply in their soul. It is heavy psychologically, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. For them, each day is as if you are pulling people back from the precipice of hell and that in those days, they were reminded that this is ALL about the Gospel which is “our core value.”
I am not at liberty to give you the names of my friends nor their place of residence. BUT God knows their names and God knows where they sleep each night. They face death daily and they face life with grace and dignity. They love this life that our GREAT GOD has invited them into, and they would never exchange it. I hope to be with them in their country soon. I have been there before. I, too, have seen the storm on the faces of those that they engage with daily… BUT with these precious friends I see “the still waters in the green pastures.”
