Sometimes God puts obstacles in our way. Roadblocks. In the moment we don’t understand. But God, why? This doesn’t make sense. Sometimes we never know why. Perhaps he was protecting us from some unseen danger. Other times, as we look back, we see the reason. And we say, thank you God. You are so good.
Hundreds of refugees were stuck when Macedonia closed it’s border, only allowing Iraqi, Afghans, and Syrians to pass through. What seemed unfair and cruel, God used for good.
Yussuf has a medical condition. A tumor (I think. It was difficult to understand his English during this part. There was definitely something wrong with his eyes.) The doctors in his home country of Algeria were not able to provide the medical care he needed, nor would they give him the proper documentation to receive care elsewhere.
Desperate, Yussuf chose to fly to Turkey and take the dangerous journey over the Aegean Sea by raft. Everything was going okay until a roadblock appeared. He couldn’t pass into Macedonia, halting his journey to France.
Yussuf had been at the camp for several days before I met him. I had some spare time before serving lunch to the refugees, so my squad mate and I decided to go around and meet people. I saw Yussuf and smiled. He returned the smile, and so I decided to discover if he spoke English. Fortunately he did, and we began to engage in conversation. He shared his story.
Once I found out he spoke Arabic, the Lord promoted me to give him the New Testament in Arabic I had in my pocket. “But Lord, he is Muslim.” He had told me about his belief and commitment to Allah.
I decided to do it. I reached into my pocket, pulled out the New Testament, and handed it to him. “I know life is hard, but this is the hope that I have. This is the reason I am here helping, because of Jesus who loves me and you.”
Yussuf was happy to receive it. “I love learning about different religions. I will read it.” My friend prayed for him, and we parted ways.
Later Yussuf came to grab lunch, and we exchanged Facebook information.
I received a Facebook message from Yussuf a few days later. He returned to Athens, Greece in hopes of finding another route to Western Europe. About a week later, he made it to Germany. He is still awaiting documents to be in the city legally, get a hearing for asylum, and see a doctor.
I asked him yesterday if he has been able to read the book. This is his response:
hello andrea , yeah i read some pages abt 15 pages , it’s pretty good , it talk abt forgivness , and how u make god loves u , how u can live in peace , and abt helping each others and when i start reading it i felt something spirituel and i felt that i’m reborned again
God is so good. I am not exactly sure what this means. If he is referring to Allah or if he has encountered Jesus as God. Nonetheless, Jesus is moving in his heart. And I am praying Yussuf continues to read the Good News of the gospels and comes to know Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior. And that Jesus heals him.
Would you join me in that prayer?
