Brishna, Taylor and I set out to do a “Spirit led” day a few days ago. Essentially the purpose of the day was to go and do whatever we felt the Holy Spirit leading us to do. So we left the apartment and set out on foot, turning when someone felt like we should turn and stopping to talk with someone when someone felt we needed to stop and talk to someone. There was a point in the day when I clearly saw an image of a woman sitting on the ground selling fruit and wearing a straw hat. I had a strong urge to begin walking in one direction so I told Taylor and Brishna and set off with a little more purpose.
We were turning and maneuvering through the crowds for maybe 3 minutes before we made a right and saw a woman on the left sitting on the ground selling fruit and wearing a straw hat! We walked up to the woman and as soon as I went to open my mouth I felt a huge NO in my heart. I told Brishna and Taylor that this woman wasn’t the one so we turned and kept walking. We made another right turn and then on the left again there was another woman on the ground selling fruit wearing a straw hat! Somehow in my heart I knew it was her (I later find out that Brishna had a feeling in her spirit that we would take a right and the woman would be on the left—this ended up happening twice!) We walked up to her and tried talking to her, she clearly didn’t speak a lick of English so we quickly drew a crowd of men who all attempted in translating. After struggling to talk with her she invited us to her home in the mountains. She offered dinner and for us to sleep there with her family. Some of the men translating warned us of the danger of going with her as the place she lived was really far away, didn’t have electricity, and she didn’t speak English. Unfortunately, we had other plans for the evening so we would have to postpone to the weekend but for some reason there was still a yes in all three of our hearts. Jesus didn’t come on earth and live a safe comfortable life so neither should we.
We trotted off with plans to come back Sunday and I felt huge excitement at the idea of being able to go to her village where there may be people who have never heard of Jesus nor experienced His beautiful love.
Sunday rolled around and we headed back to the same spot as before but when we arrived she was no longer there. We find out there was another vendor there who lived near her in the mountains so we decide to travel with him to her house. The plan was to take one taxi to the outskirts of the city and wait for him there to take another taxi out to the village where he lived.
And that’s just what we did. We arrive at our destination at the outskirts of the city and wait for him. And wait. And wait. And wait. Nearly two hours pass and he has yet to show up. I’m sitting there thinking and praying about what to do when a woman walks by putting her hand in my face to get me to buy something from her. I turn and notice a friend with her, carrying a seemingly very heavy duffle bag. I lock my eyes on her hobble as she heaves the bag forward with each step. Then I notice her hand gripping the handle, with sweat dripping between her long black blouse and the beaded bracelet around her wrist. For some reason I can’t explain why, but that image of her hand is locked down and engraved in my mind. I knew I had to help this woman carry her duffle. By the time I convince Brishna and Taylor and we begin mobilizing the two woman are over 100 yards down and across a busy intersection. We walk/jog up to them and I motion that I want to carry her duffle for her. A few minutes later we arrive at their home and the women immediately offered us to stay and enjoy tea with them. We ended up also being offered to spend the night which wouldn’t have been an option unless we had already been prepared to stay somewhere previously!
**So many things occurred in that evening that it’s hard to even write out. My emotions and the overflow of the Spirit throughout our time there are too much to put into words. I will do my best to describe it all in summary. **
These women are barely a step up from homelessness. The two women we met along with nearly 8 others live tucked away under an apartment complex. The one who originally tried selling me something (I will reference her under the name Ariel), lived under the stairs in a concrete room with only a mat for sleeping, a few extra clothes, and some bowls of old food. The other women had similar set-ups next door to her. They gave all that they had, including what little food was stored up in their rooms, their pajamas, their mats and blankets for sleeping, and even went out to the store to continuously provide food for us throughout the evening. They had little or no family outside of each other. It was amazing to see the generosity and cohesion between them.
The one woman (who I will reference as Hannah) who had the duffle bag from earlier, at one point in the evening caught my attention. She came down from her room and plopped in the corner while we all sat on the floor around the pot of food being prepared. As we worked to understand what we were trying to say to one another I felt a heavy spirit in Hannah. I tried asking one of the other young women (Niki) what was wrong with Hannah and she motioned that she was crazy in the head. A few moments later Hannah came and sat in front of Brishna who gave her a hug. Hannah immediately began weeping and clinging onto Brishna. Not knowing what was going on I place my hand on Brishna’s back and start praying. Another girl sitting next to Hannah, trying to comfort her, also looks at me with a blank stare and then puts her hand out towards me to hold her hand. I take her hand also and begin praying for her too. Then Niki, sitting on my other side, puts her hand out for me also and I grab her hand too. Taylor sitting near me lays her hand on me and also begins praying. Within a few moments the entire room falls silent and all you can hear are Taylor and my voices praying. In that moment, I could feel the burden of these women over my shoulders. All I could pray was for the Holy Spirit to come plant seeds in each of their hearts.
Once we finished praying, I opened my eyes and noticed everyone looking at us in awe. I had no idea what just happened but I trust that God did something in their hearts in that moment. A few seconds later Niki grabs my attention and starts pointing at my cross necklace. She starts speaking in a loud voice and asking something. In the next few minutes I don’t really know what happened because a lot of loud discussing occurred between Niki and the other women in Arabic. All I could figure out was that she was not happy and she did not believe in what we believed. She seemed frustrated and soon after offered us to pray the Muslim prayer with her. We said she could show us how she prays and then we will show her how we pray. She cleaned her face, put on longer clothing and a hijab, and then set up her prayer mat facing Mecca. She showed us the routine of her prayer and then once finished says she will leave while we pray. We insist on her staying but she doesn’t want to participate so Taylor, Brishna and I link hands. One more time I offer my hand out to her to join our circle and for some reason she takes my hand!! It was the wildest, quickest change of heart! And she stands with us with a smile on her face. We pray and then when I open my eyes I realized Ariel and Hannah also have joined us! Un-be-lieve-able.
After eating and hanging out Ariel sets us up for bed, four mats in a row in one of the rooms, one for each of us and one for her. The lights click off and a night of deep darkness and intimacy with God begins. I did not sleep that night. God clearly had plans to meet me there in that windowless, muggy room. As I reflect on what happened in those long hours in the dark, just God and myself, I see how that place was a metaphor for these women. I felt the loneliness that they may feel. I felt the weight of pain and suffering that they may feel. I felt the desire to get up and leave yet having no clear exit. I had the desire for light to shine into that room and fresh air to blow through. I so badly wanted comfort and rest yet couldn’t find it in that environment. Thankfully in that place I could find God. I could find what I needed in Him. He sat there in the night while I waited for the morning. Some people, possible even these women are seeking the same thing. They just need someone to walk in and open the door. I pray that God continues pursuing the hearts of these women. It breaks me knowing that they could be trapped in that dark room forever, not even knowing there’s something better. But it is so comforting knowing God wants to partner with me to open the door and let people experience the light and fresh life they don’t know they could have.
