When I was a young girl, my neighbors gave me a very special gift. It was a prayer rug from Azerbaijan. My neighbors were pioneering some major ground for the kingdom here. They moved back overseas, and I kept this rug in my room. It remained in my bedroom, on display all through my growing up until the time I left the States in August. It was always a reminder of my neighbors and their heart to pray for Jesus to be known and experienced in the nations— especially the ones that are closed. NEVER could I have imagined being in the land that once seemed like another world. Over the last months, it has been such a PRIVILEDGE to live into the legacy that has been cultivated by so many before. The work in these regions is laborious—and taken on by many devoted and beautiful people who have sacrificed and given decades of life to the call. When I was a young girl, Azerbaijan seemed like another world. I had no idea that one day I would be in the land of my prayer rug on the craziest adventure with Jesus. It‘s wild to think that God certainly knew and allowed this seed to take root long ago. Being in this country has reminded me deeply that God holds each day, each moment, each season in truth with His promise and sovereignty. He will show us the dreams and fulfill the promises we didn’t even know were in us. Seeds that were planted in my heart in elementary school have sprouted. Wow, is it special to be in this land—the land of fire. The land of promise. The land that belongs to Jesus.
