Steel Magnolias

      This month I had the privilege of meeting some incredible women. I would like to share a small part of their stories with you.

        Before we left for the farm, we visited the national mosque. We all wore full Muslim dress to go inside. Well the real inside of the mosque is for Muslims only, but we could at least go into the outer part this way. This is where I met Norma.

      Norma is in her 60s and is a volunteer that comes there a couple days a week to greet visitors and answer questions about Islam. She has been married forever and even told me about her children. She is so proud of them. I just asked her more about what a Muslim believed. I wanted her to tell me more in her own words.

      This religion is close to Christianity in many ways and there are things in Islam to admire. Just the dedication in praying five times a day or attempting to, fasting, and giving a percentage of their money to the church is impressive. Where are the Christians at the 5am prayer call? Asleep.

      Norma said Muslims believe in one God and in Jesus as well, but they believe that Jesus was just a prophet and not God’s son. This is the key difference. Islam does not teach that God had a son, or that God is three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Without believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus, there is no assurance or hope of salvation and reaching heaven. I asked Norma how she or any Muslim knew they would reach heaven and she really couldn’t give an answer. She did say that it’s about what you believe and not just actions.

      The thing with Islam you have to remember is that many people will say they are Muslims, just as many people in the US will say they are Christian and really don’t know what that means. It is the national religion here and most people are born a Muslim. A prayer is whispered in a babies ear as soon as they are born claiming them for Allah. This brings me to the next women I met.

                                                                       Grace

      I met a Christian nurse midwife named Grace that has delivered hundreds of babies. She is retired now, but is still called on at times to deliver babies. Her husband is a Doctor that she met and married early in her career. Grace has even delivered a baby in the apartment building where she lives. She sometimes delivers babies on the floor of the hospital because all the hospital beds are full. She has even delivered some of the royal family and has gifts from them for a job well done.

      When a baby is born to a Muslim family, a prayer is whispered in the babies ear claiming them for Allah. Grace delivers the baby and whispers a prayer claiming that baby for Jesus. If there is a person I want praying for me, it’s Grace. My team girls got to attend a couple prayer meetings and all these women can PRAY. Anyone can pray, but they pray some of the biggest, boldest prayers I have ever heard. It was just an honor to meet these women of the church and be a part of this.

      This whole family was amazing and showed us so much hospitality while we were visiting. Tea time always meant a full meal with great food. They didn’t let us pay for anything. It was a huge blessing. I’m very thankful for the fun times and great stories about babies. I’m even more excited about switching to mother/baby nursing when I get home. I feel even more that is where God wants me.

      “It is not those that are healthy that need a physician, but those that are sick. But go and learn what this means: I desire compassion, and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matt. 9:12-13

                                                                      Asmara

      I didn’t know Asmara long. Our whole interaction lasted about 10 minuets. She never saw me. Asmara is blind.

      I’ll start at the beginning. For our free day, I went into KL with Allan and Ginger. At the metro station on the way home we passed a blind women. I didn’t even know for sure if she was blind, because we were walking fast and so many times just pass people like this by.

      We got to the bus stop and were waiting for our bus when Allan said he felt like he was meant to go back and pray for this woman. He felt like God wanted him to pray for her to see. Ginger and I wanted to go too, so off we went. In the back of my mind was the thought that we may miss the bus, but there are more important things. The next thought as we are still walking back, was, “She probably can’t even speak English”. I was wondering how we would even be able to tell her we wanted to pray for her, but trusted it would work out somehow.

      Just at the same moment we walked back up to Asmara, a man had bought something out of a basket in her lap. He started speaking English to us. HE thought we wanted to buy something and told us to just give some money and take tissues or whatever we wanted. We told him we didn’t want to buy anything, but that we wanted to pray for her (Allan also gave a donation anyway). This man was able to translate for us. It was so perfect.

      Asmara is a Muslim and said we could pray for her. Now Muslim’s pray all the time, but they do not pray in Jesus’ name. We told her we were going to pray in His name and she still said yes. Allan prayed for her and then I prayed. In this busy metro station, in a closed country, I placed my hand over her eyes and prayed in Jesus’ name. We both prayed for her sight to be restored, but not just so that she had physical vision. Spiritual vision is more important. I wanted her to feel worthy and loved and know that life is about so much more then what we can see with our eyes.

      We didn’t notice any change in Asmara’s sight, but that’s not really important. Asmara took my hand, said thank you, and had the biggest smile on her face as we walked away.

                                                                        Minnie

      Ginger and I went one day to visit this jewelry making ministry. By making jewelry these women can earn money to live and eat. We walked in and saw these sweet little Asian women intent on making their bead earrings.

      We met a women from NJ that moved last year to Malaysia to help women. Minnie had worked in an all boy reform school back home. Her students were robbers, rapists, and even murders. She said that they were still God’s children and she loved them. She also said that they taught her a thing or two about being tough. This has helped her for a big part of her ministry in Malaysia. The sweet part is making jewelry, the other part is working with the girls who are sex trafficked. She goes every week to where they work. She prays, talks, and helps get them out when they are ready. Many of these young girls come here because of the lie that they will make enough money to support their family back home. By the time they pay their “pimp” they don’t have a dime to send home and they are stuck there with no money to even return home.

      Minnie also has a group home for homeless or abused and hurting women. She lives there with them and disciples them. She lives alongside these women every day. Her life is caring for the broken and forgotten and bringing them news of hope.

“Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me – you did it to me.” Matt. 25:40