My first trip with Brother Dave visiting our Brothers and Sisters in Christ in the Middle East and North Africa was amazing!

I was especially impacted by our time in North Africa. Meeting our dear sister, Emily*, was such an honor, and I was in awe of how she gives herself to the Lord. When I first began reading about Emily, my heart went out to her, as she was ministering to 100 refugee families while caring for her aging parents. When Dave and I got there, she was up to 2,000 families!

Thank God for the volunteers she’s been able to raise, who give of their time and resources. Working beside Emily, my thought was that she’s pouring herself out like a ‘drink offering,’ as Paul referred to his ministry to the Philippians.

I was touched by the testimonies I heard from the refugees. One in particular that impacted me was hearing Pastor Subra’s story. As he told his story, I could feel the sense of loss and pain he still carries. Subra was a Muslim, married with children, living in east Africa.

He went to university, and while there, found a Bible and began to read it in secret. He read the entire Old Testament, then Matthew, Mark, Luke, and was in the 14th chapter of John, verse 11, where Jesus says, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in me,”, and it ‘clicked’ for him.

When he returned from university as a believer, his wife began to read the Bible and claimed to believe. Unbeknownst to Subra, each day while he was at work, his wife’s father and the Imam talked to her and convinced her to return to Islam. The wife went to court saying she wanted a divorce because her husband had become a Christian, which the court readily granted.

Because the oldest daughter said, “I’ve also become a Christian, and I want to go with my father,” Subra’s ex-wife again took him to court, saying Subra had poisoned the daughter’s mind. The court agreed and sentenced Subra to a 3-year prison sentence for ‘child abuse.’

After two years in prison, the case was reviewed and thrown out, but the damage was done. When Subra was released from prison, he wasn’t allowed to contact his family, and his Christian daughter had been married off to a Muslim man and taken to another country.

Subra has lost everything for Christ, but it didn’t stop him from wanting to serve, and he came to this city in North Africa to minister to the  refugees from his home country. Subra finds strength and hope in serving his Lord and Savior.

Please pray for these dear brothers and sisters, and for Emily as she continues to pour herself out to these and so many others through the ministry the Lord has given her. Pray that more helpers will come alongside her, for financial support, and for wisdom as she begins each new day.

In all my encounters with our persecuted brethren throughout the countries we were in, I saw forgiveness, patience, and the joy they have in the face of their often-desperate circumstances. Never did they ask for the persecution to be ended, but that they would remain faithful and strong, and for wisdom, living out their lives in the circumstances the Lord has put them in.

They were all so thankful to hear that we are praying for them! I was left with a profound sense of conviction for my need to spend more in-depth time in God’s Word, in prayer, praise, and worship.

-- Jim Fennessey

*not her real name