Dearest Friends,
MADAYA, SYRIA
Madaya is a town in Syria, and on Thursday, I was only two hours from this place. I was in Beruit, Lebanon, but this town is very close by. That little bit of difference puts you in another world where people are under siege, fighting hunger, and hopelessness. I read about a man who was boiling grass to make a soup for his sick father to try to keep him alive. A local medic had been surviving on the rehydration salts that he gave his patients. A brave teacher continued to teach, until her students no longer had the strength to walk to class because of their hunger. So many have died of starvation that it has become the expectation of the people in the town. I read about an 85-year-old lady who’s father was an American who fought in WW1, but now she is so weak that she stays in bed. The children are begging for bread, not candy.
I read about this place as I was in Germany, preparing to fly to Switzerland. I am here to share at a church, and visit with a former puppeteer and his wife. The alps are beautiful and this place is so peaceful. It would be so easy to put the suffering that continues in Lebanon and Syria out of our minds, but I beg you not to forget. Pray for the people in Madaya, and pray for the Syrian refugee children. If you are in a peaceful, safe place, see this as God’s gift to you, and do something amazing with this gift.
“MY HUSBAND DIED FOR THIS BOOK”
While in Lebanon, I heard a story about a man named Daoud (not his real name). I heard how he had shared with a Muslim man who came to deep faith in Jesus Christ. This man went so far as to remove his bathtub and place it in the center of his living room. He wanted his friends to hear his testimony and watch him be baptized. Others were not so happy with his decision to follow Jesus and they killed him in front of his house. His wife had also become a follower of Jesus and was very brave. Later, at her husband’s funeral, she held up the Bible and said, “My husband died for this book.”
Now I have a question for each of you….will you live for this book?
Will you live for Jesus Christ? What will you do so that Muslim children can hear about God’s rescue plan for them?
In Jesus,
Linda