Sumayya*, a Yazidi girl, had attended a seminar about forgiveness at our center. I later visited her in her home to ask her about the seminar and her thoughts about the topic. Her mother and two of her siblings were present as well.
Sumayya shared that she couldn’t understand how to forgive people who committed horrible acts such as Dae’sh (ISIS) had done to the Yazidi people. They had killed men, raped women and young girls, and destroyed their homes and possessions. Those who survived had to leave their homes and become refugees.
I agreed with her that it is very difficult to forgive those who hurt us deeply. We can’t do this by our own power. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. Being able to forgive others, regardless of what they have done, will set us free and help us to be what God intends us to be. We can be loving and productive when we forgive others. A person who does not forgive is like one who carries another person on his back. He will struggle and will have a backache from carrying the burden. The person who is carried will not suffer at all; the suffering falls on the person who is unable to forgive.
I also shared with them that God is just. At some point, these people who did so much harm will have to face God’s judgment. We can leave vengeance to Him.
Sumayya grasped what I was trying to explain to them. She was very grateful for my effort to help her understand the importance of forgiveness. Also, the fact that God will deal with each human according to His unquestionable justice set her free from her feelings of hatred toward those who hurt her and her people.
Pray for Sumayya and her family to grow in their trust of God’s love and His justice.
*name has been changed
Haunted by Their Past
Tara welcomes us into her tent and motions for us to sit down on a thin mattress. I take it all in, the colorful fabric lining the walls of the tent, a small shelf with pictures of family members, and the thin woman sitting in front of me with a sad smile on her face. As we start talking, she tells us her story.
ISIS invaded her village during the war. She was taken captive as a sex slave, and her father was killed in front of her. After five years of captivity she escaped, only to find that all her family members had been killed. A couple years have gone by, and she now lives in a refugee camp with thousands of other Yazidi refugees. Many of them are waiting. Waiting for justice, waiting for resettlement, waiting to find some glimmer of hope in their future. I look up at Tara and ask, “What are your hopes and dreams for the future?” I have asked this question to many refugee women and usually find some form of hope expressed: a better future for their children, returning to their homeland, rebuilding their life. Tara replied, “I hope to travel back to my village and dig up the mass grave so I can properly bury my family members.” My gaze turned to the pictures of her family members.
As I left Tara's home that day, many stories I have heard from other Yazidi women came to mind. So many women have gone through immense trauma and are haunted by their past. The need for trauma care is huge and overwhelming. However, amid the hopelessness, I know there is One who can give them true hope. One who has come to proclaim release to captives, freedom to prisoners, and comfort to those who mourn. One who gives beauty instead of ashes and an oil of gladness instead of mourning. One who we have seen touch lives in tangible ways.
Join us in praying for Tara and other Yazidi women as our team in Iraq diligently endeavors to help them find healing.
Photo by Getty
The Perfect Father
from Impact Middle East leader in Northern Iraq
On our first visit to the family – a mother and her three daughters aged 27 to 17, we learned they had been living through very difficult conditions for an extended time. The family’s father had verbally and physically abused his wife and daughters many times. He then left his wife to live with another woman in Baghdad. He didn't visit his own family, and he didn't support them financially.
He did, however, continue to make decisions for his daughters. He pushed his second daughter to marry at the age of 16. She divorced and her child went to live with his father; she was not allowed to see her son. The oldest daughter’s marriage also quickly ended in divorce. The daughters blamed their father for all this.
After opening their hearts and sharing their pain with us, I asked the family a question: “What are the attributes of a perfect father?” Their answer was: “He should be loving instead of full of hate, compassionate rather than cruel. He should act responsibly, care about the needs of his family, sacrifice for them and not use or take advantage of them.” I told them all the good attributes they had mentioned are found in God who is the perfect Father.
I then shared with them my own experience with God. When my father died, I accused God of taking him away from me. I told them how a person later taught me about my heavenly Father who loves me more than anyone else, even more than my physical father. What I learned helped me to change my view of God. I prayed and asked God to forgive me. I also asked God to change my life and accept me as his son. The Lord saved me from my sin and comforted me. Best of all, I became his son and He my loving father. He now strengthens me and supports me even when I am weak. I am honored to meet Him every day to tell Him about my daily challenges, hopes and failures.
After sharing my story, the family consented to let me pray with them. I encouraged them to read the Bible every day and promised to visit them again to talk more about our loving heavenly Father. They welcomed us to visit them again.
Please pray for this family to experience the fatherly love of our Lord, a love they desperately need. Pray we can share God’s love with more souls so His kingdom will grow and His name will be glorified in this land.
Feeling Protected
Madia, a four-year-old girl who attended our school, was constantly tired. We learned from her that her father beat her and her mother. We asked to meet with Madia’s mother – a Jordanian Muslim woman.
When we met, her mother told us her husband had health problem with his kidneys. The pain and stress caused him to lash out against the two. Our school counselor helped the mother understand her daughter did not feel safe and consequently was having difficulties at school. The counselor gave the mother suggestions to help her daughter feel protected at home and offered to be a surrogate mother for the girl at school. We also encouraged the mother to resist her husband’s beatings and to challenge his actions.
As time passed, the daughter became more comfortable and is now smiling. While the beatings have not totally stopped, they decreased dramatically the first month after the wife stood up to her husband.
The church offers a Women’s Counseling Ministry to help Arab women who are physically and emotionally abused and to nurture, care, and build them up so they become healthier in Arab society. This ministry, primarily one-on-one meetings with women; involves approximately 20 women each week. Most of the women - Iraqi and Jordanian - come for help with abuse counseling, whether it be for themselves or their children.
Someone by My Side
Testimony of new believer in Iraq
I was away from the path of God, and my life revolved around my work and military service.
I am from a Christian background. However, I did not pay much attention to spiritual matters and only attended church on holidays and special occasions. The church I was a part of didn't teach much about the Word of God, and the emphasis was usually on rituals.
Originally, I was from Baghdad where I worked for a Turkish company. In 2014 when ISIS entered Iraq, some local armed forces who fought ISIS threatened me. They considered the Turkish to be supporters of ISIS, and I was working for a Turkish company. I had to leave Baghdad with my pregnant wife after one month of continued persecution, including soldiers coming to my house, hitting me and threatening me with weapons. I lost my work, my money, and all my belongings.
My wife and I arrived in Kurdistan on August 15, 2019. I felt terrible and suffered emotionally and physically for all the injustice I had encountered. I started to attend an Impact Middle East partner church. There, I started to understand the teachings of the Bible and was touched by the love I felt from the congregation and pastor. I accepted the Lord Jesus into my life. My conditions are still hard on many levels, but I feel differently in my heart. When I accepted Jesus, I had a strong feeling of someone being at my side – one who comforts me and supports me. My wife also accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior, and we both want to raise our daughter according to the Word of God.
No Real Change
by Impact Middle East leader in Northern Iraq
Rima*, a refugee woman from an Orthodox church background, had attended other evangelical churches. She enjoyed listening to the sermons and the teaching, but no real change had taken place in her heart. One day she visited our church in Northern Iraq, and then she attended a conference for all churches in our town. At the closing of the conference’s first day, the Lord touched her heart, and she decided to surrender her life to Christ. She committed to attend our church where she is now taking a discipleship class. She recently opened her home to start a home church group!
Please pray for Rima. She faces a great deal of resistance from her relatives and neighbors. Pray she will continue in her walk with the Lord. Also, pray she is a blessing to her husband and children and to many around her.
* fictitious name
A High Price to Pay
Hafsa,*a Syrian refugee woman, entered the doors of our church in northern Iraq. I greeted her and asked her about her family and how she came to know about Jesus.
The story Hafsa told me began seven years earlier. Although she had come from a Muslim background, she began to read the Bible. She had observed some of her Christian friends and wondered why their lives and morals were so different from others around her. And she wondered what made them act with so much love. As she searched for Christ, she began to learn and understand more about the Christian life. She ultimately made the decision to accept Jesus as her Savior.
When Hafsa left the Islam faith and took off her veil, she paid a high price. She was kidnapped by armed men who later released her. Her husband left her and emigrated to Europe, taking their children with him. She fled her home and sought refuge in Kurdistan where our church is located. Hafsa turned to our church for help. We welcomed her.
Recently, Hafsa emigrated to the West. In spite of all she had faced, when she applied for emigration with the UN she insisted she be registered as a Christian. Hafsa hopes to be reunited with her children.
Without Fanfare
A lot has changed in northern Iraq since 2014 when ISIS swept through the region with its reign of terror.
Much has changed, but much is the same. Political turmoil persists. Families face life without fathers and brothers. Trauma haunts survivors.
Quietly ... faithfully ... without fanfare ... Impact Middle East serves those who live with the consequences of war in northern Iraq. In cities like Erbil, Dohuk, and Zakho, Impact Middle East churches and leaders minister to those residing in their communities, as well as in neighboring villages and refugee camps.
Leaders in northern Iraq speak with gratefulness to God that He has helped them - and those working with them - over the months of 2018 to:
Distribute food parcels to families in need in their communities
Visit families in their communities to build relationships
Visit refugee camps to distribute items to needy families and gifts for children
Hold a two-day conference with the theme of caring for children and family
Organize a fun time for children at a cancer treatment center
Offer classes in accounting, mobile software, English language, marriage enrichment
Conduct sewing workshops to provide work for refugees
Offer ongoing church ministries for youth, women, discipleship groups
Operate a bookshop for Christian literature in the Friday market
Develop an educational center for young men and women in a nearby village
Offer psychological support for girls who survived ISIS
Train additional leaders
Impact Middle East leaders in northern Iraq would want you to know:
“We thank God for His endless love and grace.”
“We are always grateful to the Lord for His hand is with us
in all the ministries and activities of the church.”
“Peace and Grace to all the dear people who support the ministry in Kurdistan
through prayer and finances.”
Because of a Dream
by IME leader in Middle East
”A”, a 93-year-old Muslim man, lived his entire life in an ancient city in Northern Iraq. The city was home to a large Jewish population since the Babylonian captivity centuries ago. Even after Muslims took over the city, many Jews remained. When Israel was established as a state in 1948, the Jewish population there suffered severe persecution. They were forced to leave their homes and move to Israel.
Across the street from “A”’s home is a building first constructed as a synagogue in the 4th century A.D. The synagogue was later turned into a Christian church, then converted into a mosque. Next to the former synagogue is another ancient Israeli site – the tomb of a rabbi who was known in the region to be a man of God. (The Muslim population there calls him “The Prophet Hazanah.”) Muslims turned the tomb into a dumpster because of the fanatic Islamic view that Jews are unclean.
In his sleep one night, “A” saw a bright light and the man of God, Hazanah, appeared to him. Hazanah said, ““A”, you take care of your house and keep it dazzling clean. You make sure to take the trash out regularly, but people has turned my house into a dumpster. I want you to go and clean my house and protect it.” “A” felt a great deal of fear because he realized this was Jehovah, the God of the Jews, speaking to him through His holy man, Hazanah. He also knew that by cleaning the ancient tomb and the church he would be challenging his entire community. Realizing the great risk, he shared his dream with his father. His father said, “If the Creator God is ordering you to do something, then you should do it. He will protect you.”
“A” cleaned the tomb and rebuilt the broken parts of the church next door. Surprisingly, people started coming to visit this ancient holy site. When they learned about “A”’s dream, they started praying to the God of Hazanah. Miracles started to take place as God answered the prayers of the people. People sick with different illnesses received healing, and many infertile women became pregnant. No one harmed “A” because they saw that God's favor was upon him.
One member of “A”'s family, a follower of Christ, is currently a part of IME’s ministry in Northern Iraq. We are praying that more of his family will come to know Jesus as Savior and learn that Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our Healer, whom they experienced in this sacred place, has chosen to come in flesh to die for their sins and give them eternal salvation.
Please, join me in prayers for more visions and dreams to be poured down upon Muslim and Yazedi people in the Middle East so they come to know the True, Living God.
An Ordinary Christian
testimony of Christian in Iraq
I was an ordinary Christian. I attended church, fasted, and gave offerings.
Then our family was displaced by ISIS. An IME pastor reached out to us in our desperation and helped us. He invited us to attend the church he leads. We began attending regularly and started to experience the presence of the Lord clearly. We were touched by His love and His kindness in a way we had never known before. We studied His Word and began to experience His provision for us.
I pray each person who is away from Christ or who is content to be an ordinary Christian would come closer to Him and see His glory and acknowledge His lordship.