Below illustrates how we equip others to love and serve the nations locally and globally. We often refer to this as a joy-centered, trauma-informed lifestyle. 

One Point of Intrigue  

Shalom [peace, wholeness, completeness] requires lament.
Lament constitutes 40% of all Psalms, but only 19% of the Presbyterian hymnal, 13% of the Baptist hymnal, and 13% of the hymnal for the Churches of Christ. In a 2012 study, the top 100 worship songs reveals that only 5 of the songs would qualify as a lament.
Lament is the language of suffering.

One Story

Years ago, Steve was a part of a team including Northern Africans and Middle Easterners who developed trauma healing materials for our Muslim friends. This recent story comes from one of those colleagues. 

We were glad to have Noor’s sister and two nieces join the healing group, and Noor had given me some background that Zaynab had been following [Jesus] at one point in her life, but the house church she joined turned out to be led by a shepherd who was feeding off the sheep. Zaynab stepped away from the church because of these damaging experiences, and when she came to this healing group, she was feeling pretty much at the end of her rope. Noor had taken Zaynab under her wing several times, counseling her, invited her to spend a weekend at her house…. but Zaynab had been through so much in her life, Noor said she really wanted to take her through the trauma healing process. Thankfully this opportunity came. 

Zaynab is in her early forties, and has had to work hard to survive. It was after the ladies had written their laments, that Zaynab and I took some time to talk just the two of us. She wanted to share her lament with me. 

Read Zaynab’s lament and the rest of the story HERE. 

One Practice 

Lamenting is a sign of faith, not of doubt.
Lamenting encourages people to be honest with God, to speak the truth about their feelings and doubts.
In a lament, people do not attempt to solve the problem themselves, but they cry to God for help. 

Laments could have many parts, including: 

1. Your honest expressions of pain
2. Questions for God
3. Your plea to Him or request help from God
4. The things you remember of what God is like

When was the last time you lamented? What do you need to lament today?
HERE are laments from trauma healing participants.

SUPPORT CARS NEEDED

The support cars allow the rider to focus on the race set before them. They also provide essentials for the rider to flourish within their abilities and skills. 

In this stage of our race, we are asking for more support cars in various forms. The following are ways for YOU to participate with us:

Give – Holy Spirit guided us to ask for an end-of-the-year $35,000 to propel us into the next year as we continue to equip others to love and serve the nations locally and globally. Give via our support page.

Advocate – Serve as a door-opening ambassador. Browse your contacts and ask the Holy Spirit who needs to connect with the Moses family. Simply write an intro email or group text to connect us. We desire more potential prayer intercessors, financial supporters, and advocates.  

Pray – Join our virtual prayer group via an app that gives more up-to-date and detailed requests. If you love praying with others and/or want to learn how to pray with others, then simply email us and we will add you. 

Oh, Heavenly Father,

Although I have been in many stormy seas, you have always been present with me. I have never been left alone or forsaken.

Now I am struggling once again in the midst of an onslaught of health issues. Many have prayed for my healing, but symptoms persist. I am afraid I will become incapacitated and unable to care for myself or serve the immigrants I dearly love. Who will care for me since I am a widow and childless?

Some of my pain issues are a result of bad choices I have made. Others have come as a result of harm done to me.

Lord, have mercy upon me. Please take care of me and allay all of my fears.

You are faithful and trustworthy, an ever present help in times of trouble. It brings you great honor when your children put the full weight of their trust in you, for in this you are greatly glorified. 

---

O LORD, my heart is heavy within me

Where are your people?

We push ahead like nothing is wrong, toward a prize that looks nothing like you

We’ve fallen victim to the snare of the enemy – divided, cold, unmovable

Our kingdom looks like the world

We ignore pain for the sake of seeing our plans through

We ignore suffering of others because we refuse to face our own shame

Why have you let it happen?

Have you turned your face from us?

Hear the cry of your servant

I long for the Kingdom you promise, the Eden we were designed for

Come quickly, O LORD

You separate the sheep from the goats

You hold all authority, you have no equal.

No scheme can prevail against your decree

Your Faithfulness will stand forever!

---

Lord, oh Lord. Holy God you are a mighty fortress-we are running to you.

We have heard of your fame and your good deeds, in our day make them known. You have rescued and grown your church in Afghanistan. You have made a way for them.

How long will wait before you rescue them again? It is too much. Why is this evil happening? It is hard to understand what you are doing. The Taliban terrorize and control people in your name Father God! They are abusing innocents. Believers are scattered, frightened, hungry.

We confess it is hard to trust you in times like these. We know we are sinners, and we confess to being aloof, and second guessing you and not understanding why you haven’t done something that we consider worthy of doing. We confess that we are making plans ahead of you. Forgive us for not remember the plight of the oppressed, and living our lives with blinders on, for not praying ardently for your people.

Pour out your grace and mercy upon your people. Help us to be closer to you. Rescue those in immediate danger. Pour out your justice. Change the hearts of those who seek to do evil. Rescue and release the Afghan people from their bondage. Make captures favorable toward Christians. Shield believers. Give great courage to the women and girls who are being abused and brutalized.

We believe you are doing mighty things. We know good can come out of this. We believe you are blessing the people in Afghanistan. We trust that the suffering will not be in vain. We praise you for the work you are doing. 

Below illustrates how we equip others to love and serve the nations locally and globally. We often refer to this as a joy-centered, trauma-informed lifestyle. 

Steve was recently interviewed by Our Urban Voices to discuss Helping Muslim Refugees Heal from Trauma.

One Point of Intrigue  

Joy is “I am delighted or glad to be with you.” God is happy to be with us even when our lives are a mess. A beautiful trait of joy is that it does not require good circumstances. Joy is primarily transmitted through our faces especially with our eyes [think about God’s face shining upon you or being the Lifter of your head]. Our brains desire joy more than any other thing. 

One Story

“You can not have disciple-making without trauma healing” was the emphatic statement our Iranian brother [more of his current situation below] expressed years ago. When Mahmood and Steve met, Steve was equipping Mahmood with trauma healing. Little did either of them know what would lie ahead. 

Mahmood saw the necessity of trauma healing and began integrating it immediately which led to Good Listener – a social media platform to assist with trauma among Iranians and Afghans. Last year, as Persian peoples called to process and share their hurts, pains, traumas, and struggles, over 150 of them decided to follow the ways of Jesus. They ask Mahmood why does he offer this service and listen to their stories FREELY. He replies because of his love for and encounters with Jesus.

Over the past two years, Steve has shared about joy-building with Mahmood including a practice called Interactive Gratitude [see below]. Recently, Mahmood shared about using this practice with his local church and in particular with a woman who has attended for four years. According to Mahmood this woman was lonely and attended mainly for the fellowship. After the service she approached Mahmood with many questions – “Is this a part of worship or prayer? I like this practice. I want to know more. Where did you learn this?” After Mahmood answered her questions, she replied, “Okay, I am ready.” He said, “Ready for what?” She said, “Ready!” Again, Mahmood asked, “Ready for what?” She said, “I am ready to be a Christian because I am hearing a lot. But tonight is different for me. It is the first time for me speaking WITH God. It’s perfect. It’s amazing.” 

Mahmood and Steve continue to talk weekly about family, life, and everything else including joy in the midst of hardship. 

One Practice
Interactive Gratitude – Gratitude is the on-ramp for raising joy in our lives. Learn to build joy while listening with God.

1. Write out or audio record 2 sentences by starting with any of the following: 
God is . . .
God of . . .
God who . . .
Feel free to address God as you like (ie Father, Abba, Friend, etc.)

2. Dear God thank You for . . . 
Again feel free to address God as you like.

3. Dear child . . . 
Pause to hear what God wants to say to you. Don’t over think it. Write what comes to your mind. 
You might start with Dear Son/Daughter, Friend, Precious Child, etc. 

Ideally read this to someone else to bear witness together. Here is a written example and an audio example. 

SUPPORT CARS NEEDED

The support cars allow the rider to focus on the race set before them. They also provide essentials for the rider to flourish within their abilities and skills. 

In this stage of our race, we are asking for more support cars 🚗  in various forms. The following are ways for YOU to participate with us:

• Pray – Join our virtual prayer group via an app that gives more up-to-date and detailed requests. If you love praying with others and/or want to learn how to pray with others, then simply email us and we will add you. 
• Give – Holy Spirit guided us to ask for an end-of-the-year $35,000 to propel us into the next year as we continue to equip others to love and serve the nations locally and globally. Give via our support page.
• Advocate – Serve as a door-opening ambassador. Browse your contacts and ask the Holy Spirit who needs to connect with the Moses family. Simply write an intro email or group text to connect us. We desire more potential prayer intercessors, financial supporters, and advocates.  

God of wonder and mystery.

God who created the galaxies and yet knows me.

Father and Dear Friend thank You for Your nearness in a seemingly ever-growing world of isolation.

My Son, you are Mine, you are never alone. I am Immanuel.

Steve and I enjoyed a wonderful night in Koln (about an hour away from Frankfurt) to celebrate my birthday. We had a scrumptious dinner and got to see Band of Horses (one of our favorite bands).

While we were waiting for our train back to Frankfurt, I spotted a man who looked African. I leaned over to Steve and said, “I wonder where he’s from?”

Steve glanced in his direction and then walked over to the man to see if he needed any help since he was looking up at the train timetable.

Steve found out that he was from Ghana and then started asking additional questions.

I waved when Steve explained he was traveling with his wife, but since the man was by himself I stayed standing a few feet back and didn’t think it appropriate to participate in their conversation.

I first thought, Lord, this would be a great time for me to talk to someone as well. Please send a woman for me to engage with gospel stories. 

I looked and looked. It wasn’t very crowded and I didn’t see an approachable woman anywhere. I realized I wasn’t going to be talking with anyone anytime soon.

When short term teams are here, we send them out in groups of four.  Two to engage and two to hang back and pray while still in eyesight of the other two.  So I thought to myself, “Well, I guess I can do what we ask our teams to do and pray for Steve’s interaction.”

Jesus, I pray for their conversation. I pray for Steve to clearly communicate truth.

I ask God, to give me a word.

Silence.

God, a word any word.  How should I pray for this exchange?

And then. A song.

“There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning.” Ok God, great. I really like that song.  But I asked for a word.  What specifically can I be praying for in this moment?

“There may be pain in the night but joy comes in the morning.”

Hmmm.  Joy, Lord? Am I supposed to be praying for joy? Shouldn’t I be praying for him to know You? For him to see truth? For a million other things? Joy, really?

I give in and just sing the song over and over in my head.

I am close enough to Steve and Dr. Mustafa to overhear some of their conversation. And then Steve starts talking about . . . you guessed it . . . joy! The joy that comes from Christ being Lord of his life.

Good thing there weren’t too many people around because I’m sure I looked pretty awkward as my jaw dropped in awe of this encounter with our Living God.

Oh, this was such a sweet reminder of how the Creator of the Universe loves his children and speaks to us through prayer.

This Oswald Chambers quote immediately came to my mind, “Prayer is not preparation for the work. It is the work.” I am grateful Jesus brought to me a place of prayer in this moment and allowed me to be part of the conversation with Dr. Mustafa, even from several feet away.

I pray I will be quick to remember this interaction in moments when I feel removed from the action of meeting and engaging individuals with the gospel.  Prayer is vital and IS the work!

We had two apartments fall through before we got to Germany. When the suggestion of studio apartment came up I immediately said, “Pass.” No way that I thought the idea of ONE shared living space with my beloved hubby and toddler would work. No way, never ever.

And here we are. In 12 x 15 feet of family time. All. The. Time.  And it is kicking my tail.

Expectations.

Since we were headed to a major city with modern conveniences abounding and not to the middle of unreached peoples or a place that would be categorized as “tough,” I really didn’t think that living conditions would be a concern. Sure, I thought we would face some challenges.  I thought we’d be walking more. (True.)  I thought it would take some time to adjust to navigating public transportation with a toddler. (Also true.) But I did not think that my biggest challenge to date would be learning to love my family well and have a worshipful heart in a confined space.

Comparison.

I’ve been trying to pinpoint why this has been so hard for me. I’ve lived in tougher conditions. I’ve shared a twin bed with a teammate for a month, even shared a one-person, mummy sleeping bag with another for a few nights. I’ve had to warm water over a fire for a sponge bath and navigate going to the “toilet”  (AKA hole in the ground) with a headlamp and TP in hand. But I’m quite sure God is way less concerned about how I navigated situations six years ago, then how I am navigating what he has given me in the here and now.

In all those examples the glaring pronoun is “I.” What “I” can personally handle is one thing . . . but I am now part of a “we.” It hurts my wife-and-mama heart to see that our space is not a quiet, clean place for my introverted husband to recharge or a home where my overtired toddler can find peace and rest. I see the effects of our space and want to fix it. I’m carrying the burdens of my family and God keeps not-so-gently reminding me that I’m not the fixer.  He is The Fixer and Perfect Provider.

Perspective.

I’ve woken up several mornings to read over Numbers 21: 4-9. It’s a passage we’ve studied at church and often utilize when we help train students to go overseas.

Look at verses 4 and 5. “And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”

Oh they had food. Just like we have shelter. But they had gown impatient and then the Lord sent poisonous snakes among them! Say what?!?!? Oh this passage gets me. I’m so grateful that we don’t have snakes slithering around this apartment because I’m certainly looking more like those complaining Israelites than I care to admit.

What is so beautiful and challenging about this passage is that God provides a way to be cured. Those who were bitten by the snakes simply had to look up at the pole with the bronze snake on it. The snakes were not removed and they certainly weren’t transformed into harmless animals . . . but if they had faith to take their eyes off the current circumstances and gaze upon The One Way Out, complete, transforming healing awaited.

Thankfulness.

The best weapon I know to use when Satan starts telling me lies that everything would be better if we just had a different space is G.R.A.T.I.T.U.D.E. (If you haven’t read 1,000 Gifts, click here and order it now. Seriously.) Every night as I’m putting Samuel to bed, I list everything I’m thankful for during the day. And, miraculously, when I am intentional about counting gifts as I see them, I’ve found that I can list numerous things about this little studio that I’m genuinely grateful for.

Purpose.

If we hadn’t taken the chance to leave our familiar, I would have missed this time of learning more about my tendencies towards control, selfishness and sinfulness and my desperate need of Christ’s forgiveness, power and strength. This has been a gift. A challenging, gritty, tear-filled gift that I will be forever grateful for. I pray that you, too, will be able to learn to be thankful and worship our Creator in all of your circumstances.

“I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!” Psalm 34:1-3

Praise.

As I was finishing up this post, we got confirmation for a one-bedroom apartment and will be able to move in a week from today and stay the whole summer. Praise the Lord! Pray we worship well in our final week in the studio!