Many in America do not know that today is International Women’s Day, but women around the world are grateful that they are remembered, loved, and prayed for on this day. Yes, thank you for your prayers for Women in the Window International and those we serve. Our team is on assignment with North African and Middle Eastern women as we pray, plan, and provide ongoing leadership development throughout the month of March. This week we will meet with dozens of women leaders to fortify our ministry efforts together into one of the most difficult and yet MOST fruitful regions for Christian growth in the world today. Kim writes, “As I listen to our ministry leaders and connections here I learn so much about how actively God is at work among women, especially women from a Muslim background. Yesterday, I heard this powerful and hopeful story:
Recently a woman from Aleppo visited our Christian ministry to receive both physical and spiritual relief. As she came to the center with her 9 children, she came with a broken and heavy heart. She and her husband, along with their 9 children, lost everything as they were forced from Syria. They settled in as refugees in the Middle East, all living together in just one room! She returned day after day, week after week, and before too long both she and her oldest daughter invited Christ into their hearts as their Savior. They were invited to a three-day discipleship training and accepted the invitation with eager intent. At the end of this training, they approached me fervently requesting prayer as they knew they would receive fierce opposition and possibly brutal persecution by their husband and father for their choice to accept and follow Christ. As the ministry leader prayed for them, their confident assurance in God’s good favor and protection over them increased. As they returned home, the father and husband said, ‘Where have you been?’ They told the truth. He said, ‘Tell me what you’ve learned . . .’ and they did! As he heard their testimony, his heart was pricked and he said, ‘I want to know this same Truth and live with joy, too.’
The husband and father of this family of eleven became a follower of Jesus Christ our Savior that very day. When he was asked why he chose to believe rather than rebuke or persecute, he said, ‘I wanted to be angry with them, but I simply couldn’t. I’m not sure why . . . but when I saw their faces they shone with brilliant light.”
Please pray for us as we train women leaders from the Arab world. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, please pause to thank God for His gift of women to mankind and to His Church. Celebrate how creatively and lovingly He is showing Himself strong both to and through women as He brings their children and their husbands to Christ with their winsome, authentic, and sacrificial faith as they risk their lives for the sake of the Gospel!
– Praise God that our team has safely arrived to provide leadership training with the Arab women leaders. Barb will lead the conflict resolution training and Kim will facilitate the area-wide women’s ministry sessions.
– Pray for their time overseas to be highly effective and creative as they advance the Gospel together in the most fruitful and yet hostile region of the world.
– Pray for the new seasons and new frontiers of hope God is revealing to Kim and Barb as they meet with our WiW ministry partners. They will be discussing plans for advancing women’s ministry among women who formerly followed Islam, but who have now dedicated their lives to Christ and fearlessly speak of Him. Pray for God to use their influence to bring more women, children, and even men to become followers of Christ too!