Wait For The Lord
by Brandy Webb
My children wanted me to write a blog on patience. I really intended to write this blog with life experiences of having to wait on God’s answers, and the scriptures that help me. I do have the tendency to be more impatient than patient, and over the past few years I think God has been trying to teach me the good fruit of patience.
So, that was my intentions until I happened to read a news article that made all my little acts of patience seem so minor and insignificant. I will be honest, I hardly watch or read the news because it is usually very depressing, and I hardly see anything praiseworthy, pure, and lovely. Yet, I do not want to bury my head in the sand, so every once in a while I catch up on the news and one story hit hard. The first thing that popped into my head was the patience of the saints.
Meriam Ibrahim and her husband Daniel Wani
The story was about Meriam Ibrahim. I am sure many people have heard about her, but for those who have not, I will briefly share her story. She is a 26-year-old married woman who happens to be eight months pregnant and has a twenty-month-old son. She is being held in prison in Sudan because she is unwilling to recant her Christianity. Her husband is Daniel Wani, a Sudanese man with US citizenship.
I’m not sure of all the details, but one news article from The Telegraph UK, states that they were married in 2011. They have several businesses and a farm in Khartoum. I do not know what prompted the Sudanese government to arrest her. She is being charged with apostasy from the Muslim faith even though she states she has been raised a Christian her whole life. Her father, who left the family when she was a little girl, has testified against her.
This woman is in prison, chained, pregnant, without medical care, and her little toddler is in there with her. Plus, her husband is in a wheelchair, and he has said that he relies on her to help him with normal life.
I cannot imagine what is going through this family’s head, but I admire this woman’s strength. She will not recant her Christian beliefs to save her life. Her patience and courage is amazing. Her story puts my life and struggles in a different perspective.
I really believe she is living Psalm 27:14, which states, “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” I hope and pray that God hears her cry and intervenes like in Psalm 34:19, which states, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
We are told to pray for one another. So, this Sabbath please pray for this family because “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16b ESV).
Reference:
Alexander, Harriet. “Pregnant woman given death sentence in Sudan is kept shackled in her cell.” The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 20 May 2014. Wed., 23 May 2014.