New
Hearts in the Middle East
Dear friends,
Two weeks ago I wrote you that Majid, the Kurdish Iraqi young man with a long-neglected congenital heart defect, had finally made it the hospital in Israel. Philip, Steve and I visited him there a week ago to pray with him on the eve of his surgery. I was surprised how frequently and exuberantly Majid and his father referred to the church in Jordan, where they had stayed while waiting for their visas to Israel. They pulled out an Arabic bible and showed us far they had read, and also showed us an Arabic praise tape. The father was even giving thanks to Jesus.
Traveling on to Jordan I learned the rest of the story. A young man from the church there had spent a full hour sharing the message of God’s grace with Majid and his father, and they had prayed with him and indicated their faith in what they had heard.
In the past I might have viewed such a report with some reserve. But Majid’s father seemed undeniably affected. I remembered his comment on first arriving from Iraq after a four-hour wait at the Jordanian border in the cold and rain with his sick son: “What kind of Islam is this?”
Also in Jordan we met Doaa’s mother at the airport, as she and Jen brought Doaa’s body back from the hospital in India. Many of us offered prayer and comfort to Doaa’s mother back at our apartment before putting her in a Suburban for the trip back to Baghdad. But I was most affected by a man from a Muslim family, who stood in a room full of Muslims and prayed boldly with repeated references to the cross and blood of Jesus. His own life had been transformed when prayer in the name of the Messiah had brought an immediate end to nightmares which were plaguing his daughter.
The picture above was taken in the ICU the day after Majid’s surgery
in Israel. And here is Majid back in his room three days post-surgery,
welcoming Brian and Boaz on a visit from our Jerusalem office:
Philip was there too, and reports: Dr. Birk the cardiologist assured us that he is doing super. When she told us that he had walked from the ICU to his room we could hardly believe it. The doctor assured us that he would be ready to be released in a few days. A great answer to prayer. Dr. Birk did say that he will definitely have a period of adjustment to the new blood flow in his heart, and that the period of recovery is slower for an adult than a child, but still he has surpassed all of our expectations.
Thankful for God’s grace,
Jonathan Miles
Coordinator
Shevet Achim
“Behold how good and how pleasant for brothers to dwell together
in unity” (Psalm 133:1)
www.shevet.org
