"She is precious. She loves big and she loves well. She is a devout Muslim."
For several years, our team in North Africa has had the opportunity to reach out to a local Muslim couple – Khalid and Amira. Khalid is an influential community figure and has been instrumental to the work we are accomplishing here.
My husband and I live in the same apartment building as them, and from the moment we moved in, I knew it was no accident. Being neighbors, we have been able to deeply and significantly invest and build a strong relationship with them.
The wife, Amira, is precious. If you need anything she will move heaven and earth to get it for you. If a guy is following a girl home, she will personally take her heaviest frying pan and hunt him down, and you can be sure he will never bother another girl again. She generously spent over six hours preparing a three course, local North African meal, to celebrate our son’s engagement when he and his fiancé visited us from the States. She loves big, and she loves well.
She is also a devout Muslim.
We have spent countless hours loving her, and countless hours on our knees praying for her, believing that if this woman’s eyes were opened to the Truth, this couple would be dynamic for The Kingdom!
While we were in the states, we shared Amira’s story with a friend – who had an idea.
In the Muslim culture that we live in, in order to compliment someone, you tell someone else. That person will then tell the one being complimented – making it much more honoring.
His idea was to have my mother write Amira, who she has never met, a thank you note. A letter from one mother to another – thanking her for how well she has taken care of us here in North Africa. A brilliant idea.
A few nights ago, we took the letter over to their apartment and Khalid translated it and read it aloud to her.
As he read it for Amira, he kept pausing to swallow. He might not admit it, but he was getting choked up. Amira was openly weeping. When Khalid finished reading the letter, Amira carefully took it, gently folded it, and put it back in its envelope. Then she pulled out what looked like a very special notebook and she placed it inside.
We do not know exactly what God is doing in her heart, but we do know He is up to something good! We are praying that this letter will be yet another step in Amira’s journey to know Him personally.
The best part? We had nothing to do with it. It was not our idea. It was not our letter. But in the Father’s graciousness, He allowed us to be present to witness Him working supernaturally in the heart of a woman who captured our hearts long ago – and to give us continued hope that He is not yet done.
“For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” – Philippians 2:13
