This
time last year I was in the Middle East for two weeks with a group of my
friends from Liberty. I’ve been thinking about what I learned during my time in
the Middle East, as well as what I’ve learned in the past year.
To
say this past year has been easy would be a lie. I’ve made a lot of memories,
had a lot of good times, but frankly, this year has been hard.
I
don’t like it when life is hard, and I don’t think anyone really does. It is
not fun when your friend dies, when your grandparents die, when you wonder if
you’ll pass your classes or even be able to stay in school, when you’re
depressed, when you feel alone. But when I look back on my life, it is usually
in hard times that I really grew. The hard times are often the only thing that
forces me to rely on God instead of myself.
When
I went to the Middle East, the girls on our team got to spend a lot of time
with the women and children in their homes. Some of the women were very open
and shared their stories with us. The stories I heard and the things I saw are
the kinds of things I had only heard about...not like anything I had ever
experienced. I saw poverty, abuse, neglect. I got to know a woman in her early
30s who had an arranged marriage at age 15 and now had seven kids. I met
21-year-old lady who was her husband’s third wife out of four. She was
responsible for caring for all ten of her husband’s children. I met so many
women and girls who did not know how incredibly beautiful they are. One woman
told us, “In our culture, we are not allowed to be beautiful.” I looked into
eyes filled with a depth of darkness, emptiness and pain that I had never seen
before. But these eyes belonged to a six-year-old boy. I could see the hurt
hidden behind people’s smiles. I met kids who would soak up every ounce of love
and attention we could give them.
When
I was in the Middle East I began to be thankful for the hard things I have been
through, because those experiences gave me more compassion and understanding
for the people I met. I admired the strength these people had to keep going and
not give up. No, I did not understand everything they were going through! I did
not even understand their language! But I could relate, even in a small way, to
their pain and brokenness.
Do
I like hard times? No. Would I want to relive the hard times? No. Do I praise
God through the hard times? Unfortunately, not like I should. But I am thankful
that nothing in our lives is wasted.
It’s
from the deepest wounds
That
beauty finds a place to bloom
And
you will see before the end
That
every broken piece is
Gathered
in the heart of Jesus
And
what’s lost will be found again
And
nothing is wasted
Nothing
is wasted
In
the hands of our Redeemer
Nothing
is wasted
-Jason
Gray, “Nothing is Wasted”
After
our first day of work in the Middle East, our team piled into the van and drove
back to the place where we were staying. One of the workers turned on his iPod,
and the song “Beautiful Things” by Gungor was playing.
All
this pain
I
wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I
wonder if my life could really change at all
All
this earth
Could
all that is lost ever be found?
Could
a garden come up from this ground at all?
You
make beautiful things
You
make beautiful things out of dust
You
make beautiful things
You
make beautiful things out of us
This
song was such a comfort and a reminder that God is able to bring good out of
any situation. He can even bring beauty out of the pain that we saw in the
lives of the people we met in the Middle East. With God, no situation is
hopeless, and no person is hopeless.
What
better example is there of beauty coming from pain than the life of Jesus? God
sent his Son to earth to die for a sinful, broken people. Jesus was crucified,
even though he had done nothing wrong. If the story ended there, we would have
no hope. Pain and death would be victorious. But after three days, Jesus was
raised to life. It is because of Jesus’ resurrection that we have hope. Life
out of death. Beauty from pain.
“Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has
given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead...In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you
may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come that your
faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by
fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus
Christ is revealed.” -1 Peter 1:3, 6-7
