Middle East – Pictures of Trust

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Jane’s passport was missing. …when God says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), He really means it. Earlier, she and I had decided to walk around town meeting people and practicing our Arabic. We went with open eyes for what God wanted to show us. Opportunities abounded to speak with different groups of people, but when we started looking for a place to grab lunch, we realized the passport was gone.

We retraced our steps, asking God for pictures that would lead us to the passport. The boy who sells gum near there kept coming to my mind. The other picture I had was of someone handing the passport to Jane. I decided that we wouldn’t find the passport along the road — someone would actually return it to her. In the meantime, Jane felt God wanted us to continue meeting people rather than worrying too much about the passport. God reminded me of times He had helped me and answered prayer before. How much more would He care to help us find a passport in a foreign country?

But I still had this picture of the little gum seller, and as we looked for him, we met a family who invited us into their home. We were able to practice Arabic with them and they fed us a delicious meal. Jane was right! God didn’t want us to worry. He wanted to bless us with kindness.

Many people helped us that day. Everyone told us that if someone found the passport they would give it to the police. The next morning, as we were walking through the market on our way to the passport office in the police station, a man yelled after us: “Mademoiselle!” We turned around and “bam!”- the man slapped Jane in the head with her passport. He was very distressed that she had lost it. Having seen us around town earlier that week, he recognized Jane’s picture and had been searching for us since 7 am that morning!

That was a big turning point on the trip for Jane and I. God had been introducing us to the idea of receiving pictures from Him, but we were still a little weak in our faith. It was awesome to see the pictures fulfilled and to be reminded that when God says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20), He really means it. We were reminded that God knows our needs, so we don’t need to worry.