“Naso Ajabu, Naso”

 Jenna Johnson and I have been working with the Somalians every Wednesday and Thursdays in the hospital. They are Muslims who come from a country who has been in war for the last 20 years. Many travel with absolutely nothing, we even met a lady who travelled 12 days just to treat her baby son and has no identification whatsoever besides now the hospital bill. The language is hard, and the difference in beliefs is even harder. It truly has to be the work of the Spirit in us to do anything and I personally have been struggling with expressing an overwhelming amount of love on these people.

I went into this past Wednesday really questioning if this is where God wants me at in the hospital. I had to really dig deep into my heart and recognize why I was here, was it just to get another check mark or was it really just to simply be the hands and feet of Jesus and love these people? I decided to dive into the ministry Wednesday despite the fact that almost every Muslim we talk to just tries to debate us comparing Mohammed versus Jesus, their one God versus our three Gods (yes, we only have one, they can’t grasp the trinity).

So like always, God taught me the biggest lessen yet since i’ve been out here and even more than out in the Maasai with Alice, I was so so completely broken.

Naso in Somali means rest. The first patient Pastor Thomas (he translates Somalian for us) took Jenna and I to see this past Wednesday was Ajabu. He did not warn us at all for what we were about to see. Once we pulled back the curtain I was devastated and verge of tears. Ajabu has cancer and had a tumor from her bottom lip down into her throat. They had gone in and done surgery on her, she is left with no bottom lip, over 50 staples going from one collar bone to the other with a tube flowing through to drain the blood, and the whole bottom half of her face looked like they took it completely off and had to stitch over 100 stitches to attach it back on. She was in so much pain, could not communicate by any means except through a few hand motions when she had enough strength to move them. I’ve never seen anyone in so much pain.

Pastor Thomas told her that we had come from America to hold her hand. Although one the hardest things I’ve ever had to look at I sat and held her hand. Jenna J, and her new spiritual gift that she wrote about in her blog Not my Pain, couldn’t handle the situation so her and pastor left. So here I was, sitting in a hospital room, with no means to communicate and to verbally witness to this Somalian woman. The one thing I was fighting coming into the day completely flipped upside down. So I sat, just holding her hand & loving on her.

The only thing I knew to say was Naso, Ajabu, Naso. Rest, Ajabu just Rest. Over the course of two hours, she never let go. When I would try to stand up to leave thinking she had fallen asleep, she’d pull me back down to sit. At a moment in time my left arm was even about to fall off as for 30 minutes I held her head up straight since she didn’t have enough strength to do it on her own, just so she could catch some sleep. I sang some worship songs and hymns that she couldn’t understand but I completely fell in love with her over those two hours with out one word being exchanged.

God humbled me more than ever in this moment. Shattered my heart completely in this moment. Ephesians 4:2 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Her son Salit finally came in and he spoke broken english. I helped him communicate some things to the nurses and was on my way out. As I left he stood up, verge of tears, held out his hand (which is very rare for Muslim men to do with women) and said, “Sister, you are my sister”

God taught me how to love unconditionally on these people through Ajabu. Maybe I don’t need to speak words to share with them about the love of Christ, but I can do it through my actions. Even the simplest action of holding someone’s hand. Actions do speak louder than words right?

Please continue to pray for Ajabu, she will be here in the hospital for awhile and when I returned the next day she had been moved from the Womens Ward to the ICU. For now, the power of silence and showing love overwhelm me.

I am set free in Christ. It is my job to now serve one another in love. Thank you God for this gift of freedom I do not deserve.