This true story and has not finished yet.  I was sitting in an English airport ready to fly to India for the first time.  A youngish looking lady started speaking with me about her first time flying alone, and the anxieties that came with that.  Eventually she unraveled what seemed like her whole life story to me as I listened intently – wondering where this was all heading.

We boarded the plane together, ending up with seats a row apart. We entered Dubai airport together, still talking.  She found out to her horror that her plane to Pakistan had left without her! I don’t think it was a coincidence that we both had 6-7 hours waiting for our next flights.  The next 6 hours were spent sitting in a café together, talking pretty much non stop.  Farheen poured out her heart to me, her fears and hurts from life. 

Born in Pakistan, her religion was Islam.  She had recently started a new life in Birmingham, having married a British Muslim guy, and life was hard. She shared insights into what life was like, each day living in fear of what her husband might do to her and how she strived to please him. She was not even looking forward to heading back to Pakistan that day I met her, for her own family would treat her with contempt.

God let me be a part of this lady’s journey as I shared with her God’s power to heal our hurts from others and to bring us peace – not what the world offers but perfect peace which casts out all fear. I was able to pray with her at the end and as she lifted her head, I saw real peace flood into her eyes. She acknowledged that she felt peace and was thankful that someone actually prayed with her! She even took the Mark’s gospel I had on me and after exchanging emails we still keep in touch today.