On our April trip to Jordan, we met a beautiful family consisting of a widowed mother with her five young adult children. I was instantly blown away by the kids' warm and welcoming smiles and very impressive English speaking skills. We were welcomed into their small apartment where we had the opportunity to hear their story. They had been living as refugees in Jordan for over 8 years after experiencing a heart wrenching end to their lives in their homeland of Iraq.
But before I get too far ahead of myself, let me provide you with some additional background. In 2007, the family of 6 (with one on the way) suffered a tragic loss when the father passed away just a month before the birth of his youngest son. The now widowed mother of 5 young children ranging from 0-7 had to quickly figure out how she was going to provide for herself and her kids in the midst of her heartache. While it is quite normal for mothers to work in the United States, this is not the case in Iraq. Heroically, she learned how to drive and became a taxi driver (which was virtually unheard for a woman in Iraq) in order to provide food for her children. When she had finally been able to afford a small place of their own and an inexpensive car, ISIS invaded their village.
As Iraqi Christians tend to cluster together in certain villages, they became one of the first targets of the jihadist group. They had to flee their home with no warning at all, without even enough time to pack a suitcase. They fled with just the clothes on their backs. They were told to drive to northern Iraq which was not yet under ISIS control, but on their way out of their village their engine started to pour out thick black smoke. Other Iraqis fleeing the village honked at them and told them to pull over as it was not safe to continue driving that car. Their mother refused to stop and pull over as she said she “would not let ISIS kill her children.” They trusted that God would bring them to where they needed to be. When they finally reached their destination hours later the car suddenly died.
The next day a mechanic came to look at the car and was astonished to hear that they had driven it in such a condition for hundreds of miles as it should not have been able to run at all. “It was a miracle” they said, “We are here by miracles.”
As they spoke to us in their apartment that afternoon, our RFI team was captivated by their continued gratitude to Christ and acknowledgment of all He had done to save them. There was not an ounce of self-pity in their story. They continued to share how they had spent the next year sleeping on floors, in churches, in the wilderness with snakes and scorpions, in the car, etc. bouncing from one place to another trying to outrun ISIS as they continued to gain ground in Iraq. Their home had been destroyed in the war, and along with it all of their personal items including their photo albums and family heirlooms. They had nothing left in Iraq, no home to return to, no personal belongings, no future; only the continued terror of having to run from one village to another. They decided to try to immigrate to America through Jordan. They thought that because of their story and the fact that their mom was a widow with five young children it would be a relatively quick process, taking perhaps six months to fill out the paperwork and go through the application process. They have been in Jordan as refugees for over eight years now with no end in sight. While they are thankful to the Jordanian government for allowing them refugee status, the government will not allow them to legally work, making it nearly impossible for them to provide for themselves and their mother.
One question we had to ask as we spoke to them was how they had such amazing English. They told us that because of their situation as children constantly on the run in Iraq and then as refugees in Jordan, they had never had the opportunity to finish school since ISIS came when the oldest was 14 and the youngest just 7. Since formal education was not an option for them they taught themselves English, grammar, math, etc. all through YouTube videos. We were truly blown away by their strength and ability to make the most of their situation, but what spoke to us even more than this was their ability to forgive their enemies and trust God so deeply in the midst of immense hardship.
This was just one of the many families we met with and had the privilege of serving. There is nothing quite like the feeling of walking into the home of people you have never met, who come from a completely different background and culture than your own, and knowing immediately that you are with your family. The family of God is vast and beautiful, faithful and strong in the midst of suffering. And while it might feel confusing as to why some don’t seem to experience the “favor of God” in the way we usually think of it, I challenge anyone reading this to consider that these are the ones truly experiencing God’s favor. For was it not Christ Himself who said that in the eternal kingdom of heaven, “So the last will be first, and the first last.” -Matthew 20:16.
- Juliana Cox, Public Relations Strategist, December 2024
You can view the testimony of the family here:
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