Some personal thoughts on a heartbreaking situation...

ISIS.

I sit here this morning and can't stop thinking about the isis situation. A situation I really know nothing about- because of all the news headlines I read, and the horrible stories that are on the internet involving this situation- I know deep down it is so much bigger, and there's even more going on that we know. It's heart breaking knowing that these are people... human beings... most being brothers and sisters in Christ. And here I sit in comfort and safety.

I'm not writing this because I feel guilty, because even though I don't understand what's going on, I know God is even bigger than this situation.

As I pray for all the people involved in this, I know and believe that God has not forsaken them. Although it may look like it to us, being on the outside... I know my God, and He is right there in the middle of it, with each and every one of the believers. I have read enough stories about missionaries being beaten for their faith, and have read some crazy miracles of Jesus taking the pain from them, or sending angels to speak to them in the night. I don't know what God is doing in this dark situation with the people involved in this crisis, but I know without a doubt that He has not forsaken them.

I was having coffee with a friend yesterday, and she mentioned that we need to be praying for the leaders of Isis. Yes- you heard me. The leaders. The ones beheading and killing... the ones that are in charge of the whole twisted thing. 

She mentioned Saul from the Bible- and how one radical experience with Jesus changed him from the persecutor of Christians, to the guy who wrote most of the new testament! I felt hope rise up when she said this, and thought about how the whole Bible is prophetic. The old testament prophecies with words and actions about Christ... What if Saul's testimony in the new testament isn't prophetic for something we are about to see NOW. It could be!! What if one of the top ranking leaders has a radical encounter with Jesus! This is what we should be hoping and praying for! Radical encounters with the living God, over every person involved in this situation... especially the leaders!

Even in times like these, when there is so much uncertainty... and so much in the unknown... I put all my hope in God. Although on the outside it looks like the victims of this situation are the ones bound and chained- I see the leaders of ISIS and can only imagine the bondage and demonic chains in the spirit that can cause someone to think and act out of so much violence. And as people are stripped of their homes, their families, and their choices in life, there is one thing that cannot be taken from them... and that is their Faith. 

My hope is in God, and I'm trusting Him in what He does... my prayers go out to each victim, because my heart aches for them. But the warrior spirit within me prays for a Saul testimony to rise out of this- for the leaders to be free of their twisted thinking and revelation of truth to overcome ever lie. 

I cling to hope.