Yousef, Fahima, and I (Annie) go together on house visits in the Beqaa valley in the tent community where we have a Horizons center. We visited a woman named R, who we have visited before, so I asked if she had been reading the Bible I gave her. She said she had been, and her husband had been reading it as well.

“People tell me that I shouldn’t look into this, but I have a right to! I know something is missing!” R said emphatically.

I shared with her the story of Lazarus. At first when I began, she had been sitting on a chair opposite me. But when I read more of the story, she got up from her chair and sat next to me to read along, eyes wide in wonder. She loved the love and compassion of Jesus and was intrigued by Jesus being “The Resurrection and the Life.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.” John 11:24-25

She asked us many questions about Jesus, and Yousef and I took turns showing her from the Bible what it tells us about the gospel. At the end of our visit, I offered to pray a blessing over her and her family. R accepted, so Fahima and I prayed with her. While I was praying, Fahima had her eyes open and noticed that R had opened her eyes and started looking around. When I finished, R was looking startled. R asked Yousef, “When we were praying, did you come up to me?”

“No,” said Yousef, “I was sitting this entire time.”

R turned to Fahima, “Did you stand in front of me at some point while you were praying?” Fahima said “no.”

R stared ahead, “I felt someone. Someone in front of me. But not like a dream. It was real. Like a man standing right in front of me, looking at me.” She turned again to Yousef, “Are you sure you didn’t move?”

Yousef smiled and assured her again, he hadn’t moved from his place. R closed her eyes again and said something about wanting “him” to come back.

“Well,” I offered, “We were praying in the name of Jesus. So it must have been Jesus who came to you. It happens all the time, R.” And it does – many here are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus. The accounts I hear are endless!

R opened her eyes and stared ahead, trying to grasp what she had just experienced.

“Pray to Jesus any time, R,” I encouraged, “He promises that he comes to us when we call on him with our whole hearts. And he loves to hear your voice – he knows your voice, R. And prayer is simply talking with him. So we are in prayer constantly – all day long.”

We said our goodbyes to R and her children. I look forward to the next time I see her and hear how Jesus is revealing himself to her and her family! By the grace of God, we are seeing amazing things like this all the time. God holds true to his promises, and he is with us. To God be the glory!