Their brightly colored outfits with perfectly coordinated headscarves give them away – they are Somali women. We’ve seen a lot of them lately on the streets of Traiskirchen surrounding the Oasis. Notice that I said, “surrounding,” because it’s unusual for them to come inside the Oasis, especially the women.
But as I looked around one Wednesday night recently, I was surprised to see a Somali woman sitting in the back row. I moved to the empty seat beside her, feeling it a privilege to be rubbing shoulders with a woman from Somalia. I quickly learned that she did not speak English; it would have been unusual though if she did. I showed her where we were reading in the Somali Bible she was holding.
Shortly thereafter her husband arrived and I vacated my seat. I was praying, “Lord, please help them to stay through the whole talk … don’t let them get up and walk out,” (which often does happen). They stayed a good while but then did get up and leave. My prayer became, “Lord, please don’t let this be the first, and the only, time that they ever hold a Bible.”
I still see them on the streets sometimes. I wonder where they are at with God … where they are at in their journey of coming to know Jesus. I wonder why they have had to experience the nightmares of present-day Somalia. I wonder why I have led such a sheltered life. I wonder.
But I love to see the colors - the bright colors of her clothes. They remind me of the sun rising in the bright morning sky, which always fills my heart with hope, hope of what God is yet to do in me and in others. I don't know if this Somali woman can even hope at all. I hope for her, Jesus. I pray one day she has the certain hope that only You can give.
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