Finally The Joy Come: Bethel Counseling Centre, June 2007
I knew Yati for the first time from a friend of mine, Hanafi. Hanafi works in Muhammadiah Children Center, an Islamic organization. This organization is helping refugees at the barrack where Yati and her children live. At first, Hanafi was concerned about Yati’s complaints. She said that her 11 years old son, Iza, was naughty and difficult to discipline. Thinking that Iza needs a counselor to teach him, Hanafi invited me and asked my help to meet the boy and his mother.
On my first visit I found out that Iza had not really get a problem. The reason why he always goes out and never enjoys being at home was his mother’s own statement. Yati told him once to take the responsibility of earning money for the family if she dies someday. He will be responsible for earning money simply because he is a male; on the other hand, female will stay at home taking care of everything pertaining to housework. Listening to her mother advice, Iza goes out a lot collecting bottles and other garbage made of plastic and tries to sell them.
On this visit Yati also told me a lot about her dark experience, wounds and sorrows. I could see five layers of traumas she got from the family problem, the tsunami catastrophe as well as the one resulted from undergoing times in military conflict.
The first wound she got was from her unfaithful husband. He often cheated her and this always became the source of quarrel between them.
During the conflict between Indonesian army with the Acehnesse separated army she often heard bomb explosion and the sound of gun-fires. She said that she was accustomed to that sound but I could see the bitterness she felt in her heart. In a night during the military conflict, some men came into their house, tortured her older brother. They cut his genital in her very eyes. She’s never met her older brother again since that night. Several months later, the dead body of her younger brother was found also in a river, naked without his genital.
The next sorrow came. It was when she saw her husband leaving. He went by their rented car which was usually used as the source of income in their family. He went and never came back. However, a month later some men in uniform, big and strong picked her up to a place. They took her to a place, a river where she could see her husband’s body lying. The men apologized to her, but instead of giving forgiveness she challenged the men to kill her and her children as well. “I can’t live without my husband” she cried. Before going home the men gave her an amount of money with which she started to sell several things for living. Then the Tsunami came and lay wasted all her hard work.
In the middle of our conversation she interrupted me. “Excuse me madam, may I know what your religion is?” So I told her that I am a Christian. Unexpectedly she replied me “Oh… I like Christians, they are nice and good” Then, I thought it as a very good start.
She told me that her reason to live in the barrack was to straighten up her live again. Fortunately, a foreigner who works in an NGO saw her one day and offered her a job in his organization to do the housework and cooking. She accepted the offer, and now she is with the NGO. She learns a lot from them and she can feel their love. Her life started to restore.
On my second visit I shared the Cross. I told her that the Cross is a symbol of reconciliation between man and God. On the Cross was nailed the sacrifice for our sin so that we can be forgiven. Then, she commented on my statements “that is the difference between Islam and Christian”. It seemed that my story was not strange for her that I was so encouraged to continue. At the end of my visit I hugged her, expressing my love for her. Unexpectedly, she said “God Bless you.” I was surprised to hear her saying this because this expression is usually used among Christians. I smiled and replied “God bless you too.”
One week later, I visited her again in her barrack. She kept on being hospitable to me. We started the conversation with a little talk about her son, Iza. Then, I reminded her again about our conversation the week before. I inquired her opinion about the difference between Islam and Christian more clearly and asked her reason for saying that Christians are good and nice. In her opinion, the people (Moslems) surround her are not really serious about their religion. They do the rules or rituals mostly because it has become a tradition. Then I introduced the cross, why should there be cross and who Jesus Christ is. She noticed my story carefully without being uneasy or offended. After the explanation we changed our topic with Reza’s problem.
On my fourth visit, I asked her to show me Iza’s report. While she was looking for Iza’s report in the Barrack’s room, we kept on talking. Suddenly, I saw an ant crawling on the floor. Pointed to the ant, I asked her, “If one of the ant’s legs were wounded or broken, what would you do if you really wanted to help it? Would you lift or hold it with your big hands? If you did that, you could hurt it more badly, or you could even break it’s other legs.” Then I explained to her that the best way to help ants in need is being an ant, being one of them, speak their language. Likewise what God has done for us in Christ. God, who is Spirit, strong and holy, incarnated to be a man. He did this because He loves us. He wants to heal our wounds and redeem our sin. That is the reason why He came to the world as a man, being crucified for our sin. Listening to my explanation she said, “I understand more now.”
I continued explaining “To get the forgiveness you have to accept Jesus Christ in your heart. Do you want the forgiveness of your sin? Do you want to accept Him?” And her reply was “Yes I want to.” So I asked her to pray and repeat the words after me, asking for forgiveness and accepting Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. After praying I asked her what it was that she said in her prayer. She admitted that she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord. We were both very happy in that time. I saw her face was filled with joy. However, I advised her not to tell anybody about this. I wanted her to be strong in Him first and know Him deeper that she can share the good news to her neighbor.
After that visit, I decided to share a verse from the Bible in each of our future meeting. I will ask her to memorize them. I keep on following up her growth until now. I was so grateful for God who gave me a chance and provided me a way. I believe many people have been praying for Yati and some of them had preach the Words to her before. However, God gave me a privilege of being a reaper. I was really thankful to reap the harvest.
Prayer:
- Please pray for Ibu Yati’s spiritual growth.
- Pray for her son and daughter and also her family so that they will believe Jesus Christ as their God and their Savior one day.
