“But I thought the woman from Africa was going to give her testimony tonight?” I asked, confused.

“She was, but after a lot of prayer, she really felt like she wasn’t supposed to share tonight, “Julie explained, “but Joy is coming to share her testimony instead.”

This was part of a conversation that happened at the last Women’s Night at the Oasis.  We have Women’s Night’s once a month, and it is always a special time where the women can relax and have fun just being women. 

Joy, who came and gave her testimony, is an incredible woman with an amazing story of God’s faithfulness in her life.  She is Iranian and was born into a strict Muslim family.  She was a very religious Muslim, but not a happy person.  When she was a teenager, she worked for an Armenian Christian woman.  This woman was so different, and even though Joy was taught to think of herself as better than this woman, she never experienced such love from anyone else.  She married and left her employment with this woman only to return to visit her years later.  During this visit, the woman shared the Gospel of Jesus with Joy, and Joy left angry with her, but God used this experience to change Joy.  And she became a believer in Jesus the Messiah.  Eventually Joy and her two children had to flee Iran, due to the fact that they were Christians.  This led them to Austria were they received asylum and have lived for about 20 years.  Joy has since become a missionary with International Teams, and now works with the growing Iranian fellowship of believers in Vienna. 

Joy shared this testimony with the women.  She was speaking to a room full of mostly Muslim women from several different countries, but the largest representation was from Chechnya.  Many of the women identified with Joy’s story and had lots of questions for her afterwards.  Two women in particular ended up talking with Joy for a long time and letting her pray with them.  We saw God’s hand in that evening, in the fact that He knew who needed to share that night, and made it clear to the woman who was scheduled to share.  God used Joy’s testimony to bring two women one step closer to a relationship with Him.  Please pray that God will continue to work in the hearts of the women who heard Joy’s story, those who responded outwardly and those who did not. 

That night reminded me of two important things in ministry (whether that means overseas, in a church, or being a witness to your neighbors and coworkers), first, we need to be seeking God so closely that we know His heart, like the woman from Africa who knew she was not supposed to share that night, and are not letting our schedules dictate God’s work.  Second, we need to remember that sometimes we get to be the planters, sometimes we water the seeds, and sometimes we get to see the harvest reaped, but we can’t lose sight of that to which God is calling us to be faithful.