Hello Dear Brides!! I hope you are all being blessed by standing firm in the love of our Beloved Lord and HH (Heavenly Husband).
When I began sharing about the hope that I found in Him and in the resources from RMI to ladies in Turkey, some of them looked at me as I was crazy, even if they also passed through the same situation as I did, a crisis in their marriage that led to destruction and a divorce. Restoration for them was so unknown and not preached that many believe that God can’t restore. It was a difficult year, I had so much to share but there was no one interested in following God’s principle and obeying Him. I had no idea that people talked badly about me, just because I wanted to follow what He says in His Word about divorce and remarriage until I met Nehir.
I thank You, my Love, for everything that You did, all the trials that brought me close to You, thank You for never leaving or forsaking me, thank You for Your grace and love, and for working in my weakness showing Your love and power to people around me.
As many of you know, after hearing about me, without seeing me or even talking with me before, she invited me to stay with her for a while. If you are new here, please read The Turkish Ministry: Meet Nehir where I share how I met Nehir and how she became the Turkish Minister. In the beginning, she was also skeptical about what I was sharing, so together we began going through some of the RYM chapters in Turkish that I had translated at the beginning of my RJ (Restoration Journey). She was so impacted with the truth of how many God’s principles she had broken during her all marriage life, and it was amazing to see how He opened her eyes and heart.
In one of our conversations, she asked me why people preached that you can divorce in case of adultery? So I explained to her as Erin wrote in the book. Her heart was open and I am sure that the Holy Spirit gave her the understanding of the Scriptures. But there was still a passage that it is very controversial, not just here in Turkey but all around the world, and it is the verse in 1 Corinthians 7:15 In this verse, people here preach that if the unbeliever lives, let him leave and then you are free to marry someone else, but it needs to be a believer you marry. When I showed that in the Turkish Bible, she said that it is the meaning that they understand, so I went to the English versions and asked the Lord to help me explain to her. When she finally understood the meaning of the passage, scales fell from her eyes just like the Apostle Paul.
She was so amazed by the discovery, but soon we begin to think: “Lord how we will tell people, they will think we are crazy”. The case was not only about an interpretation but a translation of the Turkish Bible. I laughed when Nehir overwhelmed said that “she was feeling like Martin Luther during the time of the Reformation”. We had nothing to do but I shared that if it was from the Lord, He would do everything and we would obey and follow Him continuing always to pray for opportunities to share about His truth. We gave it to Him, but always it was something that would make us struggle from time to time, so we, again and again, gave to Him, waiting in great expectancy for what He would do.
I never will understand His ways, but I don’t need to— I will gladly follow Him. So even if I wanted to continue living close to Nehir, He moved me to another city much farther north, which is so big that I had no idea how I could live there, but He always worked everything for good. It all started when I met a lady who was a friend of my friend, it looks confusing I know, but He sees more than us. This lady invited me to a women study group, it was an English group so I gladly went. There I met other women, with amazing Ministries and one of them is Bible Translation!!!! You think that I would do the connection right away, but I didn’t. I went to some meetings but it never came to my mind. And I believe that He did it because it was not the time for me to remember, just like the cupbearer forgot about Joseph when he was restored to his place serving Pharaoh. (Genesis 41:9)
I continued going to the meeting once a month, and one day He paired me with a lady I didn’t have the opportunity to talk with before, and by the end of the meeting, we prayed for each other. She asked about me and I had an opportunity to share about my situation, how He helped me and restored me to Him, and what I was doing to help others in the same situation as mine. She was amazed and asked me where I lived. We discover that she lived just 5 minutes from my house :)) Ahh the Lord, how He works is incredible!!! She invited me for coffee so I could explain more what I was doing. Well, it was the end of the year and still, we could not find a good time to meet.
We had a month with just rain and without sun, one day I was working when I saw the amazing day outside. I usually never leave the house during that time (it was after lunch), but I couldn’t stay at home, I needed to go out. On my way to nowhere, I meet this lady, she said that I was in her mind during the day, she wanted to invite me for coffee. I accepted and then on the next day we found a nice place close to our house to drink coffee and finally talked, it was like His appointed time!!!
During our conversation, she shared that her husband helps to translate the Bible into Turkish and other languages. I explained to her that I had difficulties with the version we are currently using here, she then shared a little bit of how it was translated and that she also knew other translators. She said that that are many words in that version of the Bible that Turkish people also don’t understand and it is not very comprehensible, she also shared she had an old version that she believes could help us, and she would freely give me next time we meet \o/\o/
There is a long way ahead of us, but I am in awe of how He moved things without me realizing it. It happened fast and without me doing anything, just being where He wants me to be, doing what He called me to do. Like Moses, we sometimes ask the Lord, who am I to go? Please use someone else. We forget that He is the One who will do, change, transform, restore, and He will always be with us, guiding our ways and using our weakness to bring Glory to His N
I can’t wait to share more of what He does here, and I hope it will encourage you not to fear the oppositions, and not rely upon yourself trying to move or do things for Him, but trust Him and abound in Him and His words. With man is impossible, but with God, all things are possible!!!
“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” 1 Corinthians 1:27
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7
“ Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6
~ Sara
FLM Translations Branch Director