For all practical purposes Damascus is nearly gone but as Isaiah 17 tells us, "She will be no more" so the only hope for these people living there in the rumble is God. g

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'God Is Here, but I Am Getting So Tired'; Syrian Christian Mother Mourns Killing of Children From Bombings
Hanna is a Christian woman living in Damascus, Syria, with her husband. She and her husband have two young daughters. She works in a school. Over the last year, Hanna has been pouring out her heart about what daily life is like in war-torn Damascus. The Syrian civil war is going into its fourth year and has claimed at least 120,000 lives. Below is Hanna's latest report via Open Doors contacts in Syria:

"While I'm telling you this (Wednesday), we're in the middle of a bombing. My husband and two girls just saw one bomb falling down over 200 yards from our house. We hurried downstairs to be safer.

"A mortar falling down sounds like a very strong voice near you; it's the same pressure. We don't know what will happen in five minutes, or even one minute. One moment you're here, the next moment you can be gone. A few days ago my relative was preparing Easter snacks in the kitchen when suddenly her life was over; a bomb fell through her apartment. We didn't find her body.

"I want to tell you about Tuesday. It was a terrible day. We cried and prayed all day. Tuesday they were bombing Bab Touma, the old city of Damascus. A lot of Christians live there. There is also a Christian school—a private one. We know a lot of people in that school. Some children from our area also go to school there.

"When those kids went to school on Tuesday, gathered at the square like they always do, a mortar fell in their midst. Some friends passed by the school and saw that parents and teachers were carrying their wounded children out of the school, dripping with blood. They saw them running to the hospitals in panic. For me, as a mother and a teacher, I can hardly bear to imagine what these people must be going through right now.

"Twelve people lost their lives in that school, most of them children from the elementary school. Many more of them have lost arms and legs or have other injuries.

"In our school we gathered the children to pray for the victims. I told the children: No matter what bad things are happening around us, our God is still good; even if we're in danger of death, our God is still good and worthy of praise. So we raised our hands and started worshipping God. The parents of one of our Muslim pupils were present while we did that, and they were so impressed they said: 'Our child is safe here. He is under the protection of God.'

"God is here, but I'm getting so tired. Tired of praying. Tired of crying. Sometimes it seems like there is no end to all this misery. I know God is in control, but sometimes I feel so hopeless. I regularly fall on my knees and cry out to Him about why all of this is happening.

"I praise God that He is protecting me and my family. Prayer gives me strength; it's a weapon in the spiritual battle that's going on here.

http://www.charismanews.com/world/43540-god-is-here-but-i-am-getting-so-tired-syrian-christian-mother-mourns-killing-of-children-from-bombings

This is so inspiring about the mother in Damascus, who keeps praying and praising God, and saying to the children that God is good, even impressing the Muslim parents. Bombs are falling all around, and children being killed and maimed, and this mother and teacher is "so tired," she says. But she still praises God and carries on.

When we grow weary of waiting for God remember her. And pray for her and others like her.

Thank you Mariel, for putting into words my own heart-felt thoughts on this mother and all the mothers who may not have a man in the home who are trying to keep things together whilst bombs drop all around.

I was very, very young (3 yrs.) at a Kindergarten/orphanage in Germany when the bombs would come down and recall the quick steps down into the basement and prayers during our wait as we huddled together in the dark, damp cellar. Some might say I was too young to remember but I have memories of those hard time even at a younger age so God has allowed me to retain them so that I could have empathy, just as you, also have for these poor people who don't even expect a Rapture but pray that God will, somehow see them through one day at a time.

Thanks again, Mariel,
gerlinda

I was wondering why God gave me an experience of being abandoned when I broke my kneecap three years ago, falling down stairs. Medicare would not cover even one night of a hospital stay, which I needed because my leg had to be kept absolutely straight in a cast from hip to toe. I couldn't afford a nursing home, so went to an assisted living place, where they would not help me do simple things...just helped me dress and get to lunch in a wheelchair. I was so stressed I had a TIA and that gave me access to a good nursing home, paid for by Medicare, and good PT, which helped my knee to heal quickly, so that I could walk without a walker in two months, good as new.

When I stop to think of that feeling of abandonment, being in a city far from my present home, without anyone to take care of me, and a medical system which refused help even though I had two insurance policies, I thought to myself tonight "God, was that feeling of abandonment of some use in your scheme of things? I already was on your side."
He didn't answer directly but I felt I needed experience to have compassion for all the people abandoned in the world.

And Gerlinda, I can see how your experience as a three year old in Germany gave you a similar experience, and compassion.

These are not the only hard experiences we have had, for sure! But they perhaps were the ones most likely to produce a fellow-feeling with the abandoned people who are all over the earth now.