Cyd

Two weeks ago, at my housechurch, we prayed that we would get some word on Cyd and her driver. Then last Tuesday, at 11:13 a.m., Ross called to let me know that sometime over the weekend, Cyd and Hadi had both been killed.

As he was saying the sentence, oh, how I wanted the last word to be different. But he was saying it too slowly and seriously for the word to have been, "freed," or "rescued,"- I knew it from the beginning. And entered a state of shock that lasted just about this whole last week. Its been a weird decision, because normally I wouldn't talk about this stuff with very many people, but I decided that I am going to post a lot about her death on here. Because I have been learning so much and its so precious to me, that I want to share who she was and what all of this has meant to me. So this will just be the first of many thoughts on this.

It was such a long day. Questions kept filling my mind.. how did Cyd die? When did she die? How do they- whoever they are- know that she is dead? Where is her body? What was the last thing she ate, drank, saw, thought, prayed?

Romans was a complete comfort to me. Particularly, chapter 6- people only die once, and then death no longer has power over them. Cyd was suffering in the month before she passed away, and evil people had control of her. But they do not any longer. I wish so much though, that I could have spoken to, or communicated with her just one last time.

Just before Ross called, I'd been praying for her. My friend EB and I are memorizing the book of Colossians. And a particularly apt verse for her had been, "May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father."

And I remembered how many times in Afghanistan, when things were just way too hard, God would bring something really good into the day, and bless you with it, and it would alleviate a lot of the pain. So, instead of my normal prayer- that she would be freed, or have a chance to escape and the courage to take it, I prayed that God would give Cyd a really good gift. Something really, really really good. And I was thinking along the lines of getting to play with a little child or getting something delicious to eat...

But instead he gave her a crown of life.