The night on the bus was very uncomfortable and when we got to Hatay (the old Antioch) at 7am I felt horrible. But I started reading Revelations as soon as I could find a quiet spot and it went ok.
Halfway through I was chased from my spot by a security guard and found another place in a grove of olive trees. I was surprised at the pain in my body, after the healing the evening before. My whole body now felt sensitive and sore.
I had about 5 hours to wait for my connecting bus to Amman and I took some time to go through all my things and make sure there is nothing that could indicate that my final destination was Israel. The Syrian border police have been known to throw people in prison for having a guidebook that featured Israel as one of the countries in them. As I did this fear started closing in around me and I went into the darkest night of the Soul so far on this journey. It felt as if everything rested heavy on me.
I went back into the bus station building and found a little internet spot where I sent the prayer request for faith, because my mind knew what God had promised but my heart could not get a hold of it and I thought I would die of fear. By the time I finished crying behind the computer and got up to leave I had enough of an appetite again to be able to eat something. And by the time I got down to the bus faith had dawned on me.
So, of course all went well at the border as the Lord had said. They did not ask me a single question and they did not even look at all my stuff. When this happens, when God comes through when I doubted Him I always feel so bad for doubting. But somehow I know that I had to walk though that little door of humbling myself and asking for prayer for the big giant of Syria to be conquered. My faith would not have been enough. I really needed you all to stand with me. Thank you so much that you did – all those SMSes I got felt like I was being hugged tightly and carried through a stream that would have swept me away if I was alone!
(Written in Jerusalem)
My bus from Hatay was a Saudi Arabian Bus and most of the passengers were going to Jeddah and Mecca. The girl in black who sat next to me could speak English. She was a young Saudi medical student from Mecca and she said her name means Dew. She and her family had been to Turkey to visit some friends there. I fell asleep on the way to the border showing me that the Lord had really restored my peace.
At the Syrian border the one bus driver collected all the passports of the Turks on board and took them all together for the stamps. Dew's father took their whole family's passports and I took my own. In the large immigrations building I filled out the little blue form and found my way to the window that said forreign passports. The fear was gone. The man behind the window only needed to know what town my passport was issued in and then I was stamped and in.
It was so easy I felt like a fool for stressing like I did at Hatay. But I realised that this was the answer to all the prayers and that I should not miss the miracle. I went back to the bus and waited with the other passengers for whatever it was we were waiting for. There between all the noisy trucks I put my cellphone against my ear again, greeted Syria and told it the gosple. I was reminded that the Lord told me that Syria is one of his favored pruning hooks, and that He holds it fermly in his hand! He loves Syria and He has many wonderfull plans for Syria. I had the experience that Syria as a land knows this and is resting in its Creators hands peacefully. As I stood there with the dead phone pretending to call it was as if I could hear the Syrian believers welcoming me and confirming that they are also waiting for the day of the Is 19 Highway.
Where we crossed the border the soil was very red and there were many Olive trees. About a hundred kilometers south of the border Syria looks like the Judean desert. All the trees seem to have a very hard time in a wind that blows them sideways all there lives. The sun had gone down by the time we reached Damascus. The bus did not stop at all and what I could see of the evening trafic from the window reminded me of east Jeruslem and the area around Damascus gate.
At the Jordan border I thanked Jordan for the way in which it opens the door for the northern Highway to come to Jerusalem via the east. I had the sence that Jordan was a gracious and happy host and that it was eagerly seeking peace.
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