Syria (MNN) — Syria remains at a crossroad while neighboring countries swell with its refugees.
Yesterday, Syria gave its clearest signal to date that it's ready to talk peace with the opposition. But it won't lay down arms to do so, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in a recent discussion.
"In our evaluation, the situation is at a kind of crossroads," Lavrov said. "There are those who have set a course for further bloodshed and an escalation of conflict.
"But there are also reasonable forces that increasingly acutely understand the need for the swiftest possible start of talks."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposing forces have entered the standoff following two years of civil war. Brutal fighting has forced over 800,000 Syrians to date into neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, and Egypt; thousands more cross the borders daily.
However, the latest impasse is allowing more refugees to come to Christ as they see His love expressed by Christian Aid Mission-supported workers in Jordan. Christian Aid helps indigenous mission agencies reach out to traumatized families through the delivery of basic supplies and Gospel literature.
Missionaries also meet with refugee families on a regular basis, offering much-needed prayer and encouragement. After visiting with them twice a week for six weeks, Christian workers say, many refugees will want to join a Bible study.
As they become more engaged in refugees' lives, Christian workers help them work through the emotional pain of displacement and seeing so many deaths.
"You see dead people everywhere," one refugee shared in a recent meeting with believers supported by Christian Aid. "Men lying against walls with their hands tied behind their backs, dead. Everywhere women are being taken and raped."
Ask the Lord to comfort believers in this war-torn nation. Pray that Syrian Christians would experience God's peace and presence amid the chaos of war.
Click here to see how you can help share God's love with refugees.
