A man and his wife who work for The Voice of the Martyrs recently had a baby girl! Dory, the baby’s mother, recently shared her thoughts:
“We named her ‘Rajah,’ a transliteration of the word for ‘hope’ used in Arabic Bibles when it refers to future hope. [Arabic and English use different alphabets to form words. Transliteration is when a word in one language is written using characters from another alphabet.]
“Here on earth we expect tribulation, enduring patiently, but we also rejoice in our hope for the future (Romans 12:12).
“In the last three months, my husband and I have hosted VOM workers from Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Israel in our home. Each time we introduced Rajah to our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters, every one of our friends immediately offered a blessing over our baby daughter….
“They prayed for God’s favor for Rajah in expectation that she, too, will be used by the Lord to point people to his truth. This path might not be easy.
“When our friends bless Rajah, do they bless to request God’s favor and protection on her? No, they bless her to dedicate her to God’s service, a position they know from experience is not always pain-free, but they also know that there is no better place to spend a life than to spend it dedicated to God’s service.
“That is my prayer for my daughter, for myself, and for all of us as we work together to fellowship with the persecuted. We may need to make difficult choices, endure difficult circumstances, but we do so in hope that we will someday enjoy an eternity worshipping the only One who is worthy of our efforts.”
Source: Persecution Blog