When forgiveness turns to love

July 18, 2019

MEET TALIA

“My name is Talia and I serve here at the church, helping Syrian refugee families in our community with food, milk, diapers, or winter assistance.

The Syrian refugees we are helping have been through a lot, some are heavily depressed and do not even see the point in continuing to live. They keep comparing their current situation to what they had before. Most of them were living in perfectly good conditions before the war. Now they have touched bottom and the more vulnerable they are, the more isolated they feel. This is why our support is so much more than just relief assistance.

The families I meet tell me that when we help them, they feel like they can breathe again. They feel that they are not alone, that someone is thinking of them, that someone is caring for them.

As a Lebanese woman, I have lived through war in my country, part of which was inflicted by Syria! So when Syrians first started coming here and asking for help, I felt God wanted us to learn the true meaning of forgiveness. A lot of my family members still do not understand why I put so much energy in helping our “former enemies”.

But I learnt that God does not differentiate between people. A soul is a soul, a heart is a heart, a human is a human, precious in God’s eyes. Now I have developed a very strong relationship with these refugees. I did not just “forgive them”, I learnt to love them.