Provided by: JesusFilmMedia.org
Greenlit by Antoy Grant

Lanuage: ENGLISH
Length: 24 mins

Mariam and her friend Daliyah visit Rivka. But Rivka and her husband fight over his work as tax collector. He thinks Mariam visits to talk with him about Moussa’s taxes. Rivka apologizes and asks to walk back with Mariam.

Rivka and Sara talk while they clean wool. Laila, though still weak, is away, helping a family in need. And Sara is tired from caring for the family… and being pregnant. Rivka starts to smile but she realizes Sara’s afraid. Sara explains that she’s had miscarriages and she and her husband Ayoub had hoped to move closer to his family. She’s frustrated because she feels stuck waiting, and far from God.

Rivka assures her that even Jesus’s disciples felt alone sometimes. She mentions the time when the disciples were in a boat with Jesus. A storm came up over the lake and Jesus stayed asleep. The boat was taking on water and the disciples were about to die. So they woke Jesus up and asked if He cared about them. Jesus calmed the storm. But He rebuked them for having little faith. It was okay to be afraid. But they had doubted whether He cared for them.

There’s a knock at the door. Soldiers hand Noah a summons for Moussa. He’s to report to Beirut for work. Mariam insists on taking the summons to Moussa in the fields. Sara says this is one more thing to worry about and wonders where God is in all their troubles. Their neighbor, Noura, comes by to check on them. When she hears about the troubles, she wonders where God is, too.

Rivka tries to encourage both women that God loves and sees them, especially in hard times. She reminds them of Adam and Eve. Even when they rebelled, God looked for them. She assures them that God has done that again in the life and sacrifice of Jesus. Even imperfect people can be reconciled to God. Rivka uses the dirty wool to illustrate. Sara sees dirty wool now. But she also sees the beautiful rug she’ll make from it. Rivka says God sees us now, but He can also see what we will be. She says Paul, an apostle of Jesus, calls us God’s handiwork. Noura marvels that Rivka makes God seem so close. Rivka insists He is.

Mariam and Noah find Moussa and Dawud in the fields. Though his children plead and angrily protest, Moussa resolves to obey the summons and go to Beirut.

How do you feel during hard times?
What does the story about Jesus and the storm tell you about your troubles and His care for you?
What does it mean that you’re God’s handiwork?

There are a number of things Sara’s worried about. And she doesn’t feel very close to God in the middle of it. But Rivka tells her the story of the disciples, the storm, and the power of Jesus. We can rely on Jesus to love and care for us. To remember His love, we can look to the cross and John 3:16. “For He so loved the world, that He [God] gave His only son, that whosever would believe in Him shouldn’t die, but should have eternal life.”

Later, Noura and Sara continue to worry and wonder about God’s character. They wonder if their own sin is keeping them from Him. In those times, physical ailments and trouble were seen as punishment from God. But Rivka uses the wool to demonstrate how God sees us. Every day, we’re being made into something beautiful. And even now when we’re imperfect, we are loved by God.

“I am sure that the One who began a good work in you will carry it on until it is completed. That will be on the day Christ Jesus returns” (Philippians 1:6). We won’t be perfect until we’re with Him. But because of Jesus, we can draw near to God in troubled times and good times and know God’s love for us.

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