Story
Nour is a 22 years old Syrian refugee girl who has been in Lebanon since 2018. She lives with her mother and siblings after losing her father to death when she was a little girl, back in 2008.
Since that time, the meaning of childhood changed. Nour didn’t live a normal childhood, she didn’t get the chance to enjoy her many of her essential rights as a child. She lifted responsibilities much bigger than her years. She started working at a time when she should have been studying and playing.
Today, she works in a fish restaurant, standing on her feet for long hours. But she has nothing to show others but kindness: she wants to help her siblings, buy medicine for her mother, and keep their home from disappearing.
Through her work, she heard about H4L. She went to the center, hesitantly, and applied for help. She was registered and started receiving a monthly food portion and detergents. Her mother used to attend the Bible studies, but about a year ago, her mother got sick. Soon, Nour started attending bible studies.
With honesty, she said:
“The first time I came to the bible study because I was afraid the help would stop if my mom didn’t go. That’s why I started coming.”
Time passed, and something changed. When she sat down and talked with the team, she felt they were not strangers, they felt close.
“I felt like they understood me, they really listened… they were not just words.”
She learned that the help had no conditions. There was no pressure, no force.
Nour wears a hijab. She expressed receiving strange looks or quick judgments in other situations. But here, it was different. She said:
“no one said anything. No one looked at me in an uncomfortable way. I felt at ease… I felt there was real respect.”
She began attending bible studies especially those about the New Testament. Every story touched her in a special way.
But the story that touched her most was the story of the Samaritan woman.
“She was a woman, from a rejected background, and a sinner and yet Jesus talked to her, respected her, and saw her… truly saw her. That touched me, because I felt like, even with everything, I’m also seen. I’m not forgotten. I have value. I have dignity.“
The lessons didn’t just change her thoughts; they changed how she saw herself. She used to see herself as just a worker spending her days and nights working, but as a strong and brave young woman, full of light, struggling, continuing, and dreaming.
Now, she returns from each bible study not just with knowledge, but with a new strength. Noura believes that if He saw the Samaritan woman, He also saw Nour… from the very first moment.
Prayer Request:
Pray that grace continues to surround her every day, and that she grows more and more in knowing how much God sees her and loves her.
