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Who Is My Neighbor?
By Janet Seever
I first rang her doorbell as a volunteer, collecting funds
for the Cancer Society in April 2002. The weather was still
chilly, but tulips had already poked through the ground, and
were beginning to open in front of her house.
The dark-haired woman from South Asia who answered the door
told me she wasn??™t interested.
???But nearly everyone has a relative or friend dealing with
cancer,??? I said. ???I??™m here as a volunteer because my
grandmother died of cancer many years ago.???
The expression on her face softened. ???I had cancer surgery
over ten years ago,??? she said with a heavy accent. ???Please
come in.???
She served me tea and told me her story. She and her family
had been in Canada only two years and she had very few
friends. A lonely woman, she seemed eager to have someone to
talk with. I wasn??™t at all sorry I wasn??™t able to finish my
collection route that afternoon. After all, she was my
neighbor, just five houses down from me.
???Please come back again and visit me,??? Shandah* said as I
was leaving.
So I did.
I learned about her family and her customs. She had grown up
in a Muslim country as a Muslim, but had attended a Catholic
school as a child. She had heard the story of Jesus in
school.
???When I was growing up, I wanted to be a nun,??? she said with
a laugh.
I told her I was a Christian, which was fine with her. ???All
religions are good,??? She said.
I visited her every week or two so she had someone to
practice English with, and because she was lonely. It was
her custom to stay in her house. She wasn??™t used to doing
housework and cooking because she had servants in her
homeland to do those things. To fill in her spare time, she
often did lovely oil paintings, which filled her walls.
Before coming to visit, I??™d call her and ask, ???Do you want a
visit today???? to which she would respond with a cheery,
???Sure, why not????
We??™d greeted each other with a hug and she would bring out
orange juice, cake or some type of pastry, nuts and tea.
Gracious hospitality was her custom. Each visit ended with a
large cup of tea with milk and sugar.
When her daughter was going through severe marriage
problems, Shandah vented her frustration, and I provided a
listening ear. My Bible study group prayed for her and her
family, which was fine with her.
One time we watched the Jesus film together in her
Urdu language. Her response was that she had heard it
before. ???I wish Bush would watch this film,??? she said, anger
rising in her voice. (It was the beginning of the Iraq war
in 2003.)
???Because President Bush should love his neighbor???? I
ventured, not certain just what her response would be.
???Yes,??? she responded, fire in her eye. I quickly let the
subject drop and didn??™t have the heart to tell her that
President Bush already knew the content of the film.
When she studied for her test to become a Canadian citizen,
I spent several of my visits asking her questions from the
handbook. She passed with flying colors.
One time in the summer of 2003 she was eager to tell me
about a dream she had. (Dreams have great significance in
her culture). Three people in the dream put a bracelet on
her arm. On the bracelet was a picture of a man with a crown
on his head like a king. ???Who is that???? she asked, to which
the people in her dream responded, ???That??™s Jesus. He will
protect you.??? That dream had significance to her, and it was
one of our topics of conversation in the following weeks.
Soon after that I gave her a paper with Bible verses and
???Steps to Peace with God.??? ???Just pray the prayer if you are
in really dangerous circumstances or afraid you are dying,???
I told her.
Early in 2004, because of various family circumstances, she
and her husband felt they should return to their homeland in
South Asia. As they prepared, I visited her, knowing how I
would miss her when she left. Then one day in Feb., she had
trouble breathing. Her doctor did a bone scan and a lung
scan, and checked the fluid in one of her lungs for cancer
cells. Was her cancer back after nearly fifteen years?
Wanting some way to encourage her, I went to a Christian
bookstore and searched for a bracelet like the one in her
dream, but none like it existed. However, I got a bracelet
with the words ???faith,??™ ???peace,??™ ???friend,??™ ???courage,??™ and
???love??™ on it. I also bought a Bible Promise book and marked
the pages with verses on ???fear??? and ???God??™s protection.???
When I showed her the topic, ???God??™s Protection,??? Shandah??™s
eyes widened with surprise. So what she had seen in her
dream really was in the Bible!
I helped her with her packing as she and her husband moved
out of their house. Awaiting results of her cancer test,
they stayed with another family. Then suddenly, without any
warning or saying good-bye, they left for South Asia. I
wrote several times, but when I heard nothing from her, I
called her overseas phone number.
Sadness filled her voice as she answered the phone. ???I??™m not
good,??? she said. ???I just couldn??™t write to you and tell
you.??? Cancer was back in one of her lungs and she was now on
chemo. Her doctor in Canada had told her she absolutely
could not fly, but she and her husband had flown back
anyway. I had guessed as much. The struggle she faces with
her illness will be difficult. I assured her of my prayers
and prayed for her over the phone.
Today as I walked down the block, I noticed the tulips in
front of her old house are once again up and will soon be
turning the garden into a rainbow of colors. What a vivid
reminder they are of my special friend, Shandah.
As I look around my own house I see reminders of my friend
everywhere as well. Before leaving, she gave me four of her
large plants, her beautiful coffee table and end table set
(because I had once made a joke about not having a coffee
table), and a variety of other smaller items like picture
frames, cooking pots and candle holders??” all from the heart.
I am sad, but my life is richer because of knowing her.
Someone once asked Jesus, ???Who is my neighbor???? And Jesus
followed with the story of the Good Samaritan. In my case,
my ???neighbor??? was a lonely stranger far from her home
culture who needed God??™s love. And through that shared love,
she became a special friend.
*Name changed and homeland called ???South Asia??? because she
comes from a Muslim country where Christians are a
persecuted minority.
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?© 2004 Janet Seever
jseever1@shaw.ca
The mother of two adult children, Janet Seever lives in
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with her husband, Dennis. She
writes for Word Alive magazine and has had articles
published previously on in magazines and on the Web. You can
reach her at: jseever1 @ shaw.ca or read more of her writing
at www.inscribe.org/janetseever
She asks for your prayers for Shandah who was diagnosed with
lung cancer in early March 2004 and faces many medical
challenges ahead. Pray that she will indeed find peace with
God.
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May you be blessed today
Bob Johnston
Editor / Publisher
To read archived stories, click on this link:
http://archives.zinester.com/9516/2004
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