and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

What she liked about these verses were that Jesus says that once His followers receive the Holy Spirit, they’re to go to “the end of the earth” but that they don’t actually scatter until the great persecution of the church. She tied that to the unrest she’d experienced in Liberia and how it had scattered Christians to live among new neighbors. We didn’t even discuss the amazing story of Saul’s conversion from persecutor to follower of Jesus Christ.

I keep thinking about this woman and her joyful spirit in the face of horror. I keep hoping that there are some among the victims in Mosul, Iraq, who can view their persecution and displacement this way. For those of us who are Christian, we should prepare for persecution, since the Holy Scriptures tell us to expect it.