God Sighting: Magnificent Gifts at Barnabas

Remember back in the summer when graduating high school seniors and their families prepared for graduation weekend in July? What a year this has been with the pandemic! One special graduate, named Lateefah, prepared for her graduation. Lateefah’s family emigrated from Iraq, after being displaced from their homeland due to war and violence. Lateefah flourished as a student in a Lincoln high school. She worked extremely hard and excelled in her academics. She is the first in her family to graduate high school with plans to attend college, studying pre-medicine. As we all know, the pandemic has been difficult for us all, especially with the dip in the economy and many people being unemployed or underemployed. As Lateefah prepared for graduation, one thing she needed was a proper dress to wear to her festivities.

Lateefah came into Barnabas Community on a Saturday, looking for a dress. As often is the case, inventory for teenage girls was low that day. Lateefah couldn’t find anything that would work to wear on her special day. Soon, the leaders and volunteers of Barnabas Community learned Lateefah’s story and quickly sprang into action. Dwight Thiemann, Executive Director at Barnabas, went to social media and asked for anyone who had a dress or two to donate for Lateefah’s graduation to contact him. Through these connections, the offers started rolling in. In less than 48 hours, Lateefah had twelve beautiful dresses to choose from.

At this year’s Confirmation Retreat, our confirmands decorated 40 pillowcases to be used by Barnabas Community. Because of these gifts, people at Barnabas Community have a pillowcase to rest their heads, a carrying bag to hold their belongings and a daily reminder of God’s love.
This month we celebrate the Christ child, baby Jesus, coming into this world, offering hope and life to all the world. In celebration of Jesus’ birthday this Christmas, we invite you to consider a gift to Magnificent Gifts, our above and beyond General and Readiness Funds giving, that solely benefits Barnabas Community and our outreach to people like Lateefah.

And Lateefah’s ultimate goal? To return to Iraq as a trained doctor and be a provider of medical care to those in need.

Written by Pastor Rhonda Bostrom