A Life in Exile

My thoughts today are all over the place, as I reflect on the life of a woman the Lord brought my way over thirty-five years ago. Why am I thinking of her? Because I learned that she has passed away, now welcomed into the arms of her Lord Jesus Christ. Who is this woman? Nouhad (Nomie) Derani.

Nomie has been a part of my life since my days at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Arabic Baptist Mission in Fort Worth, Texas in the late 1980s. She served as the translator for us English speakers in the Arabic-speaking congregation, and on the day the pastor announced he had asked me to marry him, Nomie forgot to translate and let loose the shrill of the zagharit in celebration, leaving me (the future bride) and others wondering what Raouf was saying. Thankfully, he switched to English!

For the next thirty plus years, Nomie would come in and out of our lives, allowing our paths to cross in happy reunions and service. We did not always have a perfect relationship, as all relationships can get messy at times, but I was never in doubt as to Nomie’s love for her Savior and desire to serve him faithfully. She was a unique woman of God, and I’d love for you to hear a small part of her story.

From Darkness to Light

Nomie would be the first to tell you that she did not come to the United States with good intentions. Born into a Shi’ite Muslim family in southern Lebanon, she was raised in a strict Muslim home. Her mother was considered a mullah, sharing stories of the faith to women throughout the area in the 1950s. Stories were always a part of her large family’s conversations, and she realized later in life that her own father shared truths about Isa when she was just a girl. Though she loved him dearly, he was away from the family most of the time, working in Kuwait.

Nomie eventually began helping her mother in sharing the stories of the family of the Prophet, and became interested in a growing organization in the region—the PLO. The time she spent with this organization taught her to become more assertive and even aggressive. When she began to baulk at participation in Shi’ite rituals like Ashourah, her relationship with her mother deteriorated. When her father passed away, she feared the assertive role of her brothers would remove all her freedom, so she traveled to America to fulfill her father’s dream for her. She left with hopes of obtaining her education but also of convincing her older brother to return to Islam—he had disgraced the family by converting to Christianity.

While attending college in Denver, she worked at a local restaurant where she was touched by the Christians she came in contact with. What made the difference? Their love for her. She struggled with her feelings toward Christ and the decision she was contemplating, but God kept putting people in her way who spoke truth and shared his love.

The first church she attended was of all things a Messianic Jewish church, but Nomie would say that God showed her that he loved her as much as them. She realized God loved everyone just the same. It took her five years to finally surrender her life to God, but the words of her father encouraged her: “If you believe something, Nomie, then take a stand.”

The Deaf will hear.

God moved Nomie from the Messianic congregation to another church, the Deaf Friends Baptist Chapel in Denver. She had been touched by a group of deaf believers who came to the restaurant. She saw in them something different and was moved to learn sign language and become a part of their church. She was loved, nurtured, and baptized in that church. She became a deaf interpreter and dedicated her life to mission work. Nomie knew that in Islam, there were natural prejudices against different groups of people—Jews, Christians, handicapped, etc., but by seeing how God touched her life through these groups who were once “her enemies” or “cursed by God,” she had a radical refocus of what true love, God’s love, really was.

Nomie was put off when the pastor of the deaf church would introduce her to others by saying, “This is Nomie, who will go back to her people.” She had no desire to do such a thing, but God had other plans, and used the words of a deaf pastor to open the ears of a hearing woman. She heard about an Arabic revival in Colorado and decided to attend. There she met an Egyptian-American pastor from Texas, Raouf Ghattas, my late husband. He encouraged her to consider furthering her studies at the seminary in Fort Worth, and she moved there in 1988.

While she attended seminary, she heard the voice of the Lord speaking to her, calling her to serve her people for the cause of Christ. She began attending the Arabic church where Raouf was pastor to learn more about Arab Christians.

Reaching Muslim women for Christ.

Under the mentorship of Pastor Raouf, Nomie began speaking to Muslim women about Jesus. She called contacts from the church’s radio broadcast. She led two women to the Lord, one a former Alawite, the other a Sunni. She studied missions and family counseling and graduated with a Masters in Christian Education in 1992.

She began ministry in Dearborn, Michigan, and would continue in several more states over the next three decades, establishing Arab-American Friendship Centers. The mission statement for each center was: Love them so they ask why.

Nomie would train countless volunteers to work in these centers, teaching English, basic skills, and citizenship classes. Nomie did a lot of counseling, visiting, and teaching English. She faced attacks and trials, but I know today, she is learning more about the impact she’s had in countless lives because of her love for Jesus and her people.

Nomie wrote this: “God created the Arab woman with an emptiness in her life that can only be filled in Christ. Knowing the pressures of her life, we need to help her know that in accepting the Lord she will have not only freedom but responsibility to grow and serve. To do this, we need to know where she’s coming from. We don’t need to preach at her, because she’s been preached at all her life. It’s not by might or by power, but by loving her to the way of Christ. It was this love that brought me to Christ, and it is this love that leads me to love Muslim women into the Kingdom.”

Thank you, Nomie, for loving well and serving the Lord faithfully.

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Wednesday Wisdom, click HERE, or check out these other posts on love: Philothea, Learning from the Past: Twenty, Walking in His Love: A Study of John’s Letters, 1, and Above All These.