What We Love About Jordan

This was a very fun article to do interviews for and to write. It is easy to get caught up in what’s wrong with Jordan,  but hearing a  cross-section of the ex-pat population sing Jordan’s praises  counteracts some of the negative. I wish I could show you the photos, they were lovely!

Click here to read the piece

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Incest in Jordan

Even though I work in the field of counseling abuse victims, this was an extremely difficult  piece to write.  After nearly every interview,  I just wanted to stop, it was just too hard to hear. Jordan is where the US was maybe thirty years ago in terms of abuse-awareness, and it is a completely taboo topic. The story I wrote last year of a victim’s account of her abuse was the first time such a thing had ever been in print.

Then VIVA had a controversial issue pulled off the shelves by the publisher, and they told me they needed to wait awhile before presenting another hot topic. I was fine with that, but in October they asked if I was ready to finish it and I knew it was time. I actually planned to write this under my pen-name, as I was afraid of the repercussions of exposing this level of depravity, but my editors encouraged me to stand with it. This is the unedited version, but it doesn’t even contain the very worst stories told to me, which I need to keep in confidence. Those stories I bring to the Lord Jesus Christ, crying for mercy for the girls and boys who don’t yet know Him as Saviour and Wounded Healer.

Pray first, then get out the Kleenex and click here for the complete story.

Another Look at Mary, the Mother of Jesus

Merry ChristMAS! To stay in the spirit of the advent season leading up to Christmas, I’m going to share with you a story I wrote about Mary, the mother of Jesus, for the December issue of VIVA magazine.

For those who don’t know, VIVA is a Dubai-based womens magazine targeting ex-pat British women, hence the celebrity covers and interviews, and focus on fashion. It is much like “Glamour” in the US, and really not something I would buy myself if it wasn’t for the 100+ pages inside the Jordanian version that highlight issues and people pertinent to my world in Amman. Our primary audience in Jordan is different: upper middle class professional Muslim women, and it reaches about 3,000 of them every month.

Someday I’ll get really proficient and be able to upload a photo of the cover, or the scanned in version of the story from the magazine.

A Different Look At Mary

Welcome to wendywrites!

Dear family and friends around the world,

Finally, a blog to post family news and articles I have written for you to taste a slice of our lives and learn about more Jordan and the Middle East.

I will be approving comments before they appear on the screen. I hope there will we people from many nations and faiths commenting, and at times we may disagree, so I ask you follow the teachings of the Apostle Paul “Let your conversations be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:9. Yup, the goal is grace-filled, tasty dialogue.

I’m thanking God for each of you as I send the email out. I hope to have the first post up tomorrow!

In His gracious grip,

Wendy