Karen Watson knew Iraq was dangerous.<\/p>\n
She had left Iraq months before, exhausted and afraid, as the chaotic country descended deeper into violence. But she went back anyway. She was not a soldier, but a Christian relief worker, armed only with love and humanitarian aid.<\/p>\n
That decision claimed the 38-year-old\u2019s life on a dusty road 10 years ago. Still, she had no regrets about going back. She wasn\u2019t big on regrets; she had experienced too many of them already in her short life. She was big on obedience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen God calls there are no regrets,\u201d she wrote in a now-famous letter found in a sealed envelope marked \u201cOpen in case of death.\u201d Departing for the Middle East, she had left the letter with Phil Neighbors, her pastor at Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, Calif.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to share my heart with you as much as possible, my heart for the nations,\u201d Watson said in the letter. \u201cI wasn\u2019t called to a place; I was called to Him. To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward, His glory my reward.\u201d<\/p>\n
She had joined the wave of foreign relief workers who rushed to Iraq after U.S. and coalition forces overthrew Saddam Hussein\u2019s regime in 2003. But relief groups didn\u2019t realize how quickly large areas of Iraq were becoming death traps as factional attacks and terrorism mounted.<\/p>\n
On March 15, 2004, Watson and four other Southern Baptist humanitarian workers were driving back to Mosul after a day of visiting villagers in need of clean water. Gunmen pulled alongside their vehicle and opened fire, killing Watson and co-workers Larry and Jean Elliott on the spot. David McDonnall died hours after the attack. Carrie McDonnall, David\u2019s wife, suffered multiple wounds but recovered.<\/p>\n
In the 2005 book, \u201cLives Given, Not Taken: 21st Century Southern Baptist Martyrs,\u201d I wrote about these workers and four other Southern Baptist missionaries killed in terror attacks since 9\/11. I read their letters and journals, and discussed these workers\u2019 lives with their widows, friends, colleagues, parents and children.<\/p>\n
Watson\u2019s story struck the deepest chord in me. She overcame a difficult early life, a broken family, devastating losses of loved ones and years of emotional pain to become a bold and joyful servant. She packed a lifetime of loving Jesus into the nine years she knew Him as Savior before her death.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t make Karen into a saint,\u201d urged a close friend. \u201cShe would hate that. She was pretty wild when she was young. But when she became a Christian, she turned around 180 degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n
So who, exactly, was Watson? One tough woman, to hear some tell it. Before becoming a believer, she ran a pool hall. Later, as a detention officer with the Kern County (California) Sheriff\u2019s Department, she handled potentially violent jail inmates and trained other deputies to quell disorder, by force if necessary.<\/p>\n
During her first year as a believer, she was offered the job with the Sheriff\u2019s Department — and she seized the opportunity. Watson had a deep sense of justice — of right and wrong — which had been violated many times during her years of pain. Law enforcement represented a way to try to right some of those wrongs. And as a young Christian, Watson had by no means become a quiet, retiring nun. She was in charge — and when she felt it necessary, in your face.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a straight shooter. She didn\u2019t sugarcoat anything,\u201d said Lt. Kevin Wright, her commanding officer and closest friend in the department. \u201cI would hear her footsteps coming down the hall and know I was going to get a lecture about something. She would come in, close the door, sit on my desk and say, \u2018We gotta talk.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Watson did her best at all times and expected everyone else to do the same. No slack, no excuses. Nearly everyone in the department liked her though, because she backed her words with action, commitment and loyalty. \u201cShe was the kind of person you wanted on your side when the going got rough,\u201d Wright said.<\/p>\n
Inmates liked her, too. She was firm, but fair. \u201cShe was compassionate with them,\u201d Wright said. \u201cThey knew they weren\u2019t going to pull anything over on her, that she was strict and would enforce the rules. But she was willing to listen to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Watson gave her heart to Jesus, He began the patient process of softening her, a process revealed in the journals she kept throughout her walk with God. The journals are a series of love letters from God to her, and from her to God, recording her pursuit of Him with all of her mind, body and soul.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to give anything to my Lord that will cost me nothing,\u201d she wrote, way back in 1998.<\/p>\n
Many times during her life Watson — like other children of broken homes — battled anger, bitterness, depression, loneliness, perfectionism, insecurity and the compulsion to rebel against authority. She also struggled with fear throughout her time in Iraq and freely admitted it.<\/p>\n
But courage isn\u2019t the absence of fear, as one of her pastors reminded listeners at her funeral. Courage is the laying aside of fear to obey God, trusting Him with the consequences.<\/p>\n
When she was assigned by IMB to help coordinate post-war relief projects in Iraq, she sold her house and car and gave away most of her other possessions — whatever wouldn\u2019t fit in a large duffel bag. After relief work began in earnest, she worked with others to coordinate the distribution of thousands of food boxes sent by Southern Baptist churches and the rebuilding of damaged schools, among numerous other projects. One of her most cherished ministries was the \u201cWidows Project,\u201d a program that helped mostly nonliterate Iraqi women learn to read, gain work skills and generate income.<\/p>\n
\u201cKaren built relationships everywhere she went,\u201d a colleague said. \u201cPeople remember her. They remember the light in her countenance. They remember her friendliness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The spiritual battle intensified for Watson as the brutally hot summer months of 2003 passed. Threats against foreign civilians were increasing. She personally experienced several close calls in the Baghdad area as bombings and street attacks mounted. Gunfire woke her up at night; sleep seldom returned. It became overwhelming.<\/p>\n
Watson left Iraq for several months, not knowing if she would ever return. She rested — mentally, physically and spiritually. She savored the feeling of having lunch with friends at McDonald\u2019s without having to look over her shoulder or listen for explosions and gunfire. She studied Arabic. She spent many hours in prayer. As time passed, she confronted her anxieties about what was happening in Iraq. She studied key passages of God\u2019s Word with close friends — grappling once again not only with current fears but with old wounds and heartbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cLord, in all my weakness I need Your strength for the future,\u201d she wrote in her journal.<\/p>\n
Watson was convinced it was time to return to Iraq. Shortly before she left, she bought a beautiful gold ring with several small diamonds. The purchase surprised friends, since Karen usually saved much of her small salary and lived on next to nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looked like a wedding band,\u201d a friend said. \u201cI wore a wedding band before I got married, too, to remind me that Christ was my husband, that I wasn\u2019t alone.\u201d She asked Watson if that was what she had in mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d she replied with a radiant smile. \u201cI guess that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her friend wept with everyone else when she learned of Watson\u2019s death in Iraq only days later. Then she remembered the wedding ring, and her weeping turned to tears of celebration. \u201cIt was her wedding day. Christ had so prepared her as a bride that she was completely without blemish. I don\u2019t know if I have ever been with anyone who was more ready to meet Him face to face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only Watson — and her beloved Bridegroom — know all the reasons she returned to Iraq and died there. But in the end, her joyful sacrifice wasn\u2019t for needy Iraqis.<\/p>\n
Her sacrifice was for Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Karen Watson knew Iraq was dangerous. She had left Iraq months before, exhausted and afraid, as the chaotic country descended deeper into violence. But she went back anyway. She was not a soldier, but a Christian relief worker, armed only with love and humanitarian aid. That decision claimed the 38-year-old\u2019s life on a dusty road […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4504,359,5,2287,1408,1998,367],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5434"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}