Veronica, centre, with two African members of the women's group (Photo: Veronica White/CMS) Living in Jordan for the last six years has been a remarkable experience.
Christians are in the minority in that country although they would be the first to tell you that they have been there for the last two thousand years. In fact, the Bible records that Arabs were present on the day of Pentecost, well before the coming of Islam.
I was involved with Christians from many different countries and cultures; English was, for many, not their first language but it was the common language in which we could worship together.
I was part of a small group of women who met weekly to pray for one another and to share God's word.
These women came from South Africa - from the black and white communities, China, Canada, Syria, England, America, Nigeria and, over the years, from a number of other nations.
This time together became a very important part of our lives; we were all living away from our home countries, definitely out of our 'comfort zones' and valued the closeness that developed between us.
In addition, we experienced God's working in our lives through the power of prayer. I described this experience as 'a foretaste of Heaven'; we were very different in our backgrounds but united in one faith and one Lord.
The culture in the Middle East dictates that women need to take care when they move outside their home environment. They must not meet with men who are not part of their family structures. However, instead I had the opportunity and the privilege to spend time with women who, probably, in our British culture, might just as easily have been talked to by my husband Malcolm in his work as a priest.
One woman who comes to mind was a Muslim from Iraq. She came to us asking for help to fill out an application form for immigration to Australia.
Her English was pretty good but when it came to filling out a complicated, many-paged document in English, she was struggling.
I spent many hours with her, wrestling over this form and through that process I learnt a lot about her difficult past life, her family and the struggles she had experienced.
Later, she started to come along to our church services, bringing her two teenage children, and requested a Bible and help in starting to read it.
When we left Jordan, she was still waiting to hear from the Australian Embassy about whether her request for a new beginning in Australia for her and her two children had been successful.
The Middle East, as we see it on our TV screens, must seem a long way from what most of us imagine as Heaven, but, in the middle of all the bloodshed and pain, there are real people who need to find a way forward.
Jordan lies at the centre of a troubled region, and there the Christian community can play a valuable role. Please continue to pray for them that Heaven may be glimpsed on earth again in 'foretastes' of God's Kingdom.