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The Daily Article

The martyrdom of Kayla Mueller: The transforming power of courage

The Daily Article

The Denison Forum

Christianity, News, Daily News, Religion & Spirituality

4.9576 Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2019

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

THE DAILY ARTICLE FOR OCTOBER 28, 2019

The US operation that led to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death was dedicated to Kayla Mueller. Today's podcast tells her courageous story and shows us how and why we should emulate her sacrificial faith today.

ABOUT THE DENISON FORUM

The Daily Article is a daily biblical commentary on the news of the day by Dr. Jim Denison.

To learn more about the Denison Forum, visit DenisonForum.org or email us at comments@denisonforum.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Daily Article podcast, published by the Denison Forum for Culture-Changing Christians.

0:07.8

To receive the Daily article directly to your email inbox each weekday morning, visit

0:12.5

thedailyarticle.com. Now here's today's news, discerned differently.

0:20.0

Kayla Mueller was born in Prescott, Arizona. She attended Northern Arizona

0:24.7

University, where she graduated in two and a half years with a political science degree.

0:30.1

No one who knew Kayla could have imagined the way her life would end, or that the U.S. Special

0:35.4

Forces operation to capture or kill her captor would be

0:38.9

dedicated to her. But that's just part of her incredible story. Kayla's ministry began in middle school

0:45.2

when she volunteered to serve in homeless shelters. In high school, she raised awareness about the

0:50.9

genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and won the 2007 Gold Presidential Volunteer

0:56.0

Service Award for her work with AmeriCorps and Big Brothers Big Sisters. In college, she was active

1:02.1

with United Christian Ministries. Her minister described her as a humble down-to-earth girl

1:07.4

who liked to ease the suffering of just one person. Small, seemingly insignificant

1:12.4

gestures of compassion did not escape her. While in college, she traveled to India, Israel,

1:18.5

and the Palestinian territories on volunteer missions. In Arizona, she worked at an HIV-AIDS

1:25.0

clinic. In December 2012, Kayla traveled to the Turkey-Syria border

1:30.0

to provide aid to Syrian refugees, grieved about the suffering she witnessed. She wrote in her

1:35.9

blog at the time, Anger, sadness, and fear are the best composts for compassion. On August 3, 2013,

1:46.9

she and a friend visited a Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Aleppo, Syria, to repair the hospital's internet connection. They were reportedly

1:52.5

taken captive by ISIS the next day. Kayla was not heard from again until the next spring.

2:02.9

Then she sent a remarkable letter to her family through her cellmates who were released. She stated that she had been treated with the utmost

2:07.9

respect and kindness, clearly writing before she faced the torture that was to come. She noted,

...

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