Qurrata Ayuni, a 28-year-old survivor of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated her hometown two decades ago, has transformed her resilience into purpose. Defying Aceh’s male-dominated coffee culture, she runs a cafe that serves as a welcoming space for everyone, especially women, by employing and empowering them in the region worst hit by the tragedy.

On December 26, 2004, a powerful 9.1-magnitude earthquake, off the coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggered a tsunami that killed around 230,000 people across a dozen countries, reaching as far as East Africa. Some 160,000 of those were in Aceh, at the northwestern tip of Indonesia.

Ms. Ayuni survived the tsunami by chance, staying at her aunt’s house in Banda Aceh instead of her family home in Lampuuk, Aceh Besar district. However, the disaster shattered her childhood, claiming the lives of her parents and younger sister, who was only 6 when their home was hit by the giant waves.

Does God play favorites? When it comes to Jerusalem, it can certainly seem so. In II Chronicles 6:6, He declares: “But I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name might be there.” Zechariah 2:8 calls the city “the apple of His eye.”

No other city has this distinction: “For the Lord has chosen Zion [the Temple Mount in Jerusalem]; He has desired it for His dwelling place: This is My resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it” (Psa. 132:13-14, New King James Version).

Throughout the Bible, God emphasizes Jerusalem’s special status—not merely as a site of historical importance, but as the focal point of His plan for mankind. He appoints it as the ultimate throne of His government: “At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem…” (Jer. 3:17).