From a Team Expansion worker
“I dreamed that I saw a wild wolf. He jumped towards me. I tried to throw a sack of food at him, because I thought he was hungry. But, he came straight at me. I called out the name of Jesus … and I awoke.” – Ghada, a new believer
A Mother’s Faith, A Daughter’s Faith, a Sister’s Fury
A month later, my teammate and I received this text message from Ghada: My daughter wants to be baptized!
What exciting news! We met with Ghada the next day and she told us that she had been talking with her middle daughter, age 15, and that she wanted to follow Jesus.
I get to find out about him now, while I’m young, and live my whole life for Him!
Ghada’s daughter said, “Mom, I feel so sad for you. You have just learned about Jesus and have wasted so much of your life. I get to find out about him now, while I’m young, and live my whole life for Him!”
This conversation happened during an evening of of Ramadan, the month of Muslim fasting. That evening, Ghada’s husband was at the mosque praying.
The oldest daughter had overheard their conversation and got very upset. She screamed, “Mom, how could you become a Christian and now tell my sister about it! Dad, wouldn’t want you going behind his back on this.”
Ghada calmly replied, “You’re right. I will tell him.”
Telling her Husband
Ghada had already told everyone except her husband that she had become a Christian. She knew he might become upset and even violent. When he returned that evening, Ghada told him that she had been talking with the middle daughter about Jesus.
He replied, “Let’s let our oldest daughter get through her final tests of high school (a very stressful time) and then we will talk about this later.”
The next week the daughter succeeded. Many neighbors came over to congratulate the family. One neighbor came over and during the course of the conversation said, “I’m going to stop wearing the Muslim head covering. I’m tired of it.”
Ghada half-joked “Maybe I’ll stop wearing the head covering too!”
But, later her husband confronted her. “I don’t want you to stop wearing it. For you, it would mean something different. It would mean that you were no longer a Muslim.”
Then he gave her an ultimatum: he would give her some time to return to Islam or he would divorce her. Ghada told him that she would never turn back.
Facing the Future Steadfastly
Her husband is concerned about the shame it would bring on the family if his wife is a Christian.
Her husband is concerned about the shame it would bring on the family if his wife is a Christian.
As we met with Ghada one last time before I returned to the States for the summer, we talked about her faith. Ghada said, “I have thought this through. If my husband divorces me or even if he kills me, I will not deny Christ.”
Ghada is trying to be wise and loving as she interacts with her husband. She wants to be a wife that would please God. Pray her husband will see her life, and read the Bible and that their whole family will follow Jesus.
Pray that Ghada’s faith will remain strong and that the “wolf,” Satan, who seeks to destroy this family, will himself be defeated.
*Name changed
