With His Stripes We're Healed
The Middle East
"HA!! It's like you're saying Jesus is God!" Ahmed laughed at the man who was sharing Isaiah 53 with him.
"Just take these," the man said, pressing a couple of items into Ahmed's hands.
Ahmed looked down at the things in his hands as the man walked away quickly. He didn't really want them, but he didn't want to call attention to the situation by calling after the man or running after him. Ahmed tucked the items away in his clothes—he knew it wasn't wise to advertise having such things if he wanted to live in safety.
When he got home, he pulled the items out and looked at them. One was a Bible—Ahmed leafed through it, wishing he could read. He would like to have seen what it said, even if he didn't agree with it. The other item was a small digital player. The man had called it a "BibleStick." Ahmed put the earbuds in his ears and turned it on. He was amazed that this Kurdish recording was talking about Isa (Jesus). Over the next few days, Ahmed listened to this Audio Bible, fascinated by what he was hearing.
A few days later a sudden scream from the other part of the house startled him. He ran into the room to find his wife holding their six-year-old daughter, Hayat, and turning around in circles in a panic. Hayat's eyes were closed, her body limp, and she didn't seem to be breathing.
Everything went into slow motion as Ahmed grabbed Hayat, tried to revive her, saw the panic on his wife's face, and they fumbled to get out the door to the hospital. His field of focus and vision narrowed and he felt he was traveling through a tunnel with darkened, shadowy edges. Why was everyone in their way? Why was everything moving so slowly?
Ahmed looked down at Hayat. She had been born paralyzed, blind, and deaf, but she was the sunshine of their lives, a joy, always sweet and loving. He shook his head. Now this? Was this the end—after all she had been through?
At the hospital, the doctor told them Hayat wouldn't come out of the coma—her heartbeat was too slow. She didn't have much longer to live.
They took her home, and Ahmed sat by his little girl, the tunnel growing smaller and darker as grief overwhelmed him. Then he spotted the Bible the man had given him next to Hayat. He grabbed it, held it over her head and cried, "God, I know and believe that You have healed many sick people. You have also raised dead people. My daughter isn't dead yet, but please, I ask You, in the name of Jesus Christ—let her live again."
He turned to put the Bible down. He heard a voice behind him. He turned around slowly, in shock, as Hayat spoke. Then she stood up and began to walk. She began to see and hear gradually (her vision and hearing are now at 50%). Ahmed started shouting to everyone in the house, "Look at my daughter! She's alive again! She can walk and talk and see! Jesus heard my prayers!"
When he called his father the day after the miracle to tell him what happened, he was surprised to hear him say, "Listen my son, Isa is alive and He can hear you whenever you ask. You just have to obey Him and follow Him." In this area of the world where people are not free to name the name of Christ without endangering their lives, Ahmed had never known his father was a Christ-follower.
Ahmed now shares Christ with others. His wife, his cousins, and friends from his work have all come to know Christ.
Pray for those seeking Jesus the Messiah in the Middle East and around the world, that they can have the opportunity to hear God's Word and experience the freedom He brings.
Faith Comes By Hearing sincerely thanks the churches that gave to the Audio New Testament recording that made this possible: North Wake Baptist Church, Wake Forest, NC; Sugar Creek Baptist Church, Sugar Land, TX; Hesed Christian Fellowship, Columbus, OH; Rocky Mountain Christian Ministry, Gunnison, CO; Foothill Community Church, Oroville, CA; Trinity Wesleyan Church, Oak Hill, OH; Our Savior Lutheran Church, Granbury, TX; Cornerstone Christian Church, Duncannon, PA; the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, CA, and the hundreds of others. Thank you!