Missionary to the Muslim World Confronts Terror with Faith

Ever since September 11, 2001, an under-current of fear has subtly influenced American life. You don’t have to visit an airport to sense the color-coded threats to our national security. The long-term ramifications of the World Trade Center bombings have ignited wars, taken a toll on the economy, and made most of us long to stay safe at home.

Yet, in the midst of these anxious times a family from our fellowship has chosen to carry the message of God’s love and forgiveness directly to the Arab people. Mom, dad and a gaggle of kids now live in a Muslim nation where sharing their faith is punishable by death.

The very real threat to their lives requires anonymity. However, recently the sister in the Lord, whom we’ll call Sarah for the purpose of this story, shared her Christian testimony. It’s an average story that begins like many others—with a young woman’s pressing need to know the truth about God.

Sarah’s parents divorced when she was just two years old. She lived with her mother. Her father, an alcoholic, took her two older brothers and moved halfway across the country. Sarah would visit in the summers. No one talked about religion. However, her mom enrolled her in a parochial school for first and second grades. “My teacher was the first Christian I ever met. From then on I always knew there was a God.”

A gifted student and talented dancer, Sarah graduated early from high school and moved to New York City to pursue a dancing career. When things didn’t work out quite the way she planned she came home to her small western hometown. There, she discovered her life-long best friend had just “had kind of a born-again experience but she wasn’t going to church, wasn’t grounded.”

Sarah and her friend chased dreams of stardom all the way to Los Angeles. “I had this desire to be a famous entertainer, but my heart was still hungry for God,” she explained. Sarah hopscotched between coasts eventually winning a scholarship to the prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. “It seemed my dreams were coming true and at the same time the Holy Spirit was really working on me. I got a part but I just couldn’t do it well. I was used to accolades and after my performance nobody said anything to me. I was devastated. I went to my dressing room and starting throwing things. I realized that was pretty pathetic behavior...to be so motivated by what people thought of me. I recognized my sin for the first time.”

She retreated into New Age religion and got a job at an organic café. “One night I had a dream. The owner of the café, who was really into New Age stuff, was standing in the street wearing a beautiful blue gown. I heard a voice say ‘she’s a witch.’ I replied, ‘there are good witches.’ Then I was in the café and a blinding light filled it and this booming, thunderous voice said ‘I am everything. You are nothing. Surrender to me.’ Then I woke up. I thought maybe there’s more to Jesus than what I see in the New Age movement.”

She called her Christian friend who encouraged her to read the Bible. “I did and ‘I said Jesus forgive me’. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, threw out all my New Age stuff and I was a new woman right away. I knew the Lord didn’t want me to pursue acting anymore.”

She met her future husband at a Christian singles group. “I had been attracted to the Peace Corps as a young woman and I was immediately called to missions after I got saved. Our singles group was contemplating a short-term mission trip.” Although the trip was eventually cancelled, she got to know the man she would marry during its planning. He felt called to reach Muslims.”

After the birth of their first child, they moved to the other side of the world to a place where women live very restricted lives. It is not easy but Sarah knows that it is God’s plan for her. “The Lord gave me this verse regarding the work: “The poor and needy seek water, but there is none. Their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in desolate heights and fountains in the midst of valleys’ I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.” Isaiah 41:17-18.

“I know the Lord wants to save these people,” she said. “And I really do have a lot of joy sharing Jesus with them. I had one friend who came to the Lord right before she died. It is such joy to sit in a room with people who know nothing about the gospel and have the privilege of sharing the good news with them for the very first time.”

She acknowledges however that struggling with fear is a constant challenge. “There’s a lot of terrorist activity, a lot of kidnapping of foreigners and that sort of thing. I think any mom can relate. The thought of something happening to your husband or children is really hard. That’s why I cling to this verse:

“Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:29-31.

In trying times those words can benefit us all.