Fatima is a student in the U.S. but needs to keep her location and information quiet to protect her. Please read and pass along her incredible story.I didn't know God. I felt so uncertain and afraid and one night a miracle changed everything I knew. I was 12 years old when Christ reviled Himself to me in a dream and gave me this simple message “Give me your heart and I’ll love you forever.” I woke up changed and fulfilled with the understanding of Christ. Months turned into years as I kept this secret dream dear to my heart. Then fear sunk deeper as the years passed by in my Muslim life and eventually denied Christ all together. I thought I was crazy so I dug deeper and deeper into Islam while falling even further into a hole of darkness.
For nine years I didn't open up to anyone about this Love I so badly needed to embrace. When I confessed Jesus to my family my fear certainly proved me right as my father, mother, twin sister and younger brother disowned me and blasphemed my identity as a daughter and sister the second I released this secret.
Months went by as I tried to explain the desire of my heart. I hadn't read the Bible and had no real evidence of Christ. It was very difficult for me to explain the Gospel to my mother because she was born Catholic but converted to Islam when she married my father. She knew my debate but didn't understand what loving Jesus personally meant.
That's when I was blessed with my first Bible…I spent countless nights waiting for everyone to fall asleep to read it under my covers with a flashlight shaking in fear of getting caught reading Genesis.
A Jewish woman recommended I read Psalm 27…my eyes fell on verse 10 “If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me in.” That's when I knew I had to flee everything I knew so I could openly embrace this God of love.
Many sleepless nights, secret e-mails, numerous days skipping class, and prayer God blessed me with brothers and sisters in Christ that eventually helped me leave my household. On April 17th, 2009, I left a life of bondage and began my new eternal life with Jesus Christ!
Born in a Christian family, I take so much for granite. Stories of Muslim conversions, even in the USA, encourage me to take my faith more seriously.
ReplyDeleteNicely written! Great job Fatima!
ReplyDeleteFatima, that is an amazing story. I guess it is proof that faith can grow anywhere, like a flower between cracks in cement. ;)
ReplyDeleteJonathan, keep up the good work with Awkward Christianity. It's cool that you have so many people contributing nowadays. Best of luck with your book.
Dear Fatima,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this with us. I have been studying conversion from Islam to Christianity now for several years and I would be very glad to correspond with you by e-mail if you are willing and feel that it will not compromise your safety. My email is winterlightning [at] safe-mail [d0+] net.
I have many friends from different backgrounds who have come from Islam to faith in Messiah. If you are a new Christian and would like to be in touch with please let me know. I am deeply aware of the emotional difficulties and stress and depression that often accompany this act of conversion. You have made a difficult decision and the Church is here to be your family and home.
Abu Daoud
Dude. Thanks for the encouragement. I like the flower analogy.
ReplyDeleteAbu,
ReplyDeleteThank you for leaving a comment and offering to encourage Fatima. I'm sure she appreciates it. Did you have a similar conversion experience? Do you work with a ministry, etc? It sounds like you have an interesting story as well!
Dear Jonathan, I grew up in a nominal Christian family and never confessed Islam myself. I do have ties to several ministries, but my familiarity with this topic has to do with some research I have been doing for the last few years on the topic of converts from Islam to Christianity. Once you meet a lot of MBB's at different stages in their lives you get a sense of the pastoral needs of such Christians that the average person will never have. MBB's tend to either be held up on a pedestal by other Christians, or viewed with suspicion (especially here in the Middle East, where Christians are a persecuted minority). From a pastoral point of view MBB's are somewhat like other groups who have come out of difficult circumstances (battered women, refugees, etc), and unfortunately very few people in the Western churches have a deep understanding of their needs. I publish material critical of Islam from time to time on my blog, so I cannot disclose the country I live in on a blog.
ReplyDeleteFatima, thats such a moving story!
ReplyDelete