“Why did He look like that?”

We met Sam & Farah at the place you would be least likely to find Muslims—at church!  Back in September, the church had done a literature distribution campaign in the neighborhood, putting small bags with DVDs and invitations on doorknobs.  Sam & Farah got a bag and decided to give church a try, as they had become completely disillusioned with Islam and were curious about Christianity.  The pastor, after meeting them, thought that they could use some focused discipling, so he introduced them to us.  Sam & Farah had arrived only four months earlier, having left their country as refugees.  As we talked with them, they made it clear that they had already rejected Islam because of the mess it had made of their country.  That first Sunday, we sat with them at church, and the pastor was preaching on the road to Emmaus story.  As he spoke about how Jesus has been with us all along on our journeys, even when we didn’t recognize him, I looked over and saw big tears rolling down Farah’s cheeks!  After church, we made a plan to meet later in the afternoon to talk more.

That afternoon we heard more of their story, and it was clear to all of us that God has indeed been with each of them on their journeys.  Sam barely survived a terrible car accident in his home country.  After fleeing a repressive regime, they met each other in Malaysia, where both had gone to apply for refugee status.  It’s a miracle that they were permitted to come to the US, when doors have closed to most refugees!  And while they were waiting in the lengthy refugee process, Farah had had a beautiful dream of Jesus.  He had appeared in her dream dressed in a white coat-like garment which was dirty and torn.  She said, “I knew it was Jesus, but it looked like he had been in a battle.”  He came up to her and hugged her, and she woke up filled with peace!  Farah said that she couldn’t understand why Jesus looked that way in her dream.  We told her that we would start studying the Bible together and that God would show her through the Scriptures what the answer was.

We began weekly discovery Bible studies, working our way through the major Old Testament stories and then the life of Jesus.  It was lovely to see their faith and understanding unfold.  After the climactic story of the crucifixion, Farah said that she now understood why Jesus appeared in her dream as though he had been in a battle.  She said, “It’s because he had to fight for me.”  Together we prayed a prayer of gratitude to God for how much he loved them, and for how he has been with them all along the way.

 


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