My Journey from Islam to the salvation of Christ
I grew up in a purely Muslim family including almost all its relations. My father was a Haji by the time he passed on leaving us to a life of orphan hood. By all descriptions, the title Haji commands a lot of social respect and ego in the Islamic faith and society. It speaks to devotion in the Islamic faith. As a young boy then, I would be identified as a son of a Haji-something that would invoke pride. I must confess that as early as seven; this did not mean anything to me and indeed I often felt indifferent when referred to as a Haji’s son. Though not carefully designed, I did not know that this would have the unintended consequence of having an endless desire to search for my own spiritual destiny which I now pride myself in.
Life after my dad
My father passed on when I was six (6). His passing left me and the rest of his children at the mercy of the lord and a world enveloped in injustice and poverty. At this age, I did not only miss the love of a father, but the support that a parent would offer for the livelihood of a child. There was no one to provide the much-required money for school even when I needed school. Life got a negative twist. However, the lord found ways for me to attend school through Compassion international. When I was registered at compassion, me and other children were placed at New Hope where I was able to learn about Jesus and the salvation in Christ through the auspices of Compassion. At new hope, we were not forced to get saved even when we were from Muslim families but were given inspiration to voluntarily appreciate the salvation of Christ. It is here that I slowly started growing the desire to learn about Jesus never mind that by my father’s death-I knew nothing about Jesus.
Crossing paths with Jesus
As a child then, my desire was to meet the man called Jesus who was the way to heaven. Like I have mentioned earlier, this was not carefully designed nor did someone preach to me the gospel directly. It is rather an unconscious journey to realizing who Jesus was. I surely wanted to follow Jesus. One day after a long day of hunger and lying helplessly in our poor house, I remember seeing light in the house in which Jesus revealed himself to me. He kept appearing and revealing himself to me. I prayed to him and always begged him to take me out of the untold suffering we were in but he didn’t. With the friendship we had since grown, I thought he would take me right away like I had requested but he didn’t and just told me the time was not right. Though, he didn’t take me right way, I was swimming in the comfort that I had met him. I have up to now never felt the pride that I felt at that time in my heart.
The giant in a dream
I later had a life changing dream that I must say was a prophecy for the work I would later do in building the kingdom of God. I retired to bed in our poorly furnished house one night. It’s a night I can never forget for with it came a prophecy in a dream. I had a dream in which I saw a giant. He was surely tall with a strongly built muscular body. In the dream, we were a number of children and the giant was in our midst. I have up to now struggled to figure out the facial picture of this man but it is a task that would take me forever. I surely don’t remember seeing the man’s face and the other thing I do not remember was what agenda had brought us together as children with the giant. What is remarkable though is that he chose me among the rest and told me to lead. I was instructed to lead the rest and shortly the man disappeared. In the manner in which such dreams happen, it did not proceed beyond that point. Therefore, I was only left with the instruction to lead the rest well. However, when I look at what I am doing now in helping a number of children and orphans appreciate the salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that the dream was a prophecy and a calling from God the father. At the time of the dream, I had started moving full range into Christianity. Such a dream left me with the task of searching for Jesus so I could get to heaven.
The loss of my Auntie-An inspiration to get saved
Another drive that made me develop a greater thirst to get saved was the passing on of my auntie in 2006. I miss her to date and may her sweet soul rest in peace! My journey to the kingdom of God has always been circumstantial rather than a careful design. It is always one event leading to another. I remember when I was young and I had just joined Compassion, my late auntie who dearly loved me as a little child more than my very own mother often stopped me from going to church that the people at Compassion had introduced me to. The love she had for me had invoked a lot of respect for her and as such I heeded to all she told me to do. Under the influence and currency of this reciprocal love that we shared, she managed to convince me not to go to church and rather stick to the dominant Islamic faith at home. I respected her counsel then.
Later in 2006, she succumbed to HIV/AIDS. However, by the time of her death, she had gotten saved and had since started preaching the good news of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is at this point that I wondered to myself, why would someone that had earlier on stopped from going to church and getting saved, died a saved woman. She had always stopped me from following Jesus-a man I knew would take me to heaven that I loved so much. At this point that I got the inspiration and confidence to search for Jesus the more. To me it implied, Jesus was the way, the truth and the life as it is in John 14:6 now that my mother had gotten saved.
Compassion International, secondary school and the conversion to Christianity
All through the earlier years, I was on a journey of self-realization and curiosity about Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. However, I had not done the express conversion to Christianity and accepting Jesus as my personal savior till I got into contact with people from Compassion International. These had come in to support me through school since I could not raise the school fees and the scholastic materials required. It is with compassion that I got the express opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and to also meet him like we had met earlier when I was younger. In fact, I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to see Jesus and get saved if it wasn’t for compassion. Compassion supported me through my years of secondary school but however, they did not cover all the school fees requirements. since I loved school so much, I had to look for ways to sustain myself in school. It is here that I asked for an opportunity from the school administration to allow me clean the school classrooms so I could cover up for my school fees. I was allowed the opportunity and I did this through my time in secondary school.
My time in secondary school gave me the opportunity to become more curious about the salvation in Christ. The school I attended had a mix of students both Christian and Muslim and here I had the opportunity to interact with both. On one occasion, having a Muslim name and having grown up as a Muslim, I decided to visit the school mosque to listen to their teachings. However, my intention was not to learn about the Islamic faith, I was rather looking for justifications to follow Jesus the more. It is here that I heard stories about the prophet Issa (Jesus) that gave me the confidence and confirmation that indeed the way to heaven is through our Lord Jesus Christ. While in school, a lot happened that expressly directed me to knowing Jesus the more as my only friend. Being a mixed school with both boys and girls of teenage age, the students often discriminated me for doing work that did not match up the trendy cool lifestyle of a teenager in school. Because of the work I used to do of sweeping classrooms, I was often stigmatized and distanced by the rest of the students in school. I did not have many friends, for no one wanted to associate with me. It is here that I realized my only friend was Jesus Christ whose love is unconditional as it is in the scripture in 1 John 3:1.
Light of Hope Children’s Ministry-A divine calling to serve the lord
Years later after getting saved, I was called by the Lord to serve him through helping less fortunate children appreciate his love. I am convinced that the lord has so loved me and his love for me grows every time I let it flow to others in society that have not been fortunate. It is upon this that light of Hope children’s ministry was started as an avenue for sharing the gospel of the salvation of Christ and offering support to the less fortunate children in the community. I am grateful to the men and women of God world over that have chosen to join me on this endeavor. I am always praying that the lord blesses you the more as you share the gospel and the little you have with the less fortunate children. I implore more Christians to join as you open your arms even wider to embrace the less fortunate children with love and care. Let’s care for the orphans and help lead their way to the savior. As light of hope we believe that no act of kindness can ever be wasted for that glorifies the lord. It is through this that we can contribute to building the kingdom of God as we help the children learn about the salvation in Christ.
The challenges so far
Taking a bold decision to move from Islam to Christianity does not come with out challenges though the lord keeps me strong in faith every day. Coming from a predominantly Muslim home, the biggest challenge I have faced up to date has been rejection from family members that are still Muslim. I have been despised, stigmatized and I am never invited to family gatherings. However, I have managed to put up with all this because of the inspiration I have from the story of Paul from Saul.
