Persecution Blog: Hussein: Saved by a Miracle

“I could tell that I am touching death now. Then I realized, ‘I am going to die.’”

“Hussein’s” dark brown eyes are wide as he remembers his terror. He was on a church retreat to the sea. “I swim so well that when I go to the shower I drown,” Hussein says now, chuckling. But the waves were small and he went in just a little bit. Then a little bit farther. And now he was out too far, sinking in the waves, touching death. Hussein had sensed a call to ministry, but he hadn’t answered. He knew that answering a call to ministry in Iran would be dangerous and costly, and he liked his nice life, his good job, his house and his car too much to give them up. Now his comfortable life was about to sink into the sea.

“I started praying, ‘Christ, give me one more chance. I never ministered for You. I will minister for You if You do this. Just give me one more chance!’”

Hussein’s cries to God were heard and answered.

“I was [praying] underwater. Then all of a sudden I started going up and up and up. And then all of a sudden I was standing up and the waves started getting more violent. I started waving my hands and screaming.” Three lifeguards went into the water to pull Hussein out. Afterwards they told
him that they wouldn’t have gone in to get him if he hadn’t been such a strong swimmer, because he would have pulled them down too. The man who says he almost drowns in the shower just smiled thankfully. He knew Who had held his head above the water, Who had provided the strength for his “swimming.” And Hussein was ready to follow through on his prayer, to answer the call to service in the church.

When he first told the church leaders he was ready, they told him no. “You almost died,” they told him. “You are feeling emotional right now. Do you know how hard it is to minister in Iran and the sacrifice you have to give?” They wanted to test his commitment.

“I don’t care,” Hussein answered. “I have to. Jesus gave me one more chance and I have to do this. I was dying in that water and I have to use this chance that God has given me. It doesn’t matter if I have to sacrifice everything I have; I will do this.”

Hussein didn’t just talk. He took action. Over the next 30 days he quit his job (even though his boss offered him a promotion to stay), sold his car and paid his debts. Church leaders were convinced of his passion to serve, and Hussein was assigned to a pastor and his wife as an apprentice. For 30 days he would simply watch what they did, learning the depths and difficulties of ministering in a Muslim land. Even in his learning, God confirmed Hussein’s call.

As they walked into one house in the south of Iran, the daughter in the family began to cry. When she calmed down she told them that she had wanted to see Christ in her dreams, and three nights earlier she saw Christ in her dream and He led her to a table where she sat down with three people. And now those same three people had come into her home!

“She was very touched,” Hussein recalled, “and I was even more touched. It was very amazing to see how God works.”

Hussein’s story was featured in a past issue of VOM’s free monthly newsletter. You can sign up to receive VOM’s newsletter here. Come back tomorrow to read more about Hussein’s ministry and how Christ rescued him out of addiction and Islam.

Comments

I will never 4get Apostle Paul on his way to damascus. And Jonah!

Posted by: Lord's Prince | March 08, 2013 at 12:54 AM

STAR777 has broken it down very simply: know the will of God; obey the will of God.
Continue to call on Him, and He will lead us, help us, and save us. The Christian life in a nutshell! Thank you, STAR777!

Posted by: Micky | March 07, 2013 at 10:16 PM

A challenging post. "Jesus gazed lovingly at him and told him, One thing you lack: go and sell all you posses and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Posted by: S.F. | March 07, 2013 at 10:14 PM