An Honest Prayer
Yousef had no idea how to pray, so he was as honest and down to earth as he could be: “I will not kill myself if Jesus will make everything right in my life.” Punctuating it with even more forthrightness, he added, “By the end of tomorrow.” He then fell asleep.
A Timely Visit
In the morning, he awoke to find his Uncle Ishaq sitting on the foot of his bed. “God has laid it on my heart that I should come and visit you today,” he said. “I need to tell you about myself, about how I am truly the son of my father, your now-gone grandfather.”
“What do you mean?” asked Yousef. “Long ago, I determined that the way to be happy was to be rich, powerful and important,” he said. “So, I thought I would achieve that by becoming a drug smuggler; but, then, I discovered a new way; a way to be content in all things – I discovered Jesus.” The word “Jesus” jolted Yousef, but his look of surprise morphed into curiosity. “Like grandfather?” he said, leaning forward. “Exactly,” said his uncle. “When I was young, I thought he was a crazy man. Jesus? Really? But when I hit the wall, it was my father, his life and contentment, that I came back to, and, so, we began to talk.”
“Like you and I are doing now.”
“Indeed.”
A Dangerous Discovery
His story captivated Yousef, who began visiting his uncle regularly to talk about this Jesus. His uncle gave him a Bible, and Yousef was careful when bringing it home. His mother, a leader at the local mosque, hated Christians with a passion. Once, she had ripped a cross pendant from the neck of his uncle’s wife and spit in her face. One day, Yousef simply spoke to God: “Jesus, I ask you into my heart. I lay my sins before you, and long to start over with you.” Then, it happened – Yousef’s mother found his Bible underneath his bed!
To be continued…
Date: 3rd May 2025
Martyr: Yousef
Location: Not specified
Source: The Voice of the Martyrs “I am n”
Author: Not specified
Suffering Saturday 141
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