God shows a Muslim girl His love
6/24/2008 5:27:43 PM

By Jill, a student volunteer to India

The power of prayer is the theme of my story and time in India. After three or four weeks in-country, I became homesick. When I met a girl named Fatima,* I didn’t think much of it. I just figured that our friendship would be like all the other people I had met — a little superficial; I mean, there’s not much opening up you can do in such a short time. Little did I know the friendship that God was beginning at that moment.

The first few times we hung out, it was with our whole group, so we never had any “serious” conversations. One of the times, we went to a coffee shop thinking it would offer a calm, relaxing environment for us to be able to have a more serious, in-depth conversation. Come to find out, this place was so loud that you couldn’t hear the person across from you speak! So, I sat next to Fatima and she and I made small talk. I told her that I got a letter from someone from home, so I let her read it. That letter sparked her interest to talk to me some other time. So a few days later, we got together again to talk, like two girls having fun. After that, we planned to meet again, and before long she was coming over to my apartment just to hang out after work.

One day, Fatima was very upset. As a telemarketer, she wasn’t making any sales. She was going to quit, so I asked her if I could pray for her. She was crying the whole time we were praying. She said, “Jill, I am crying because I see how you care, that you care so much you will pray for me. Jill, I never open up to many people. I only have one good friend. All the people at work are just acquaintances. I barely know you, but I feel as though I could tell you anything.” We talked some more and had chai (tea). Two days later, Fatima came over and told me, “Jill, I made a sale yesterday and two today! And I know it is because of your prayer.”

I had shared a little of the Gospel story at different times as we had hung out, but it was just the beginning. Fatima is not a devout Muslim, and I can definitely see God still using me to keep up this friendship even once I’m in the U.S. I never would have imagined that God would have blessed me with a friend so close; I could almost call her my best friend. Even her mother told me, “Fatima loves you too much.” I work best one on one, and we didn’t have any relationships like that in the first few weeks. Yet, because of Fatima and another friend I met, God helped me with my nostalgia by giving me two great friends.

*Name changed to protect privacy

Serve God in South Asia!