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Throughout the world, God is revealing Himself in amazing ways amongst followers of Islam. One of the people He showed Himself to is a woman named Zara* from a minority group in the Northern Caucasus. This mountainous region has traditionally been one of the least-accessible and least-receptive places to the gospel in the whole world.
Zara was born into a large Muslim family, but she wasn’t loved and accepted by them because of her open-mindedness. When she, as a young girl, refused to do namaz (Muslim prayer) several times a day, her father pushed her outside and told her that Allah would severely punish those who disobeyed him.
This caused Zara to question if God was really like her father said. She thought, “I do not believe this! And if he is like that, then I don’t want to believe in such a God!”
When Zara was 12 years old, her family went on a vacation to the sea. There, she found herself temporarily outside of strict supervision. And the Lord sent someone to her: It was a woman sitting on the shore and reading a book. Zara approached her and asked, “What is the name of the book you are reading?”
The woman answered: “The Bible.” That stirred something in Zara’s heart, and from that moment on, she desired to have her own copy of the Bible.
Zara grew up, married a man whom she first met on her wedding day (customary for Muslim marriages in her area) and had three children. Yet she never stopped searching for truth.
Zara’s husband, although a Muslim, let her decide whether to cover her head, which is a symbol of devotion to Allah in Islam. When she was 33 years old, Zara was about to cover her head, but she was still tormented by whether Allah required it.
At that moment, she cried out: “God, I don’t know who you are! If you hear me, show yourself to me just once, and I won’t ask you for anything else!”
That night, a tall man in white clothes appeared to Zara in a dream. He didn’t have to identify Himself. She immediately recognised Him as Jesus, and in His presence, she felt light, like a feather.
She woke up and began to look for a church where she could get a Bible. Three weeks later, she was sitting in a church with tears flowing down her cheeks as she held the book that she had dreamt of having for decades. Zara had finally found the way, the truth and the life.
Zara met Anna* and Davud* with OM while they travelled in her region, praying and encouraging those they met. The miraculous circumstances of that connection are a story in and of themselves. Anna has stayed in contact with Zara and, via video calls, disciples her on a weekly basis.
At their last in-person visit, Zara requested to be baptised. Yet this comes at a high cost — possibly even her life. Despite this, her devotion to Jesus is unwavering.
*name changed
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