Sanjar (43 years old) and his wife Azita (36 years old) took part in Discipleship Training. Part of the training was the study about marriage. Sanjar is telling a lot of details, Azita seems to be shy, untill she starts talking about her Christian faith. Then something happens and it seems that she is starting to live. Together with their two children, they are known as people of prayer.
Sanjar
Sanjar starts sharing: “I felt that I was chosen by God. I was the owner of a taxi company and had many drivers working for me. One time a driver, who was not married at that time, wanted to work for me. I knew from the beginning that he was a Christian and after 2 or 3 days, I already noticed that this man was different. He got married and invited me at his wedding. This man never spoke about his faith with us. After a while we became close friends and started activities together, then he started to speak about Jesus. Before he started to talk with me about Jesus, I already met a lady in my taxi who told me about her Christian faith. I got my first Bible from that lady. It was so precious to me that I was hiding the Bible for many years till I could use it. She also took me to the church, but after that one time I did not go there anymore.
After a while I got problems and lost my company. Not long after that my friend asked me if I wanted to become a believer in Jesus. I wanted to be a believer, but first of all I wanted to know more about this faith. I felt that I missed something I never had. I went out to the mountains and there I gave my heart to God. A little later my friend told me that he would leave the country. I felt terrible and told him that I did not know what to do without him. My friend told me that God will never leave me alone and that I would find new friends. Now I have my own business again and found new friends and groups of people. God changed my life so much! I was invited by a cell group. My wife was invited as well although at that time she was not a Christian yet. From the beginning she also liked it very much, got friends, became a Christian and grew very fast. Before we became Christians we did not even know from each other that we were interested in Christianity.
Children
The children are even more interested in the Christian faith as we were. Now they are taking part in the cell group as well. They like it very much. There is not a special program for them, but for them it is not necessary, they understand the studies and like to be there. They attend the cell group for about one and a half year now. At school they are very wise, they never make a mistake and know that they have to be very careful and ‘hide’ themselves. Our daughter sometimes encourages us.
Azita
Azita shares: “I have the illness of MS. It started many years ago with an MS attack. After that I did not have problems, till a couple of months ago when I had my second attack in my eye. I prayed and it was gone immediately. Before I was a Christian I was reading a book about positive thinking. In that book was a quote that said: ‘God is my Shepherd’. I liked this so much that I wrote it down, not knowing that this was something from the Bible. Before I became a believer I was interested in Christianity very much, I liked it and was also watching the TV programs of Joyce Meyer. I loved her preaching and still do! Even through the non Christian and occult books I found some Bible verses.
When I attended the cell group I was already prepared. During the singing I cried a lot. From that time on Jesus changed my heart. Everything changed, I am so alive now! Before I did not practice my Islam faith much, but now God is at present in the deepest parts of my life. At home I am printing Bible verses and put them on everything, just to see them and remember the verses.”
Azita continues: “I love to evangelize, sometimes my husband is holding back too much and tells me not to evangelize. I have a very religious family. My father is not a Christian, but sometimes he is using words from the Bible that he is not able to know. The family of my husband is not that religious and I am eager to tell them about my faith. Till now I did not. We don’t have that much contact with his family, therefore it is not that dangerous.”
Country
Azita: “At the moment we don’t have problems, but there are dangers. The problems can start at any time. When we are worshiping God we don’t feel lonely. Many times we feel alone in the country. It is not easy. We feel as if we are: ‘swimming against the stream’. It is becoming worse and worse in the country, but because of this situation many people come to Christ. One family member of my husband was put to prison during the elections. He was not a Christian, but when he came out of prison he said that the only solution of the problems in the country is the Christian faith. He became a believer.”