There was still a hole. She felt it, even more deeply now than before, now that she lay sick in bed unable to do anything.
Reza* had felt this emptiness for years, and nothing—not her husband, not her anger, not even Islam—could fill the void.
She watched her husband’s life find new meaning when he met Isa al Masih (Jesus the Messiah). Reza should have been angry. When people follow Isa in her country, there are consequences. But somehow, she found peace with his faith as she watched him love and serve others in a way he never had before.
One day, Reza heard an incredible story from an American woman—a short-term mission trip participant—she met in the city. The woman started talking about Isa and how He had died for her and risen three days later. Reza was shocked. In all that her husband had told her, she could not remember this part of the story.
She went home that day to ask him about it, and he took her to meet with an East-West national partner who gave her a Bible. Reza read it every moment she could. She was amazed at how the words in this Book began to fill the void in her heart … but there was still something inside of her that wouldn’t let her believe.
Now all Reza had was time as she lay on her bed in pain—hoping for this sickness to pass but not sure that it ever would. Then she remembered something she read about Isa in the Bible. He was powerful … and He healed the sick.
If Isa was God, then He could surely heal her now. So she said these words out loud as she prayed, “God, if you are really God, and if you really gave your Son to forgive my sin then you will heal me now.”
As soon as Reza finished saying those words, she felt it. She was healed! And now that she’d experienced the powerful love of Jesus Christ, the hole she once felt so deeply in her heart had also been filled.
*Name changed for security reasons.