Bisharra popped an SD card into her phone and turned up the volume. She loved to listen to scripture passages that her friends from America, Kristi and Anna, gave her. The words of Acts echoed through her small mudbrick home as she built a fire and prepared millet and okra sauce for her grandchildren.
In some ways, Bisharra felt like one of the disciples from the early church. A Muslim-background believer, she told others about Jesus daily, even making weekend trips to other villages to share what was recorded on her SD cards. As Bisharra listened to the recorded scripture, she paused, spoon in hand, and frowned as the audio described a group of new Jesus followers being baptized. Kristi and Anna frequently spoke about baptism, urging Bisharra and her cousins to take the step of showing public commitment to following Jesus. But Bisharra didn’t understand.
Bisharra spoke up hesitantly, “Be baptized.”
A few days later, Bisharra walked to her cousin’s house for their weekly study with Anna and Kristi. She and two of her cousins had been meeting each week for over two years. Sometimes their adult daughters joined them.
“What can you do to put into practice what you heard this week?” Anna asked the group after they listened to and discussed the text.
The women looked at one another.
Bisharra spoke up hesitantly, “Be baptized.”
The other women murmured and nodded in agreement, eyes on the ground, showing the same uncertainty Bisharra felt.
“It looks like a grave,” Bisharra cried. “It is like the Savior dying and coming back to life again.”
Anna pulled her phone from the pocket of her dress. “Would you like to see pictures of my son’s baptism?”
When she saw the image, Bisharra gasped. A tarp filled with water lined a rectangular hole dug into the hard, sandy ground, and the 14-year-old boy lay in it, pinching his nose as his father dipped him under the water.
“It looks like a grave,” Bisharra cried. “It is like the Savior dying and coming back to life again.”
“We must be baptized, too,” Bisharra’s older cousin decided. “We want to be like Jesus and His disciples.”
“Let’s all do it together,” Bisharra said. “We can wait for the rains and do it in the wadi.” She glanced through the open door at the dry riverbed that would fill with water when the rainy season came.
Together, Bisharra and one of her cousins waded into the muddy water. Bisharra closed her eyes as her cousin submerged her and brought her up.
At the beginning of rainy season, both Kristi and Anna went on trips with their families. Before leaving, Anna assured the ladies they would be back soon.
The rains picked up slowly. Bisharra and her cousins continued to wait for their opportunity to be baptized.
Finally, it rained enough to fill the wadis and ponds. Bisharra stood at the door of her little house, grinning as the glorious rain poured down on the thirsty earth. “It’s time!”
“Shouldn’t we wait?” One of the women asked. “Anna and Kristi would love to be with us for this.”
“Let’s not put it off any longer!” someone else said, and the rest agreed.
Together, Bisharra and one of her cousins waded into the muddy water. Bisharra closed her eyes as her cousin submerged her and brought her up. She laughed and lifted her hands to heaven, praising God for what He had done in her life.
One by one, each of her cousins and two of her nieces stepped into the water to be baptized by one another, huge smiles flashing across each face as their colorful body wraps dripped with brown water.
“I felt very happy and completely at peace.”
When Anna and Kristi returned four days later, Bisharra could hardly wait to tell them the good news. The friends grinned as she described the baptism.
“How did you feel after you were baptized?” Anna asked.
Bisharra smiled back. “I felt very happy and completely at peace.”
Bisharra knew she and her cousins had made the right decision. She wanted to follow Jesus with her whole heart, living in the hope of His resurrection. Though illiterate and disregarded as an irrelevant woman by many in her community, she continues to be a bold ambassador for Christ.
Pray:
- Praise God for Bisharra and her family’s commitment to follow and obey Jesus.
- Pray that Bisharra’s ministry to surrounding Muslim communities will encourage many to follow Jesus.
- Ask the Lord to continue to bless Kristi and Anna’s work among Muslim village families in Sub-Saharan Africa.
This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.