Eager to escape the noisy street and connect with a Muslim friend, I ducked into the café where we had agreed to meet. But as I scanned the busy room, I discovered my usually cheerful friend Sanam looking downcast. My Frontiers teammate Gary was already sitting beside him, a hand on Sanam’s shoulder.
Rushing to them, I slid into a seat, ignoring the cup of tea at my spot. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
Sanam took a trembling breath. “You know that my wife Alya is pregnant.”
I nodded quickly. Our team had celebrated the joyful announcement with the couple, who were excited to welcome their first, a little girl.
“She saw the doctor yesterday and was accidentally given something that usually causes abortions. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Our team rejoiced and praised the Lord when the baby girl arrived right on schedule, healthy and whole, completely unharmed.
A lump formed in the back of my throat, and I reached across the table to squeeze his arm. “Can we pray for Alya and the baby in Jesus’ name?”
Sanam remained still for a long moment before finally agreeing.
Gary and I prayed for the young family at the café and when we reached our homes. A few days later, Gary’s wife visited them and prayed again, laying her hands on Alya’s stomach.
Our team rejoiced and praised the Lord when the baby girl arrived right on schedule, healthy and whole, completely unharmed.
But soon after the birth, Alya’s health began to deteriorate. The couple made numerous trips to the hospital seeking answers, but every test Alya went through proved inconclusive.
Finally, a doctor called. He had some news. Sanam and Alya asked my wife Penny and me to go to the hospital with them.
As the doctor read from her chart, Alya held Penny’s hand. “It’s cancer. You have tumors in your abdomen that need to be removed.” It would require multiple surgeries and many days in the hospital.
Long after the doctor walked away, we stayed with them, silently processing this new reality and what it meant in a region where medical care was sometimes primitive. Once again, I asked if I could pray for them in Jesus’ name, and Sanam welcomed it.
Alya’s heart stopped.
The surgery to remove the first of Alya’s tumors was successful, but a few days into her recovery, seizures wracked her body and left her unresponsive. Scared for his wife’s life, Sanam asked Gary and me to pray.
Within minutes, we had mustered believers around the world to intercede on Alya’s behalf. The seizures stopped, and two days later, Alya regained consciousness, suffering no lasting effects from the ordeal.
Once again, God revealed His faithfulness and poured out His compassion on this Muslim couple. So when Sanam entered the hospital for Alya’s second operation, he was confident the results would be good.
Hours into the surgery, he received devastating news. While still in the operating room, Alya’s heart stopped.
Doctors and nurses attempted to revive her, even performing CPR for an hour before admitting she was gone. They declared her dead and prepared a death certificate, while an imam prayed over her body.
The doctors didn’t understand it. The imam couldn’t explain it. But as soon as my team heard what happened, we knew the truth.
Sanam couldn’t believe his wife had died. After all the ways God had sustained them, this tragedy seemed impossible.
He told me later that he didn’t know how he could be so certain, but he knew Alya wasn’t really gone. Jesus could save her.
Alone in the hospital, Sanam bowed his head and begged Him for another miracle.
Two full hours after Alya’s heart had stopped beating—an hour after the doctors had given up hope—Sanam’s prayer was answered. On a cold hospital bed, Alya coughed, and her heart started again. Thirty-six hours later, she was conscious and stable.
The doctors didn’t understand it. The imam couldn’t explain it. But as soon as my team heard what happened, we knew the truth.
A dead heart had been brought back to life, and we praised the only One with authority over the grave. We also asked God for another miracle, that Alya and Sanam would put their trust in Christ alone.
Our God is in the business of bringing dead hearts to life, and we believe He will do it again.
After experiencing such a vivid, undeniable display of Jesus’ power, we struggled to understand their resistance to the Good News, but we refused to stop sharing of His mercy and love. For months, we watched and waited, eager to see what God would do.
The Lord did not disappoint.
A year after Sanam first prayed in Jesus’ name, he declared his faith in Christ. He now regularly meets with Gary and me to study the Bible and has begun sharing what he’s learning with others.
One of those people is Alya, who remains hesitant even though she experienced an extraordinary miracle. But our God is in the business of bringing dead hearts to life, and we believe He will do it again.
This young family’s story isn’t over yet. We pray it’s just beginning.
Pray:
- Praise God for His power and authority over death.
- Pray that Alya will embrace the truth of the Gospel and acknowledge Christ alone as Savior and Lord.
- Pray that God would continue to reveal His power to Muslim men and women through healing and other miracles.
This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.
