Fatuma, now Faith

Fatuma and her friends often went shopping on the way home from school. But that normal routine was interrupted one day when they heard what was happening at a nearby church. Their curiosity led them inside.

"Many miracles were happening," said Fatuma, "things like blind people seeing, lame people walking. And to us as young people who had never seen it, it was a surprise."

Around this same time, a Christian woman visited Fatuma and told her something she had never heard before.

No Other Name
"The woman said, 'One thing I want to leave with you that there is no other name given to mankind for salvation, only the name of Jesus Christ.' That Scripture struck me," said Fatuma. "I said now, how can this woman say this? It bothered me because to me Jesus was just a mere prophet. I could not take Him to be all that powerful."

As Fatuma struggled to understand how this could be true, she began to have the same dream over and over again.

"I could see a man, a white man standing before me with a blue band on his shoulder," she said. "Sometimes he could come, just appear to me, just looking at me, then he disappeared."

Terrified, Fatuma told her family. They gave her a talisman to wear for protection from what they thought were evil spirits. Then one day at church, Fatuma was called out of the congregation and she learned the man in her dreams wasn't evil.

A woman started telling all concerning me.

She Told Me All

"When I went forward, a woman started telling me all concerning me, whatever was going on in my home," said Fatuma. "She started telling me how many people I stay with, what they look like, and the dreams I had been having. And even to the extent of telling me that, 'You have a talisman.' At that moment, I had it.

"So, I was shocked. I said the woman had never seen me. How can she know me and all this? Then she started explaining the dreams. 'I know you've been bothered by these dreams and you have this talisman because of that. But I'm telling you it's God Himself who is calling you to believe Him, His Son.'"

Fatuma answered that call and prayed to accept Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. This new faith was strengthened when she experienced a real-life miracle.

"One time we had a water shortage at home and in our community for six months," said Fatuma. "Going, fetching water daily, I was really tired. I said, now I saw those miracles happening in church.

Now, let me try this God. And I said, 'God, really I'm tired of fetching water. If you are there, today just give me a sign and give me this water. I mean, I want to see water in this tap. If I get this water, then I will follow you all the days of my life.'

God Uses a Miracle

A real-life miracle

"So that water came in for a full week. All the houses, there were about 42 houses in that community, but they didn't have water. Only our house had water. God used that miracle. It was a stepping stone for me to know that God is real, a reality. He's not just a story or history. He still performs miracles as He used to do."

Praying in the bathroom

For three years Fatuma didn't tell her family she had become a Christian. She read the Bible and prayed while hiding in the bathroom. But eventually her uncles found out her secret and were furious with her decision.

With her uncles

 

"That's when I started having the real persecution in my family," she said. "They really rejected me. I could not feel at home. At times I could be beaten. But the more I was persecuted, the more I was harassed, the stronger I became. I didn't know why. My heart was so full with the love of God."

Fatuma's uncles gave her an ultimatum--to decide between their faith or her new faith in Jesus Christ.

I Had to Continue With Christ

"I said that I had to continue with Christ. I had to continue with the decision I had made. So they had to chase me from my home."

She lived in the church.

She lived in the church for a year, sleeping on benches or on the floor. People from the church brought her food and clothing.

"I was in a dilemma all the time, but inside me there was faith telling me to keep holding on," said Fatuma. "God would be faithful. When I determined to say, 'God, I will follow you,' He also determined to say, 'I will provide for you.' He was really faithful."

That faithfulness was the inspiration for a new name--Faith.

Living by Faith

"I had to change it because of the life I was leading. It was by faith. I had to believe God for everything. Even a piece of soap. Even a meal."

With her new family

Later as a wife and mother, Faith worked with her husband in a music and drama ministry. Her experiences gave her the strength and desire to encourage people to put their trust in God.

"However much you are persecuted, however much you are rejected, just keep holding on to God," she said. "At times you feel you want to give up. You are weary. You don't know what's going on.

But for me I just decided to know that because He's God and He created me, He knows my yesterday and He knows my tomorrow. He can't make any mistake. He cannot fail me. You cannot be disappointed when you hold on to the promises of God. They are so sure and true. I've seen it."

Faith died last year. Prior to her death, she shared her testimony widely and it is still touching people worldwide.