As our house fellowship ended, the group of locals we had been meeting with pulled their coats tight against the cold and snow as they trickled back to their own homes. We all loved reading the Word and talking about Jesus, but in the Caucasus Mountains, no one wanted to get caught in a winter storm.

Rafik, a Muslim-background believer who had been part of our group for more than a year, was the last to leave. At the doorway, he stopped. Turning to my husband Ethan, he asked, “Will you baptize me when the river thaws?”

A smile spread across Ethan’s face, and he wrapped Rafik in a bear hug. “Of course. We can do it even sooner if we find a pool.”

The two brothers in Christ stepped apart, and Rafik had to clear his throat a little before thanking Ethan. His smile wrinkled his eyes as he said goodnight to us both, but his wife Sara silently shifted from foot to foot on the cold porch. After wishing them goodnight, Ethan and I shut the door and rejoiced. This was the answer to two years of prayer!

The first time we met this couple, my husband and I spent three hours with Sara and Rafik. He was immediately interested in talking about Jesus. But Sara was disillusioned. She had never felt connected to God through Islam. And she harbored resentment toward nominally Christian groups that had tried to force her people to be baptized decades before. She wasn’t interested in that kind of religion.

We kept meeting as couples, though. Rafik drank in the words of the New Testament like water after a long day of fasting. Sara kept bringing her questions, and as God faithfully showed her the truth, she realized that through Jesus she could know God personally.

But baptism went against her entire upbringing. Her people had always been Muslim. Relatives who had once acquiesced to baptism were considered cowards who had abandoned their people and way of life.

Sara told me that she knew Jesus asked his followers to be baptized, but her family would see it as a betrayal. I didn’t have the power to change her mind, and I didn’t want to pressure her. All I could do was pray.

Before we knew it, the ice cracked in the village pond. Melting snow began dripping from the roofs. The river turned warm enough to enter. One sunny afternoon, our fellowship gathered on a cold riverbank to witness Rafik’s baptism. I stood by Sara’s side as my husband dunked Rafik in the gliding current. When Rafik surfaced, I couldn’t tell which of the two men was more excited.

This was my husband’s first time baptizing a disciple in this region.

I squeezed Sara’s shoulder and hoped she was celebrating with us. Maybe Rafik’s baptism would soften her heart toward making the same step of faith.

Over the next several months, Sara continued to ask questions about Jesus and seek answers in the Word.

“I love Jesus,” she confessed to me one day the next year. “But I don’t know if He can change my heart toward baptism.”

All through the following spring, Ethan and I prayed for Sara’s change of heart, and I believed that God would move as the thaw came yet again. By the end of May, however, my hope was limping along. Then, I received an unexpected text.

You won’t believe what is happening! God is changing me. I’m telling Him everything I’ve done wrong, and Jesus has forgiven me. I want to be baptized!

I almost dropped my phone as I ran to show Ethan the message. “We have to find a pool!” I shouted.

I spent the next several days searching for a hot tub we could rent. Snowmelt had made the nearby pond ice cold the last time we checked. As each option fell through, I became discouraged. But Sara was undeterred. “I’ll do it in a bathtub if I have to,” she assured me.

I laughed as I eyed our woefully shallow tub. This was Sara’s culture at its best—spontaneous and unafraid.

The next day, our families gathered at our house with the local version of BBQ fixings, ready to celebrate another baptism. But as no pools had become available, I began to fear it wouldn’t happen. Ethan put his hand on my shoulder and said, “We can find some open water. God will provide.”

Fueled by faith, we decided to check the village pond again. Our group traipsed through the tall trees that surrounded the clearing, and excitement began to build as we saw the pond lit up with sunshine.  

Sara dipped her fingers in, and her eyes widened. “It’s not too cold,” she said. Then a bright smile broke across her face. “I’m ready!”

We waded into the cool water, and in front of us all, Sara declared her allegiance to Christ. Then she closed her eyes, leaned back, and I dipped her beneath the surface of the still waters.

She rose to cheers, Rafik’s loudest of all.

“It was so simple, and yet I felt completely clean as I came out of the water,” she exclaimed. “From this day forward, I’m holding nothing back from Jesus.”

We know that many in Sara’s people group still share her concerns about baptism. But after seeing Jesus soften her heart in His timing, we are confident that He will do it again.

Pray:

• Praise God for new brothers and sisters in Christ, and Muslim-background believers who are turning to Jesus even when it conflicts with their culture’s expectations.
• Pray for new Muslim-background believers to be transformed by their relationships with Jesus.
• Ask God to open the hearts of Muslims who have experienced conflict with religious groups in the past to the Gospel.

**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**

Main photo on iStock by PNW Production

Original article: https://frontiersusa.org/blog/gods-timing