Rakhmet was desperate. The middle-aged man had just finished a 5-year prison sentence. With no place to go but the streets, it wasn’t long before he back fell into a vicious cycle of drug addiction.
Rakhmet had grown up in a Muslim home, but he had left both his home and his religion long ago. He figured God had abandoned him, just as he had turned from his family.
But when a Christian man approached Rakhmet on the streets and told him about an eternal love that never abandons, everything changed.
Rakhmet turned to Christ, and his new friend helped him get into an alcohol recovery program.
Rakhmet returned to his home village and shared the Gospel with his family. They were moved by his testimony and the dramatic transformation they saw in him, and his whole family turned to the Lord.
With a growing love for God’s Word and a passion for Jesus, Rakhmet decided to enroll in a Bible school in a neighboring country.
After finishing Bible school, Rakhmet moved back to a Muslim village in his home country, where he helped establish a men’s drug rehabilitation center in the village. He also shared the Gospel whenever he could and took frequent treks into surrounding villages to reach people with the Good News.
Rakhmet faced constant persecution, but this didn’t shake his determination to share about what Christ had done for him.
What concerned Rakhmet more than the persecution, though, was finding a job that would give him the freedom to keep sharing the Good News.
That’s when he met Steven, a Frontiers worker who runs a dairy business in the country. Steven had established his business to bless the local economy while transforming lives and communities for Christ. He hired Rakhmet and trained him as a milk producer.
Rakhmet now successfully manages a business with over thirty milk cows, and he channels his profits to support the village rehabilitation center.
Meanwhile, Rakhmet’s job has created opportunities to build trusting relationships with locals. Villagers have warmed up to Rakhmet as they see how he is faithfully and skillfully running his business. A few of his neighbors have even asked Rakhmet to help them start their own milk production.
As Rakhmet sees his business grow, he also expects to see spiritual growth for the Kingdom. He is now setting aside some profits to start a women’s rehabilitation ministry—which will be the first of its kind in the country.
Praise God for Rakhmet’s dramatic spiritual transformation. Please pray for the success of his business, and that it would continue to bear great spiritual fruit in the lives of villagers.
Pray for God to raise up even more disciples of Jesus Christ in Muslim countries, and for more Frontiers workers to help equip them as fruitful ministers of the Gospel.
Read more about how Frontiers workers are using business to equip local believers to reach their Muslim communities.
**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**
Original article: FrontiersUSA.org/blog/article/rakhmets-story-from-rehab-to-redemption
