The Evangelist
Layanah knew Jesus from her mother in Uganda, but she met Him herself when she was in Iraq all by herself. Her dream was to go Dubai, but to raise enough money to make it there she took a brief detour as a house helper. She found herself miserable in Iraq, and the family she lived with was unable to pay her. Layanah knew she was stuck in her two year contract, so all she could do was pray.
“If you help me leave, I will serve you wherever I go,” she promised God.
Sure enough, the father of the house looked at her one day and said “Return to your country. We have nothing for you here.”
She recommitted her life to Jesus with a new dream. Layanah was always an evangelist, but she wanted to create her own NGO to meet the physical needs of people in her country when she shared with them. Layanah began to save money again for a ticket to Dubai, but it was a slow process. She imagined that once she got to Dubai she could easily earn enough to start her business.
As she was driving her motorbike home from work one day in Uganda, a car cut her off and threw her body across the road. People swarmed around her, thinking that she was dead. By miracle, she rose up and dusted herself off. The people began to tell one another that she must be a witch doctor. She told the crowd that it was Jesus that protected her, not herself.
She went back to work right away and got a call from her cousin that said she would pay for the rest of her plane ticket to Dubai. Once she made it to Dubai, despite not being qualified, God gave her a job at a local mall. She had not applied for the job, but when she showed up with her friend they hired her on the spot.
As she was working, she shared about Jesus with all of her co-workers and the women she lived with. She did not know a single other believer in the city. Her boss was angry that she was speaking about Jesus and changed her schedule to 14 hour days without a single day off.
Layanah bought a guitar to worship considering she was not able to go to church because of her rigorous schedule. As soon as she brought the guitar home, her boss found out and said that if she played the guitar that he would take it. She was distraught that she could not worship God even as the women in her room played all sorts of music and videos loudly. Her boss started to take so much money out of her paycheck for her visa that she could barely afford to eat. He was hoping that she would quit and return to her country.
She cried out to God to allow her to go to church, but her boss said she would never be allowed to go. One Friday, however, she saw the manager above her boss, and although he had told her previously she could not go to church, he smiled and gave her permission to go. Layanah was so happy. She chose to skip the staff lunch that was being provided by the manager to make it to church on time even though she did not have enough money to eat some days.
Prayer Requests
Pray for Layanah, and other believers with rigorous schedules, to find a job that will allow them to fellowship with other believers or to have a small community of believers within their workplace to worship with.
Pray for workers like Layanah to continue in boldness despite persecution.