First, Habib felt stomach pain after drinking alcohol. He took the village doctor’s medicine, but it only worked a few hours before Habib began crying out from worse pain. He went to the hospital and was better for a few days until he started running a fever every night. Finally, the doctors diagnosed him with malaria, which then turned to jaundice. By then, he was already too weak and thin to even stand.
“I was crying in my heart because I was unable to do anything,” Habib said.
A Frightening Prediction
Neighbors suggested to the family that someone had done black magic against the man, so the family turned to a witch to see if he could combat the illness. However, the witch’s news was devastating: He said Habib would be dead within six months.
Habib’s parents took him to yet another hospital, but doctors would not treat him because they said he was so near to death that it wasn’t worth trying. Habib’s parents began to feel the agony of losing their only son. Everyone had given up on him—everyone except the group of people Habib’s father, Aafreen, hated the most: Christians.
Asking an ‘Enemy’ for Help
Aafreen had always done his best to scare away the followers of Christ.
“Why are you sharing about Jesus Christ? You are destroying our religion and culture,” he once said to a visiting pastor before gathering a group of young people to chase him out of the village.
Despite Aafreen’s antagonism, the local Christians held on to hope for his son and told his family that their pastor prayed for the sick—and that God answered. Aafreen was desperate enough to relinquish his hatred and ask Pastor Raji to pray for his son.
This act of humility opened the door for Habib and his whole family to learn of Christ—and they witnessed His power as the Lord completely healed him!
Though it took some time for Habib to recover completely, he was brought back from the brink of death to health and hope. Six months after the witch’s prediction, Habib was still living and doing well, thanks to the power of the Lord.
Habib became the cause of a total change in his family—one that would bring a new family legacy of faith in the living God.
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