In 1980, a woman gave birth in the middle of a road in a small village in South Asia and left the baby in the street with the umbilical cord still attached. A local UK aid organisation’s doctor gave the baby to a maid who worked in his house to be raised and put through school. “That young baby was me,” Nadir*, an OM worker, explains.
PAIN, BITTERNESS AND ISOLATION
Pain and depression from being called an orphan as a child, not having family ties or traditions to lean on and bitterness from those hurts led Nadir to journey away from his home in South Asia. Arriving in the Middle East with the help of a fake passport, he tried to start a new life. Nadir felt a deep sense of isolation and controlled his loneliness by drowning it in alcohol.
THE SCOTTISH LADY
While working a routine day as a shopkeeper, Nadir sold a cleaning product to a Scottish woman who worked nearby. She returned to the shop the next day, the day after, and the day after that, and soon, Nadir was crossing the street after work to visit his new friend at her book kiosk. Nadir noticed God was working on his heart and wanted to learn more about Him. The woman began to bring up Jesus, teaching Nadir more about who God is.
Even though all Nadir knew of his earthly father was the question mark beside ‘Father’s name’ on his birth certificate, he learnt that God had chosen him and knew him by name. “After encountering Jesus Christ, the pain, the burden was all gone. I felt very proud because God had chosen me, and He says that I am His son,” Nadir shares. For a year, Nadir studied the Bible secretly with a small group before being baptised. Soon after, he returned to his home country to share what he had learnt with his fellow countrymen.
SHARING THE GOSPEL
Nadir first shared his new faith with his wife, who was from a Hindu family and whom he had married before he went to work in the Middle East.
His conviction that everyone deserves a chance to know they are loved by Jesus springs from Nadir’s confidence that he is part of God’s family. The pain and rejection he used to shrink from daily have been replaced with joy and peace in Jesus. “If I had not encountered Jesus Christ in the Middle East, I would be a different person at the moment,” he shared. Nadir has discovered more about his heavenly Father – and this perfect love has transformed his life for good.
*name changed
(Article was shortened.)
Source: OM
