Raizel shares, “I was brought up to worship many idols. I even served in one of the temples for a time, and fully embraced these rituals.”
Despite being so immersed, Raizel and her family could not answer the question, “Why did we worship these idols?” Raizel explains, “We just did. We simply followed tradition. It was not a matter of the heart.”
But when Raizel became ill, none of the rituals made any difference. Raizel and her parents were desperate to find help for this illness that the gods couldn’t heal.
“One day my sister, a Christian, came from out of town to visit with us. She opened her Bible and told us all about Jesus, and how much He loves us,” Raizel says. “I asked, ‘Can your God heal me?’”
Raizel’s sister then spoke with her about having true faith in God and understanding that healing needed to take place first in their hearts, and then in God’s time. Raizel’s sister was confident that God could bring about healing. “We felt a stirring in our hearts, and went to the local church and started to pray,” Raizel shares.
Healing did happen, slowly, but this family had a hard journey ahead. Their belief in Jesus sparked severe opposition from the community. “They wanted to send us out of the village, and threatened to hurt us!” Raizel says.
And yet, they could not deny what they felt in their hearts, and continued to follow Jesus. “God has kept us safe. Now, my whole family believes the Lord God is almighty, and He can do anything.”
Raizel has trained to teach an Adult Literacy Class, made possible through your support. Now she reads and teaches from the Bible to illiterate women and men.
She’s gone from performing idol rituals to enduring opposition to leading others to Christ!