“I don’t have a father,” said Daoud. “He was murdered when I was 14.” 

He turned his eyes away from mine and his shoulders slumped. “I’ve been on my own since then. Life hasn’t been kind to me.”

Daoud used to be on the football team I coach. He was an amazing athlete—until he began having seizures at night. When doctors told him he had to stop playing soccer, Daoud was devastated. It felt like one more loss in the long list of hurts and heartaches he’d experienced.

I didn’t hear from Daoud after he quit the team. Then, about a year ago another player on the team told me that Daoud was struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. I called him and arranged for us to get together. Soon we were meeting every week and studying the Word.

Then Daoud started having dreams—spiritually significant ones. One day he called to tell me about the dream he’d had the night before.

“In the dream, I saw a giant tsunami picking up cars and buildings and tossing them this way and that,” he told me. “I was frozen in fear as it came toward me. I knew that at any moment it was going to swallow me up.” Then Daoud looked down the street and saw a man with his hand on a wall, standing there as the waters raced toward him. Instead of panicking, the man calmly turned to Daoud and said, “Have faith. It’s going to be okay.”

Waking up, he felt full of peace unlike any he’d ever known. That morning, he committed to trusting God as his Father.

Nothing has changed in Daoud’s circumstances. He’s experienced more pain than most people I know, and he still suffers from seizures. But even though he’s not fully in the Kingdom yet, Daoud is embracing and applying Jesus’ teachings and they’re filling his heart with healing and peace. He’s choosing to trust the Lord and is finding strength in the storm.

• Pray for Daoud to be drawn to the father-heart of God as he studies the Word.

• Ask the Lord to heal Daoud from seizures and depression, and pray he becomes a witness for the healing power of Jesus Christ.

• Pray for more teams of field workers who will spend their lives reaching Muslims with the eternal hope of the Gospel.

**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**