YEMEN: “I knew that Jesus was worth all this pain”

“When you return to a sane mind, come back. What a disgrace.” 

These were the words Zaid’s* parent’s said to him, before throwing him out of the house. Despite losing everything, Zaid’s mind was set. He had decided to follow Jesus. 

Duty-bound 

Zaid grew up in a Muslim home in Yemen, his days structured around religious duties. “I witnessed my family pray and worship since I was young,” he remembers. “Prayer was an important obligation. If you don’t pray, Allah will not love you. I followed all the teachings and rituals, trying to ‘please’ Allah so that I could guarantee life after death. Deep down, I wasn’t very convinced myself.” 

Slowly, he began to realise that there was no guarantee of Allah’s approval. The more he dug into his religion, the more flaws he saw. His zeal for duties waned. Eventually, Zaid realised that he had left Islam. “Although I felt like a heavy rock was lifted off my chest, the confusion remained.” 

“I was completely lost” 

Zaid began to search online. To numb the confusion, heturned to drugs. Then his best friend died in Yemen’s civil war. “I was completely lost. When I knew he was gone, I was devasted,” he says. “I was empty.” 

But, in that deep emptiness, Jesus found Zaid. 

The Good Shepherd 

Before, Zaid viewed Christians as infidels. But when he met them online, he was stunned by their love. He began to read more about their God. “The idea that God loved us and He sent His Son to die for us were all new thoughts for me,” he remembers. 

Then, he decided to pray to this God. “One night, I asked Him, ‘God, if you exist, tell me: where are you?” 

That night and for many after, Zaid dreamed the same dream: he was in a garden and a light was shining. “A voice said, ‘I left the 99 and came for you.’ I woke up, startled.” 

He went online and immediately found a picture of Jesus in a garden, surrounded by sheep. “Written on that photo were the same words I heard. In that moment, I felt like the world stopped. I felt a joy unspeakable,” Zaid smiles. “I discovered God!” 

Transformation

In Yemen, Christians are extremely rare. Zaid was thirsty to know more about God, and he longed to meet other believers and be baptised. Through a local Open Doors partner, he was baptised in a public pool. 

“The man asked me two simple questions about my faith, then he baptised me. I didn’t see him after that,” Zaid says. “That was the first time I met a Christian face-to-face in Yemen.” 

More and more, Zaid was transformed. “God freed me from my addiction, he cleansed me, helped me fight my bad thoughts, and my mental health became much better. The more time I spent with Him, the more He changed me.”  

Zaid became more mature and the change in him was obvious. However, repercussions soon followed. When Zaid’s father saw his Bible lying on his bed, he had no choice but to explain his newfound faith. Then, his father began to abuse Zaid. “I had bruises all over my body. It was the first time he had ever laid hands on me. I saw a side of him I had never seen. That was when I was kicked out.” 

Nevertheless, Zaid held on. “If I had stopped leaning on God’s Word, I would have died,” he says. God supplied places for Zaid to stay – with friends, extended family, even in abandoned buildings. “In those difficult days, His provision captured me. I knew that Jesus was worth all this pain.” 

A bold vision 

Zaid began serving at a new church in another town, discipling, baptising and sharing his story. “By the grace of God, I strive to deliver the Word of God to all the people around me, whether they accept it or not. I’m spreading the seeds; there are many kinds of soil, but I try and do my role.” 

Zaid has since established a local discipleship house with the help of Open Doors local partners where Christians can meet and study the Bible together. Though others have fled Yemen to practise their faith in safety, Zaid desires to see believers equipped and his people encounter the gospel.  

“My vision is to have 40,000 active churches, one for every 1,000 Yemenis, a place where they can enjoy fellowship and grow together. We are very encouraged when we know that we have brothers and sisters who are praying for us. The strongest thing we own is our prayers.” 

Zaid sees the church in Yemen as an extension of the early church, another group of house churches that risked everything to follow Jesus. “I know that He will protect us and will give us the same resources as the early church,” he says. “We should go to the dark places. We are the light, and we carry the light inside us. We should reflect the light within us, so that everybody gets to see it.” 

*Name changed for security reasons…