I’ve been enjoying Samaa Habib’s autobiographical book Face to Face with Jesus as I did research for my upcoming book Charismactivism last month. Samaa is from a Muslim country that used to be ruled by Soviet and that has experienced some horrible civil wars, and she opened her heart to the Gospel as a Christian ministry showed the Jesus film to the war torn public. She was amazed and told her father: ”He cannot be just a prophet, he must be more than that! He is alive. Mohammad’s skeleton is still buried in Mecca. Jesus is my super hero!” Her father didn’t agree of course, but tolerated the young girl’s enthusiasm.

She eventually went to a church service and gave her life completely to the Lord together with two of her sisters. Now, her father was enraged. After she had confessed that she will not live without Jesus, he abused and tortured her, strangling her until she fainted. She later escaped her family’s house through a window and fled to the church.

As time went by, more people in Samaa’s family were saved. Her mother was healed from a heart problem and encountered Jesus in a dream. This made the father tolerate Christianity a bit more, even if he still was in severe disagreement.

One day as Samaa was worshipping in church, a bomb exploded right next to her and she died instantly. She saw Heaven and Jesus, and He said that she could either be with Him or return to earth to lead more people to Him. She chose the latter, and woke up blind and deformed as she was taken to hospital. Her brain was visible and her appearance was a mess.

By God’s grace, she was completely healed as she prayed and worshipped in the hospital bed. Her sight and skin were restored and all the scars disappeared. The doctors and nurses couldn’t explain it, but she told them that the greatest physician is Jesus.

The terrorists that had committed the attack were arrested and sentenced to death, but Samaa and some other victims of the bombs pleaded to the president, asking him to spare their lives. He did so. Samaa eventually met a former member of al-Qaida who may very well have trained those who attacked her church, Jesus had appeared to him in a dream and he now was feeling very bad for killing so many Christians and Jews. Samaa said: ”As the Lord has forgiven you, I forgive you, and you must forgive yourself.” 

Samaa’s testimony is not just a testimony about the miraculous power of God, but also of the commitment, gentleness and enemy love that His Spirit brings. Let us follow her example, as she follows Christ.

And oh, yeah, her father was saved as well. It was an easy fish to catch after the bomb healing.