As a volunteer with The Ephraim Project, Joy* is engaging on social media with people thousands of miles away in the Middle East. She explains, ”Sometimes you don’t even know what’s happening on the other side, in their heart, and in their mind. So, you have to trust that the words you say and the Spirit of God is there and doing His work.

”When I met Karim*, I had no idea what he was about, but I knew he was hurting. He said he was a taxi driver. He used to be very successful in his profession but had been put in prison because he had criticized people in power.

”And then he told me, ’I don’t really want to live anymore. I lost everything. And now I’m a taxi driver and I have no reason to live.’

”I asked him, ’So do you have a faith?’ And he said, ’No, I don’t. I don’t. I’d like to, but I don’t.’ I said to him, ’I believe in God. And this God that I believe in is so kind. And He loves you very much.’ And the Holy Spirit said to leave it there.

”A couple of days later Karim said, ’Joy, are you religious?’ And I said, ’No, but I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father.’ And then out of the blue he asks, ’What is the cross for?’ And I was thinking, he didn’t even know I was a Christian! I never said a word! And so I said, ’Hey, the cross. That’s what Jesus Christ is all about. And this is who I’m talking about as my God.’

”Then I shared the Gospel with him. I said, ’Do you want to know more?’ He said, ’I would love to.’ So I sent him a Bible, just a PDF file I have, and he went off and began reading it on his own. Not like a lot of times when people want me to walk through every verse with them.

”One day he was telling me how he hates the fruit of religion, and I said, ’I’m with you. I’m totally with you. You know, religion is what drives people farthest away from God because they’re trying to earn their way, you know, instead of what I said is in the Bible.’

I remember I asked him, ’What do you think about a faith—that this God loved you so much that He came into your presence, in your life, and actually suffered for you to take away all of your guilt, all your shame, all of your suffering, so that you could be with him forever?’

”And Karim said, ’Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I want, I want, I want.’ He took it on his own. And through that he became saved. So from then on, you saw the fruit of the Spirit change him. He had hope. He was full of love. He was sharing the Gospel with his fiancée and her sisters. He had that fire in his heart, because Jesus gave him life and hope.”

”But that’s only part of the story.” Joy continued, ”I had no idea that he had a dream just after we first met. And in that dream he was behind bars, and he saw me. I was standing in this path of light. I had my arms open. The light was all behind me, and the light was in the shape of a cross. And in his dream, Karim was saying, ’Help me, help me, help me, Joy. I’m lost!” Up to this point, we had never talked about God or anything related to the cross or Jesus. This dream caused him to ask, ’Who is this girl? What is this?’ So he knew that he had to ask me about the cross.”

After Karim became a believer, he began taking his girlfriend to a very secluded place so they could read the Bible together safely. Before long, he led her to Christ, and she gave her heart to Him as well. Now they are married and looking for ways to share their testimony with others.

Joy described a conversation with Karim after he became a believer, ”He said, ’I’ve learned that with my people, we’re so in the dark that if you show too much light, we’ll be blinded.’ He said, ’What you did was you showed one ray at a time. And that’s what made me be able to open my eyes. And then I just started seeing the world the way Jesus meant it to be.’”

*names changed for security