One day he broke the silence...
I met Mohamad on a nice and sunny spring day. Right there during our first time together he told me that he had become a Christian a few months ago. I was astonished!! Then I became curious and wanted to know more. He told me his whole story and how he had accepted Christ into his life. Now I was really excited - I had assumed that he was a Muslim like all of the refugees in the dormitory. When he asked whether we could see each other again I invited him to a church.service and also to our youth group. He happily agreed to come and we started to see each other more and more, visited Christian friends of mine or spent time together in church.
Right from the beginning we got along very well. Mohamad was studying German and our communication skills improved rapidly. I asked him many things about his country, his family, his mentality, his culture... We were able to talk with each other for hours and it never got boring...
Mohamad finally found a job as a nurse and we continued to spend many hours talking together. We also discussed a lot about the Bible and the Christian faith. He was still a young Christian but he would learn quickly - I was sure!
In the meantime winter had come and the Swiss government refused Mohamad's request for asylum. He had to go back to Lebanon. A disaster for the two of us!! He wanted me to meet his family so badly that I decided to go with him in the end. Would it, would they be as he had told me??
His family gave me a very warm welcome. I got to know a very different world. It was exactly as Mohamad had told me. Even though I didn't understand much of the conversations I liked his family a lot. At the Swiss airport, while travelling to Lebanon, Mohamad had to sign that he would not return to Switzerland for 5 years... another disaster!! How should we continue our relationship? It wouldn't be an easy thing for him to live as a Christian in the South of Lebanon. There was no postal service in the country so we couldn't even write each other!
The time went by quickly and Mohamad asked me again and again to marry him. "We could work in Switzerland, build up a better life, have children", he said. He loved me and didn't want to lose me...
Everything went very fast. I had known him only 9 months and had to decide to marry or not to see him again! Also he was a Christian and I could imagine that he would be a good husband and father. He was so nice, full of respect and humor, charming and handsome... and above all we got along so well!
We married in Lebanon. Then I flew back to Switzerland by myself and got the papers ready for him. It took for ever and after 6 months he was finally able to join me. In the meantime I had found work and rented a very small room of a flat toghether with a few other Christians.
We had been speaking about baptism for quite some time and I was looking very much forward to it. The, for me, very special day came but Mohamad suddenly changed his mind and said it was too early for him, he wanted to wait. That was fine with me. I didn't want to force him and was sure the time would come.
6 months after Mohamad's arrival in Switzerland I finally found a job for him. We also found a nice flat and were very happy to have more space. Slowly we started to furnish the place and I started looking for a church. Just 10 minutes away I found a fellowship where I began to feel at home. But Mohamad had a lot of excuses every Sunday morning and never came. So I went along by myself.
Summer 93 I went for one month to visit my parents-in-law. I went there by myself and wanted to know more about them, the country and the language. They treated me like their daughter and I felt very much at home. We became very close and my Arabic improved a lot. I also spent a lot of time with Mohamad's youngest sister who visited us later for 3 months in Switzerland.
But Mohamad got more and more quiet and depressed. We began to have many quarrels and fights and I couldn't understand what had happened. He didn't like my friends anymore and in winter 93 he finally broke the silence. He said, "I am a Muslim and not a Christian and I want to remain a Muslim. I don't want to be in contact anymore with Christians". Mind you, I was a Christian too... That moment my world came to an end. I didn't know what to say. Now we began to have fights almost every day. I tried not to offend him but it was impossible. He became angry because I read a book he didn't like etc. I didn't know how to behave anymore.
In this short time he had changed completly. How can a man change like that? He wasn't the man anymore I had married. We had nothing in common anymore. He had his own friends and did not want to spend time with mine. In the summer 94 I knew we couldn't continue like this. This wasn't a marriage! The day came, Mohamad told me, he would leave for a few months to think it all through. He already had a flat.
For about 2 months I didn't hear from him. Then one day he stood before my door and wanted to come back. I wanted to know how he wanted to improve our marriage. Well, he wanted to continue the way it had been. He would do his things and I mine... But that wasn't my idea of marriage. I wanted to live with Jesus and not spend my time fighting. A few weeks later I heard that he had a girlfriend. That was enough and I filed for divorce. Winter 94 he visited me again and told me he didn't want a divorce and he loved me. His girlfriend was pregnant by that time which fully convinced me that I had taken the right decision.
Many of my friends prayed for me in this difficult time and God gave me strength to stay on his side. I want to encourage all of you who are maybe in a similar situation. Trust in the Lord and stay with him. He cares for you. He doesn't let us down when we fall. He helps us to get up. With him we can always start anew. I want to live for Jesus for the rest of my life. He never disappoints us!!
Psalm 121.2+3
Psalm 91.1+2
Psalm 100.2+3
John 12+13
Hebrews 10.23+24