From Darkness to Light: Nadia’s Story

Sometimes we catch glimpses of how God moves.

One day in late July, Cameron woke up early to go read his Bible and spend some time with God. Having a team on campus makes it difficult to get away, but it’s easiest in the morning when people are still sleeping. As he made his way toward the church, he saw that Pastor Jacqueline and some of the guys from Peredo were worshipping. He slid in to check out what was going on, and he found out that the guys were planning on going into town to evangelize. In Peredo, that means going door-to-door to ask people if they know who Jesus is. It’s definitely a raw, personal way of telling people about faith that most American Christians would find pretty uncomfortable. But these guys trusted in God, and they gave themselves up to share their faith.

As they made their way downtown, God started to work. Going west down the main road, they turned right and started to walk toward a section of houses. They ended up meeting a lady named Nadia.

Nadia’s story is unique. At the time, Nadia was a voodoo witch doctor working from her home in the community. When Pastor Jacqueline, Onys, and Jean Robert started talking to her about Jesus, she told them that she had already been thinking about becoming a Christian. She had been pondering what it would be like to live as a Christ follower. God had already been working on her heart to prepare her for what was going to happen. The guys told her that they would come back that afternoon with Pastor RoRo, and she agreed. She was ready to take the next step.

I had been working with the team that day, and I was helping with the generator when Cameron called me out and told me to come with him. I grabbed my camera and hopped in a Land Cruiser with all the guys and Pastor RoRo. It was starting to get cloudy and gray. We rolled down through town and made a right down the street by Nadia’s house. The rain started to come down as we drove, but it tapered off when we reached her neighborhood. We had to drive past a game of street soccer, and the way the kids reacted made me realize how different our campus kids are. This was a different part of town.

We walked down a path and made our way between some of the houses until we stopped in front of Nadia’s house. She wasn’t home yet. Eventually, Nadia came home. She changed into some nicer clothes, and they set a chair down in the middle of the alley for her.

RoRo started explaining to her the significance of what she was about to do. She interjected with statements of where her heart was and how she was ready to change her life by letting God rule. She told us that she used to be a beautiful woman, but as the years went on and she went further and further down her path, Satan had destroyed her. She was drinking the sacrificial blood from animals and eating glass. Her life decisions had eaten away at her heart.

All of the Haitians who came with us circled around Nadia. They began to sing and worship.

Pastor Jacqueline and Pastor RoRo both prayed over her, and after they finished, everybody prayed at once. It was incredible to see the love and excitement that came from our Christian brothers and sisters as they began to welcome somebody new into our family.

And then we saw God move.

RoRo began to pray again, blessing this woman as she began her journey of faith. The sky was still gray from the shower that had happened earlier. But as RoRo prayed about the light of God and all of our Haitian brothers and sisters placed their hands on Nadia, the clouds opened up just enough for the sun to shoot through, straight down onto that row of houses. Directly facing the sun, it was bright enough that Nadia had to cover her closed eyes with her hand. It was like God said, “This is my child now.” The warmth from that light was incredible. Cameron and I turned to look at each other in absolute awe of what we had just seen. God shone his cleansing, warm light down on Nadia that afternoon in Peredo.

The best part about this experience was that it all happened because the people of God’s church in Peredo answered his call to share their faith. They followed God’s command. They went. Nadia was ready; God had already been working on her heart. All it took was for God’s people to go out and share.