God has never stopped loving me, even when I didn’t know him. I came to Belize to start a life outside of everything I knew, but of course I didn’t understand God’s plan which my then girlfriend, now my wife always talked about. Knowing what I do now about God now, I don’t think my wife knew exactly what she was talking about either.

I was living in sin and living my life however it came, not paying much attention to consequences, but I must say my upbringing stopped me from going over the edge. Being a Muslim, I was always trying to be a good Muslim, but for some reason I had a strong attraction to Christianity. I can’t explain how I managed to go to a “Christian” middle school because my dad was big on Islamic studies, I was too young to have fought my way to such school, and it must have been the hands of God pulling me. Even in high school instead of Islamic studies I did CRK (Christian religious Knowledge), either was required by the school curriculum but this was to my dad’s dismay.

I understand now that it was just religion, but it laid some foundation to my openness to learn about Jesus. It paved a way because it wasn’t hard for me to follow my wife to a “real’’ church when we met. She boldly told me she was not going to marry a Muslim or be forced to be one, but religion was not going to stop me from trying.

Years later I got a call from her one day, telling me she had given her life to Jesus, I said ohk and was baffled because she had always gone to church, so she tried to explain the difference, but I couldn’t get it. We were apart from each other for a long while, but when she finally moved to Belize, we started going to Potters house, a church she had attended a few times in Nigeria.

I began to listen more attentively but I often weighed the word of God being preached to me by our then pastor, Matt. I didn’t understand a lot of things, but I wasn’t embarrassed to ask my wife some questions after hearing a teaching or preaching.

One day something in me broke, I started hearing the word without comparison to human understanding; I just took it as it came. I must confess that a lot of times it was like my wife talked to the pastor before we got to church, she assured me there was no such thing! I would be struggling with something; as soon as I got to church that same issue would be preached on! I said to myself, if this is not God talking to me, it must be some good magic! This happened over and over, my heart started softening and being very open to God’s word, and then it happened, I made the decision and gave my life to Jesus and started a genuine relationship with him and got baptized!

I still struggle in some ways, but I trust God to perfect those things in me and make me exactly how he wants me to be because I am totally willing to be led by him. I have a happy family now, and God has come through for us over and over. I stopped trying too hard to be a good husband, good father, good friend, the list goes on, and I stopped basing my today on my past. The world says you can judge a man by his past doings, but Jesus judges differently. When you accept Him and live by His will, He changes you and directs you on how to be all those things naturally, until being good becomes second nature! I’m so excited for God; I really love being a Christian to the true sense of it!