Dusting Her Feet Off Like Jesus

Lisa has been going for walks with a Muslim friend named Fitri for a few months. Fitri knows Lisa is a follower of Jesus and has even helped her craft a few parables by changing them into the local vernacular. When they walk together, Lisa takes out a few Scripture verses (mostly from Psalms) written on small cards. Both women read over and then pray the Bible verses as they walk. Fitri readily takes the cards Lisa made for her, reads the verses, and then stashes them in her purse.

However, whenever they set a time to meet to read and discuss a story from the Injil (New Testament), Fitri always called to cancel. Lisa soon began to wonder if she was genuinely interested.

A recent training on “dusting off your feet” (Matthew 10, Mark 6, Luke 9) challenged Lisa to stop initiating spiritual conversations and instead wait for Fitri to begin one, as a way to test her interest. To Lisa’s delight, on their next walk, Fitri initiated a discussion about the differences between Islam and Christianity. Lisa asked if she could ask Fitri a difficult question, one that Lisa had never asked anyone before. When Fitri said yes, Lisa asked, “Have you ever asked Jesus if He is indeed God? If He would confirm that to you?”

Fitri replied, “I have considered asking, but I haven’t ever done it. No one has asked me that before. Since you brought it up, I will ask and tell you what He says.”

Lisa thanked her and offered to meet her to read various passages from the Bible to discover together what it says about Jesus. A few days later, however, Fitri texted Lisa a few short videos from Muslim leaders talking about the lies of Christianity. Fitri felt this was her answer. She did not want to look at either the Qu’ran or the Bible.

“I had my answer,” Lisa says. “Fitri is not, at present, an open seeker. So now I pray and keep my mouth shut when she and I walk together. I wait for the Lord to open her heart to Him.”