Two Women Thieves

One of our travel joys is hanging out in a room full of African disciple-makers while they tell each other stories of what God is doing in their nations. For example, Bahizi from Burundi was very excited to share with the others what happened with two women who were thieves.

A Muslim woman was invited to join a Discovery Bible Study in her neighborhood with other women. She reluctantly went. There she heard the Bible story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who admitted to taking money fraudulently and then, after encountering Jesus, promised to pay back four times the amount to those he cheated.

As the woman listened to this story, her heart was so torn that she finally blurted out, “I need to say something to the group right now. I have stolen things from my neighbor and I need to give them back.”

The leader of the group said to her, “If you really want to do that, can we go with you? God is doing something wonderful here.”

So together, several women went with the woman to the neighbor. She then explained that she wanted to give back some things that she had stolen.

The second woman then declared, “How can this be? I have never heard of such a thing. How did this happen that you decided to give my things back to me?”

The first woman then told how she had heard the story of Zacchaeus meeting Jesus and how it made her feel. Then and there, the second woman also wanted to hear the story.

Incredibly, after hearing the story, the second woman declared that she also had stolen some things from a neighbor and was now ready to return what she had taken.

As these two women and the others continued to meet together and learn about following Jesus, it was not long before God was at work among many. The current report is that the two women alone have baptized 28 other women since that time.