During my teenage years, I had a desire to live a good, moral life, but I could never do it. I was raised in a Muslim home with good values, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself from joining my friends in doing things I knew were wrong. What bothered me the most was when my own friends would rebuke me for wrongdoing, which usually happened when I was caught in a lie.

In my last year before graduation from secondary school, I wondered if fasting would bring the change I felt I needed in my life. In all my years growing up, during the annual Muslim fasts our family would sometimes go into town and eat while pretending we hadn’t broken the fast. That last year of school, I completed the entire fast. However, it was to no avail, which really upset me. I was left with many questions and one conclusion: the Islamic leaders had been deceiving me, because there was no transformation in that religion.

A new prayer

I had lived my entire life in Ghana, and after graduation I planned to travel to Nigeria where they were having an economic boom. I hoped to make some money and then continue on to America for even greener pastures. However, God, in His own way, foiled those plans. I had given my savings to my elder siblings and they spent it, so there was no means to travel. Instead, while waiting for my school certificate results, I decided to visit an uncle. He attended the Apostolic Faith Church, and when I arrived, he started explaining the Gospel to me. He said that I should ask God to show me the right way to worship Him. Later on, my uncle’s son came to our house and invited me to church. However, I was not ready to accept the invitation.

Soon, I started praying as my uncle had suggested. During the regular Islamic prayer times, instead of the usual recitations, I began asking God to direct me to the right way of worship. Around the same time, my elder sister started attending church. One day, when she was reading the Bible, I sat by her and listened to what she was reading. She read John 14:9 where Jesus said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” I wondered why the Islamic religion referred to Jesus as a prophet, when He said He is the same as the Father. That verse was the tipping point for me in realizing that Islam was not the right way to worship God.

The transformation I longed for

Not long after that, I went to a motorcycle shop with two friends and we happened to pass the Apostolic Faith Church while they were holding revival meetings. I saw my uncle there so I went to greet him, and as usual, he invited us to the meeting. This time, he asked when we would visit. Not having any good answer, I just told him I would go on Friday. But when that day came, I was very uncomfortable. Everywhere I went, I heard this question in my heart: “Are you not the one who promised your uncle to attend his church?”

Finally, I went to the church service in the evening, and it was a wonderful experience. I had been to other Christian churches as a child when visiting family during holidays, but I’d never been to a church like this one before. I enjoyed the songs, testimonies, and preaching so much that I decided to go back on Sunday morning and then again on Sunday evening. By then, I had heard the message of salvation and testimonies of young people whose lives were changed, including one of my cousins who was now sober and living a different life. That was the transformation I had been longing for.

Having never been taught how to pray directly to God, after my first services I just recited the Lord’s Prayer and then went home. However, that Sunday evening, I was determined to get saved. I told God that He must save me that very night. As I prayed, the Spirit of God started revealing my sins to me, so I asked for forgiveness. Before I realized it, joy had come into my heart and I was praising God! A heavy burden lifted from me, and I felt so light. A minister there told me to press forward for sanctification, and I prayed and received it right then. My joy was even greater! Again, the minister encouraged me to press forward for the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and while praying for it, I began speaking in a language unknown to me. I went home that evening full of joy and praising God!

Immediately after receiving the three basic Christian experiences, there was a remarkable change in my life. I became calm and stopped fighting with my sister, even telling her that God had saved me and I would not quarrel with her again. God also laid it on my heart to make restitutions to people before I even knew what that word meant. The Spirit of God began urging me to go and amend certain wrongs I had done in the past, and to pay back friends that I had defrauded. I prayed about each case, and the Lord helped me to make restitution for all of them. I also started attending church service whenever I was able—I couldn’t stay away from the church premises. A few months later, I was invited to join one of the choirs at church, which helped me tremendously by keeping me close to Jesus. With each step I took, I could feel the presence of my Savior with me.

My first trial

As these wonderful changes were happening in my life, I was experiencing a great trial at home. My parents had not known that I had started attending church, but after I was saved, they found out about it because they heard me praying at home. Previously, I had been praying there silently, but I could not stay silent anymore.

Right away, my parents asked me to stop attending church. They became antagonistic towards me, to the extent that when I returned from evening services, my mother would not give me dinner and I would have to sleep on an empty stomach. Eventually they realized that they could not persuade me to give up church, so I was summoned before a group of Muslim leaders to be convinced. They believed my life would be miserable outside of Islam and made several attempts to warn me about the risk I was taking.

Finally, my father told the panel that if I would not return to the Islamic religion, he would disinherit me so that I would have no share in his property in the future. At that moment, God gave me the courage to tell them that my only interest was to make Heaven my home, not to gain some earthly properties. Upon seeing that I was truly determined not to return to Islam, my father became furious and ended the meeting. The persecution at home increased until I finally had to relocate to the mission house for an extended period of time.

Success with the Lord

Though my parents had rejected me and would no longer help me financially, I had God to sustain me. By His grace, I secured a job as a teacher to help pay my expenses. After a few years, I gained admission into a higher education program in surveying and mapping. After completing the program in 1987, I was employed by the Lands Commission of Ghana. Around that same time, I was privileged to become a Sunday school teacher and youth minister.

In 1992, I married my darling wife, Anna. Together, we have seen many victories along this pilgrim pathway. We were without children for eighteen years, but in His time, God gave us a set of twins, which brought much joy to our home.

God shaped the path of my career in ways that I did not expect. In 1995, I was given the opportunity to study for one year in the Netherlands. There, I acquired skills that enabled me to work on special projects in my department and gained a great deal of experience in the field of Mapping and Geographic Information Systems, which in turn opened more avenues for me to travel around the world. Later on, God made a way for me to complete a master’s and then a doctorate program as well, and I continued working for the Lands Commission until my retirement.

By 1998, God had provided the means for my wife and me to build a house. My father was still alive at that time, and during the dedication of the house, he commented to the late Reverend Paul Akazue that he knew God had built this house for us because I had given my life to Him. This was a profound statement to the glory of God, and it refuted the threat that I would be disinherited unless I recanted my faith in Christ. My relationship with my father was fully reconciled, to the point that he considered me a confidant and one of his best friends. Indeed, the devil has always been a liar.

Several years ago, God brought me through another major trial. In 2017, I became gravely sick. First, I developed a skin rash that prevented me from sleeping. Then, the lower part of my legs swelled to at least double in size, making life unbearable. When it seemed things could not get worse, I contracted typhoid and developed other issues too. During that difficult period, my dear wife supported me in every way. Her faith was a great encouragement to me. I am also grateful for the people of God who prayed for me. At my lowest point, I was in the hospital for more than two weeks and it looked like I would not survive. The enemy threatened me with fears of death, but to the glory of God, Jesus healed me. I have made a full recovery and am grateful to be serving in the Lord’s work again.

It is so sweet to know the Lord! The God of the mountains is also the God of the valleys, and through everything He has been with my family. By His grace, I intend to give Him the rest of my life and make Heaven my home at last.