Christian apologist Nabeel Qureshi is fighting hard against stage IV stomach cancer, but even in the face of such a challenge, he is still finding the strength to share his faith.
In a recent vlog, the former Muslim shared an amazing story of how he asked Jesus to reveal Himself in a dream and he got an answer he wasn't quite expecting.
"A lot of people who are leaving Islam and become Christian do so because they have seen Jesus in a dream or a vision. I did receive dreams and visions when I was seeking the truth about Christianity and Islam but I never actually saw Jesus in a dream or a vision. I saw things that led me to the Gospel. I was thrilled to have seen Jesus in a dream. I had been praying for it. I had been asking for guidance and I think I got some," he shared.
Jesus appeared in his dream but he said something to Qureshi that took him by surprise. According to his account, Jesus hugged him and said the words 'baby' and 'sponge bath' to him.
"Now, not exactly what I was expecting to hear from Jesus — 'baby' and 'sponge bath.' But those are the only things that I remember from the dream, apart from the hug and what he looked like and where we were," he said.
When Qureshi awoke, he decided he couldn't ignore the words and headed straight out to a Target store to buy a sponge to give his baby daughter the sponge bath that evening. He waited the whole day in anticipation, but even the sponge bath didn't go according to expectations.
The moment his daughter saw the sponge she started crying hysterically and asking to be taken out the bath. Despite Qureshi's attempts to reassure her, she wouldn't stop crying and trying to get away from it.
"This is not what I was expecting at all," he said. "She was just absolutely terrified to the point where she stood up in the tub and walked to the edge of the tub and stared at the wall ... looking over her shoulder, terrified and crying and staring at the sponge. I am thinking, 'What are you so afraid of? It's me, it's your momma. I am holding the sponge. It's OK, we are just going to give you a quick little bath. Why are you scared?'"
Although it was puzzling, Qureshi thinks there might have been a prophetic message about his own situation in what happened. He believes his daughter's irrational fear of the sponge was symbolic of his own fear towards his cancer, despite knowing that the cancer is in God's hands.
"I began to think that if this wasn't an image that God was showing me of what is going on in my life, where God is my father and He has been cleansing me, or at least He wants to cleanse me through this, through this cancer, this illness," he said.
He clarified that he was not saying he believed it was God's will for him to have the cancer, but that his sickness could be used to glorify God and cleanse him spiritually.
"What I am saying is here is this opportunity for cleansing and for me to glorify God but I am so terrified of this illness even though it is held in my Father's hand that I am not doing the cleansing work. I am just asking Him to rescue me and take me out of the situation so much so that the work that can be done, I am not letting it happen. I wonder if that was the image that God was giving me," he said.
In addition to sharing his dream, Qureshi asked supporters for their prayers because he is having difficulty eating as he continues to undergo treatment for his cancer. He said the radiation had caused inflammation, making things "pretty difficult" for him recently.
But he added that, after receiving the prophetic prayer of Jesus, he is determined not to give in to fear. "Now, that doesn't mean I can't pray for healing but I shouldn't be motivated by fear," he said. "I think I was letting that happen to me. This disease is in my Father's hands."
