Listener’s Reflection:  How God used me as domestic servant to minister to a Non-Christian Family 

“Congratulations you have been hired.”  These are nice words that anyone on a job hunt would desire to hear. They come with a sense mixed feeling of pessimism and optimism because we are always uncertain of what awaits us while we will be working. Thus, it is quite normal to do a background search on the potential employer especially while preparing for an interview to broaden your understanding on how you will cope up. However, in some instances some job seekers find it hard to do a background check on the employment opportunity due to the nature of the job. For example, domestic work opportunities or casual laboring. 

Well that is the situation that befell our listener *Mary Waswa (not her real name) seven years ago when she made the decision to move from her rural home in Kakamega in Western Kenya to go look for a job in North Eastern Kenya. Mary left her home uncertain of what awaited her but she was optimistic and this is her testimony as she shared with us.

“As single mother of five children and with no stable source of income, life was becoming tougher and tougher with each passing day but I still remained hopeful that God will make away. Then one day a relative who was working as a house servant in North Eastern informed me that there was a job opportunity of a house servant. Although I was desperately in need of a job, I was faced with a tough decision of leaving my family and embarking on the over 700 KM journey to place that was constantly reporting negative news of attacks and known not to be not be very welcoming to Christians. Being a believer also made me ask myself many questions on how this was going to have an impact on my faith because I was going to work in a non-Christian family.  Being a prayerful person, I prayed and asked God to lead me.

As I reflect on the day I landed into the home host family, all I can say is God indeed answered my prayers.  I still remember the way I was given a ceremonious welcome that cleared my fear of experiencing hostility due to the difference on our religious beliefs. I was then introduced the rules of the house. When it came to matters of religion the rule was very clear that my belief and prayers should not be in conflict with the host family or my job and they would respect my religion and vice versa. The pay was also much more than I had expected.

From there and for the next seven years God used me as His vessel in this family. This is how it started, this was a family that had migrated from Somalia and to settled in Kenya. They had a young girl who grew fond of me and would sometimes find me praying during my prayer time. When she became sick, she would ask me to pray for her and God would heal her. Therefore, she started sharing these testimonies with her mother. Later on her mother started sending her with some of the family prayer needs, I prayed, and God would meet their needs. After sometime, the family allowed me to be doing prayers before everyone went to sleep and before I prayed I would share God’s Word. That became the routine all through my years of stay. Although there is no day they renounced their religion, but being receptive towards the Gospel was just enough for me because I knew this was not happening because of my own plans.

As time went by, I came to realize that there was reason as to why God had placed me in the family and in the area. The thirst for the Word was quite evident, other workers did not have the kind of freedom of worship that I had in a non-Christian family in fact even the boss of my relative who had  informed me of the job was not allowing her to go to Church. At the same time, the constant attacks targeting Christians had made Christianity to become a very subtle religion. Some domestic workers were and are still being comprised to convert to their employer’s religion.

My journey was different and God had given me an opportunity to share the gospel. So, I took it upon myself to share the gospel whenever an opportunity would emerge. My gifting in prayers also helped me and I saw many healed through my prayers and others want to know more about my God. It was not easy but I managed and I did it with a lot of caution to avoid any conflict, I had never imagined that I would become a ‘secret Pastor’.

If there is one thing I will forever remain thankful for, is Trans World Radio Kenya for establishing an FM Station to serve the Northern frontier. I can strongly say that, that Radio Station is the only link that majority of the listeners have with the Gospel of Christ, to some it is their church, source of hope and the only avenue of getting to know what the scripture says. Even to me it was church and listening to some of the programs like Neno Litaendelea (TTB Swahili)  that I used to listen years back while in Kakamega brought me closer to home away from home. These programs are impacting many lives in North Eastern. This is the first station have seen that is very dedicated to their listeners and I even introduced many people to their programs. May God continue to bless them

As I conclude my testimony am I am thankful to my host family because I entered there as a stranger and by the time I was leaving I was part of the family. They begged me to stay or think about relocating my family to the area but I had already prayed and God had directed that it was my time to leave.

I am now back to my hometown and God blessed me through my employer and I can now comfortably provide for my family. In my journey of salvation, I have learnt to remain prayerful and patient and allow God to use me.

Do you listen or used to listen to any of our programs? We would love to share your testimony even the encourages us to share testimonies on what Christ is doing in our lives (Psalm 22:22). What is your testimony?

Email: letters@twr.co.ke or WhatsApp on +254 707 032 060