For eight years after her baptism, Dorothy Kuru had to put up with opposition to her faith directed at her by her husband, Paul. At times he would make disparaging remarks about the church, bar her from attending certain church functions and for periods would refuse for their children to go to church with Dorothy. On one occasion Paul locked Dorothy out in the cold when she came home from church.

Despite this, Dorothy held firmly to her faith and helped two of her sisters as well as Paul's and her daughter, Rita, to become Christians. Then, after eight years of obstinacy from Paul, the turnaround occurred.

At the invitation of Anthony Mwanza, husband to Mary, the first of Dorothy's sisters to become a Christian, Paul attended the Nairobi church's Men's Forum in November 2000. "The message touched me. I had a good time and made friends with many brothers. The brothers I got to know inspired me by their friendship."

Five months later, the Nairobi church gathered to say goodbye to Dan Kuria, who had died in Ethiopia while leading the church there. Paul attended the funeral at Dorothy's invitation, and was moved by what he experienced. "I saw the friendship and the closeness of the disciples. I had never before seen people mourning while at the same time being happy." From that point on, Paul started to come to church every Sunday and to study the bible with Nicasius Kamani.

During Paul's many months of bible study, a brother of his passed away. He was in charge of funeral preparations and one evening he observed something that served as a catalyst to his decision to get his life right with God. "Admittedly, I was drinking beer. Then I saw a certain priest, an in-law of mine who was helping organize the funeral, drinking well into the night with us, buying beer for others including his younger sister, and leaving his sister in the bar with men. I couldn't believe it. When I came back to Nairobi from the burial, I confessed my sins to Nicasius and told him that I wanted to get baptized."

It was a dream come true for Dorothy - and Rita too, of course. "Initially I believed that Paul would become a disciple," shares Dorothy. "It was at the top of my list of goals each year for my first six years as a Christian. But then, I began to wonder if it would really ever happen." One event that encouraged Dorothy, though, was when her discipler's husband got baptized. She began to believe again that Paul could come around. And come around he did, getting baptized on August 30th 2001, nine years after Dorothy's baptism. Just as the biblical Paul went from being a persecutor of the church to becoming one of its greatest leaders, Paul Kuru has gone from opposing his family's faith to becoming their godly, loving and reliable spiritual leader.

"We now speak with one voice and we study the bible with our children. My children and I understand each other, says Paul. "I've learned to say 'sorry' to my wife, which I would never do previously." Dorothy adds, "We are now like-minded in disciplining the children."

Paul shares, "In my becoming a disciple, Dorothy was a source of great encouragement. I could see her faith, her walk with God, and how faithful she was to me. Without her by my side I would never have made it." Now that he is a Christian, Paul says, "If I knew before what I know now, I would have become a disciple a long time ago."

We thank God that Paul is now a disciple and that Dorothy not only became a disciple but also held to her hope that Paul would one day join her in the kingdom of God. Let us all keep dreaming as we faithfully put the different areas in our lives before God.