A Soldier’s Bow to Grace

“Being exposed to missions, being exposed to war and all that fighting that was going on, it changes you. You're not the same person.”

Waleed Hamza was a 23-year-old idealistic college student when a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March of 2003 to oust dictator Saddam Hussein. Waleed and several friends volunteered to work as interpreters for the U.S. troops.

“I can help my dad. I can help my family, and I can help build the country, help these guys, and we can sort things out.”

Months later, Hussein was captured and his regime overthrown. A “new” government stepped in, throwing Iraq into a long, bloody civil war. Dozens of Waleed’s fellow interpreters - labelled as traitors by insurgents--were killed.  Then, his grandfather and father were murdered.

“And then that just changed everything. I wanted to hurt people. I wanted to get vengeance. I wanted to avenge my dad.”

Raised a Muslim, Waleed’s worldview began to unravel as he questioned why God would allow such tragedy. 

“How could you let all my friends down? How could you let all this carnage happen?”
By 2009, most of the Iraqi translators had been killed and Waleed had a bounty on his head.

“People getting beheaded, tortured and all sorts of horrible stuff. It was terrifying. I got blown up a few times. Almost got kidnapped. Almost--so many almosts, most of the guys that I work with, a lot of 'em have gone, have got hurt, got amputated, got blown up, got this, and got shot, got whatever. It’s only a matter of time. And just to see the country just keep deteriorating.”

A US soldier sponsored Waleed’s special immigration visa which opened the door for him to start a new life in North Carolina. There he met Bill and Debi, a Christian couple, who opened their home to him and invited him to church. Waleed always said no. 

“I don't want anything to do with God. I don't want to know about him. How am I gonna be rated by this God after doing all these things that I've done? It's all about the work. How much good can you do? And you're never good enough.”

Finally, he reluctantly agreed to go to a service with them. It wasn’t what he expected.

“‘I put my guard down and for a second, and I just was like, ‘Man, this is peaceful.’ And I told my friend Bill, I said, “Bill, I feel peace. I feel safe here.” And he looked at me and smiled, and he said, ‘I think that's good, buddy.’”

Soon after, Bill’s wife, Debi, introduced Waleed to a Christian woman named Hannah. 
She could see the burdens he carried.

“He saw so much carnage, so much loss during the war that when he came here, I mean, he was in a lot of ways broken,” Hannah recalls.

Eventually, Waleed enlisted in the Army. After bootcamp, he was assigned to the 82nd 
Airborne division at Fort Bragg and got his first assignment—-‘Operation Enduring Freedom’ in Afghanistan. Thrust back into the horrors of war, Waleed was convinced he wouldn’t make it back.

‘“I remember calling Bill. And I said, ‘Hey, man, pray for me. Pray to who, whoever you pray to, I don't think I'm coming back. This is completely different than Iraq.’ And he said, “Don't worry, buddy. We're, we're praying for you.”’
Bill wasn’t the only one praying for Waleed; Hannah was also interceding for him.

‘“I was praying for him, not because I thought, you know, romantically there was anything, but I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, if he dies, he doesn't know the Lord.’ I was praying for his salvation, and I was praying for his safety.’”

Having survived another war with many close calls, Waleed wasted no time asking Hannah out when he came home six months later. Hannah wasn’t on board with the idea.

“Oh my gosh, no way. This is never gonna work out. My faith is the most important thing to me. It is the foundation of who I am. So I very nicely put him in the friend zone.”

Soon after, back on base, Waleed had a dream.

‘“I saw this white figure; it's so bright, a silhouette of a man., I just saw his hand reaching down and he said, ‘I am, I am, I am.’ And then, and I was like, 
“What? Who are you?” I woke up. I didn't understand who it was.’”

Two weeks later, while hanging out as friends, Waleed shared the dream with Hannah. She identified the man in the dream immediately.

‘“So, I tell him,‘That's Jesus.’ And then he becomes unhinged. He's freaking out. He starts yelling, and saying some choice words at me. I knew enough to know like God was pursuing him and the enemy did not want him to know him. So, there was that battle within him.”’

Although Waleed calmed down and apologized, her words stuck with him. Then, a few weeks later, just before Waleed left to visit his mother in Turkey, Hannah gave him the book, Jumping Through Fires, written by an Iranian Muslim who had come to faith in Jesus. As he read, Waleed started to understand grace and Christ’s sacrifice.  

“It doesn't matter how much I do. I have to do nothing; it's already been done. I just have to receive it. That's it. That was the difference. I truly felt that God was pursuing me. He was coming after me.”

The next day, Waleed and his mother visited the historic Blue Mosque, and she urged him to come inside to pray.

“‘I felt this pull on my back and I heard, ‘You don't belong.’ And that was it for me. 
That was the time that I was like, “Okay, I'm done.” I told my mom, ‘You go, and you go pray. I'm gonna stay here. I'll wait for you outside.’ I just looked up and I said, “Okay, if you are real, I'll believe in you, but you have to do the rest.’”

Even as he spoke those words, Waleed knew the answer and decided to follow Christ as his savior. Back home, he went to see Hannah immediately.

“He didn't say hello. He just goes, ‘I met him, I met Jesus,’” Hannah recalls. “I looked in his eyes and his whole countenance had changed. I could just see the joy that he had.”

Waleed was honorably discharged from active duty in 2013. He married Hannah the following year and they started a family. Now, it was Waleed who was pursuing God. Years later, through the ministry Restoring the Foundations, he found true deliverance and freedom.

“Truly submitted to the Lord, I confessed all these sins that I had done and started talking about it openly. That's when I got really freed from all of it. It was amazing how the Lord healed me.”

Since that time, they have served in ministry together and started their own ministry, Redefined Warriors, aimed at helping veterans find purpose and identity through Christ.

“Now, I have peace. It's not the work that you do, it's what has been done. You're accepted. Doesn't matter who you are, you're already accepted.”
 

To purchase his book Occupied: An Iraqi Translator Caught Between Two Worlds Shares His Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption click the Link!  And to find out more information on Redefined Warriors click the LINK!