Christian apologist Nabeel Qureshi, who is battling stage IV stomach cancer, has shared how God sent His angels to comfort him as he endured "the worst pain" he'd ever felt in his life.
In a video update posted to YouTube on July, Qureshi, a Pakistani-American Muslim convert to Christianity who is an author and has also served with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, said that "God was there" as he experienced "without a doubt, the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life."
Speaking from his hospital bed, Qureshi revealed that several weeks earlier, doctors had placed a stent inside of him, hoping it would allow him to eat.
"It was more a less an emergency procedure because I hadn't eaten for over a week," the "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus" author shared.
However, the next morning, the stent was dislodged from Qureshi's stomach and traveled up to his esophagus, causing extreme pain.
"If you can imagine a 14 centimeter mesh tube stuck in your throat, that's what was going on," he said. "I was just vomiting blood as we were trying to make our way to the ER. While I was in the ER, I was in excruciating pain. I'd never felt or imagined pain like this before. It was internal, as if something inside me was trying to explode out."
The tube was lodged in Qureshi's throat for 60 hours before doctors were able to remove it.
"I was feeling such tremendous pain that I almost went to this new phase of being, basically, where I'm not feeling the pain - I'm watching myself feel the pain," he said. "I just can't even relate to you how much pain I was in - just off the charts."
During this time, something amazing happened.
"As I was going through the worst of the pain...that I'd only ever conceived of, not even, I felt like I heard voices of reassurance. I don't know if it was just my head as I was going through tremendous pain, or if the Lord was speaking to me, or if angels were whispering assurances."
He added, "But, I just felt a presence that - even though it wasn't physically there, I just knew there was a presence there."
The evangelist shared: "I had friends come to pray for me, as they were praying for me I was thinking, 'Did they lay their hands on my head? Did they lay their hands on my stomach?' And I'd look to see what they were doing, and they'd be standing next to me and they weren't laying hands. But, I could feel hands on my head and on my stomach. I'd think, 'is the Lord sending me angels?'
Based on his experience, Qureshi's said he "knows for certain that when you're going through the absolute worst of it, God will be there."
"God will be there, and He will send His comfort, be it through ministering angels or through His own voice," he said. "He was there for me, and I don't think I'm anyone special, so I think He'd be there for you, if you're going through something like that as well."
Qureshi said that soon, he will hopefully get a J-tube surgically inserted so he will stop losing weight, regain nourishment, and begin his recovery.
"I will be in the hospital at least for another few days, so I'd appreciate your continued prayers," he concluded.
