I meet Bahar, as we call her here for safety reasons, at the House of Hope shelter in a country in Central Asia. She is 37 years old and works at the shelter, which is supported by the Danish European Mission's intercessors and donors. She herself lived at the shelter for two years when she and her two young boys fled an abusive marriage.
Bahar says: "My parents have disowned me and don't want to be recognized. It's really hard, but I know that God has a plan for my life. For all the evil that has happened, I know that God will repay and replace (Joel 2:25, ed.). Thank God for his grace! My children saw with their own eyes what God did for us. We want to be good examples as a family and show what it means to be saved by God. We have a heavenly father and we are never alone!".
"It was hard when I was a Muslim. I wore a burqa, read the Koran, and I prayed five times a day. For Muslims in my country, Jesus Christ is mostly a Russian God, and we can't believe in the Russian God because we are from Central Asia. We have to have our own God. That's why I can be afraid to be a Christian in Central Asia. I have a fear of social contexts, of what people say about me, and of what people think about me in general."
"When I come to town, prepare yourself to die"
"I told my parents that I had found peace through Jesus Christ because I had gone through so many difficult things in my life. It was a very long time before I told my parents about my faith. When my parents found out, it spread to all my relationships in my extended family and they started attacking me. They attacked through words, not physically."
"A year ago, my uncle told me he was going to cut my throat. He said: 'When I come to town, prepare to die'. I replied, 'I'm ready! I am not afraid of him. I pray instead of him," Bahar says with confidence in her voice.
"The other day I met him and he was kind and soft. He asked me: 'Are you angry about my words? You shouldn't be, everything is fine'. I told my uncle that was the right way to react. I could see that he was thinking about it. You know in your head, in your heart, that it was God's grace that made it such a conversation."
"I keep praying for my family and all I can do is pray because it's in God's hands. I want to be a good example for them and show them who Jesus is. My youngest brother has now also become a Christian," she says with a smile.
