"I was only 15 years old at the time. I should have played, but I couldn't," she tells me via video link to Iran about her youth. Her marriage didn't last when her husband took drugs.
Azita remarried and this marriage became the gateway to the Christian faith, also for her new husband. Both Azita and her husband were Muslim, but her new husband also took drugs, just like her first husband.
At one point, some of Azita's husband's acquaintances invited him to a big city in a neighboring country to Iran. It was a great experience and the friends stayed in a hotel. But Azita's husband could see that his acquaintances, when outside Iran, were now open about being Christian. So while Azita's husband followed the Muslim prayer rituals, his friends prayed to Jesus and sang praises in the same room.
Azita explains: "When my husband came back to Iran, he didn't say anything about becoming a Christian because he was afraid of my reaction. He brought back a copy of the New Testament and when I found out he had become a Christian, he said, 'Let's read the Gospel'. What I realized was that even though I was full of sin, even though I wasn't clean on the inside, Jesus loved and accepted me."
Both Azita and her husband experienced rejection from their families because they had become Christians. They were mocked, belittled and felt that their family hated them.
However, the couple received Bible teaching and started a church in their home. They have seen many come to faith in Jesus and their home is filled with people. They have also seen God transform them and bless them in many ways. Azita says: "Before, the family used to say about us: 'They are nothing, they don't even have enough bread'. At one point the whole family rejected us, but right now people are coming back to us and want to see the change that has happened in our lives."
Azita tells us about the many copies of the New Testament that the Danish European Mission's intercessors and donors help get into Iran: "I give people New Testaments everywhere I go. It's a gift that works powerfully. There's nothing better in the whole world."
"Our children also believe in Jesus. My daughter says to my father: 'You have to become a believer', but even though he is still Muslim, he doesn't say anything because he loves our children," she says with a smile.
You can help persecuted Christians and spiritual seekers in Iran
- It costs just $60 to ensure that a copy of the New Testament can be printed, smuggled and distributed in Iran and imported into neighboring countries where Iranians live.
- You can also help Christians imprisoned in Iran and their families. Defendants receive legal aid to help them navigate the Iranian judicial system. In addition, families of Christian prisoners of conscience receive financial support to buy food, get medical care, and help cover the costs of rent, water, electricity and heating. Legal and practical assistance costs an average of 18,451 kr. as needed.
