As followers of Christ on the Arabian Way we are facing the most difficult times of our lives as a brutal war wreaks havoc on our nation and increases the threats against our faith community. We have felt the anguish of loss, the comfort of togetherness, and the joy of baptizing a new believer all within the last month. Here are a few of our stories.
Aisha
One day an airstrike hit a field of propane tanks near the edge of the city. It caused a massive explosion and the people in the city said they thought it was judgment day, because the light of the fire made it seem as though the sun was rising in the west. People who lived near the area came fleeing to my village. It was eerie to see all the terrified people descending on our village in the darkness, with all of their cows and goats and donkeys and chickens and all the possessions they could carry. Many of them are living in our school now.
Munir
When our house was in the middle of heavy fighting, the scariest thing was that we had five propane tanks in the kitchen inside the house and eight propane tanks on the roof exposed to the bullets and mortars that were flying everywhere. If any of them had been hit, everyone in the house would have been killed by the explosion. I know God was protecting us.
Sometimes I go to the roof alone when it’s quiet and spend time praying, just me and Him. Those are great times that encourage me. It is an encouraging thing to discover that you can live with peace in your heart even in some of the most extreme situations. But I am the only believer in my family and it’s difficult for me when I can’t reassure my family that everything will be okay no matter what happens, although I have that peace myself.
Salaah
My wife gave birth to our second child during the war, and at one point we had more than 20 people living in our small apartment. They were all relatives who had nowhere else to go. I didn’t mind, but my wife got tired of it. The women and children have gone to the village twice when the fighting has gotten bad around our house, but my wife doesn’t like to stay in the village for a long time because the house there is also crowded.
Recently we had to leave our house and move to the suburbs of the city because our neighborhood became too dangerous for even the men to stay. On one of the worst days of the fighting, our neighbor was killed and we had to make a hole in our wall so that a woman and her children could escape from their house, which was under fire, into ours.
Another neighbor of ours has a niece who has four children; one is just four months old. There was an airstrike beside her house and she was so traumatized that she now has spells when she doesn’t recognize her own husband or children. My neighbor has diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, but he has now moved to the town where she lives to try to help care for her.
One of the things that I tell the women in my family that most reassures them are the words that were spoken about Christ, “no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.” I remind them that my life is in the hand of God and nothing will happen to me unless God says it’s time.
Sa’ad
My 16 year-old son was in a group of 15 boys that were hit by an RPG. Two of his friends died instantly, and my son and many of the other boys were critically injured. We were able to rush my son to the hospital and the faith community sent us money to bring a specialist doctor to do an emergency operation. Now my son still has a small piece of shrapnel lodged in his brain. It penetrated the first half of his brain and went into the second half and the doctors say they can’t take it out. He was in a coma for about three weeks. Now he is awake but he can’t speak and he can only move one side of his body.
Years ago I moved my family from the village to the city because I was being persecuted in the village and I wanted the chance to ground my children in their faith before anything happened to me. Also, my children could get a better education in the city. When the war started, however, our neighborhood in the city became very dangerous and I learned that some men who wanted to target me because of my faith were plotting against me. With the war there is no security in the city anymore, so they would be free to act and I decided to move my family back to my village where my tribe could protect me. I thought we would be safe there, but then the war spread out from the city into our village and now my son is in serious condition.
Khadija
I am now nine months pregnant and living in the village where we fled because of the war. When I went to have my last ultrasound the doctor said that the baby is breached, so I will probably need a C-section. I am afraid to go to the city to deliver the baby in a good hospital because the war is still very bad there. I will probably have the C-section in a rural hospital.
Journey with us on the way:
Pray that the war will stop and that the international community will stop funding and arming all belligerents in the conflict.
Pray that we will be protected from assassination by extremist groups that are now operating freely within our country.
Pray that we will continue to respond like Christ to our families, friends, neighbors, and the society around us.