persecution

She and her family were Christians in a place where Christ followers are considered profane.  Islamic law says these traitors to the Muslim faith can be killed. Shafia and her family were known for their Christian faith.  Her brother, Rafi, stood up for some Christian girls in their village. For doing this he was murdered in the night by Muslim's. The men who did this crime were never brought to justice.
With Rafi's death, the family lost their spiritual leader.  Life only got worse for them from his death on.  A Muslim man in Shafia's village tried to trick her into marrying him.  When she refused, he kidnapped her at gunpoint.
For four months, Shafia was locked in a small, upstairs room.  Each night the man raped her.  He tried to force her to accept Islam.  She refused, and he then started to beat her as well.  Every night for four months the cycle repeated.  Shafia's only solace was the memorized psalms she repeated as she was beaten. Shafia's kidnapping nightmare ended when she found the door to her crude prison unlocked.  She immediately ran home to her family.  She thought she was finally safe.  But just as the nightmare ended another one began.  Shafia's family had borrowed money from a local businessman to file charges against the kidnapper.  To pay back their debt, they were forced to work as slave labor in a brick kiln.
Shafia and 11 family members shared a tiny mud room at the brick kiln with no kitchen and no bathroom.  Every day the family made mud bricks for 12 hours a day.  They earned just $3 for every 1,000 bricks.  Only faith in God sustained Shafia.  Each evening she prayed with her family and read scripture.  Each Thursday night, they attended a nearby prayer meeting.
The Voice of the Martyrs heard about the family and paid their debt to the brick kiln owner. "Surely this is an answer to our prayers," she thought.
Since the horrible incidents the family now operates a taxi business and Shafia's family now hosts a prayer meeting for friends and neighbors in their home.  They continue to let their faith in Jesus Christ shine in Pakistan.  The risks have not changed. But neither has God.
This month Suburban Community Church is raising money and praying for the persecuted Church.  These are our unnamed brothers and sisters in Christ, in area's of the world were Christ is not welcome but yet his light is shining.  Please join us in praying for those under intense persecution and compassionately remember those whose faith can't be diminished by torture, abuse and suffering.