Parents and Teachers: The September 2014 issue of The Voice of the Martyrs magazine features information about bold Christians who serve God in Central Asia. To subscribe to the free monthly magazine, visit our subscription signup page. As you read the magazines, you may want to share stories from this site about the featured Christians with your children. Then pray together for the people in the stories.
Sumayah lives in a country in Central Asia where most people are Muslims. She and her husband were also Muslims, and they were not getting along well. They divorced when Sumayah was pregnant with their second child.
Sumayah moved in with her parents. Then she heard the good news of Jesus and trusted in Him as her Savior! But her Muslim parents were angry. “[Let’s] send her away and see how her God feeds her,” they said.
God did take care of her. Sumayah supported herself and her two children by sewing for people.
The Good News Spreads
Sumayah shared her new faith with her ex-husband and he also came to Christ! They got back together and remarried. Their children are now 4 and 2.
But Sumayah’s parents told her, “It’s bad enough that you have become a Christian, but now you are trying to drag others into it!” Now her parents will not even speak to her.
Sumayah is encouraged by John 15:20 in which Jesus says to His followers, “If they persecute Me, they will persecute you.” Sumayah said, “I came to have joy from this because the persecution showed me that I belong to Christ. Now I know that I am His child!”
(Source: The September 2014 The Voice of the Martyrs magazine.)
To Talk About
How can Sumayah be joyful even though she has been persecuted by her family?