By Mark Ellis
After she found the living Christ, she left her faith in Islam behind. As a result, she endured physical abuse, divorce and abandonment because she chose Jesus as her Savior and Lord.
Mounira came from a deeply conservative Muslim family in Niger. After she received Christ, her family abandoned her and her son Maoulé, leaving them homeless and friendless. Even her husband rejected her due to her faith in Christ, according to a report by International Christian Concern (ICC).
When he caught her reading the Bible, he seized the Scriptures from her hands and tore it to shreds. On Sunday mornings, he locked Mounira in her room to keep her from attending church.
One night, after he returned late from work, Mounira’s husband beat her to the point of unconsciousness because she dared to pray in a corner of their house. Her son, Maoulé, quickly called Mounira’s pastor, who rushed her to the hospital, according to ICC.
Even in the face of such horrific abuse, Mounira’s faith never wavered. She holds verses such as Romans 8:38-39 close to her heart: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (ESV).
Mounira’s steadfast faith outraged her husband. He divorced her, and kicked Mounira and her son onto the streets to fend for themselves.
After the split, Mounira’s husband told her Muslim family members about her conversion. They became enraged and plotted to murder her, and even arranged for criminals to go to her house in the middle of the night to beat her to death, according to ICC.
By God’s grace, on the night the evildoers broke into her home, Mounira was attending church.
Next, her family hired a sorcerer who promised to send a satanic spirit to kill her.
But Mounira held fast to God’s Word: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (Ephesians 6:12-13 ESV)
By faith, Mounira remains safe and perseveres with God’s help. After ICC discovered her situation, they provided Mounira and Maoulé with three months of food supplies and her diabetes medication, which she had not taken for months. ICC also equipped Maoulé with textbooks, notepads, pens, pencils, and erasers, and the fees necessary to allow him to return to school.
Today, Mounira joyfully praises the Lord. While speaking with ICC’s Niger representative, Mounira said, “I’m still under threat and pressure because both my family and my former husband are still looking for ways to kill me. However, I rejoice every day in the Lord because he is my strength, my comforter and my protector; I know he will never forsake me. I have gone through much violence and torture from my former husband and moreover my family is making plots to kill me because I’m a Christian, but I lay everything in the hands of God.”
Niger is predominantly Muslim and becoming more radicalized. Extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) have inflamed many Muslims in Niger. Therefore, many now regularly preach “Death to Christians” and target Muslim converts like Mounira.
To learn more about supporting persecuted Christians like Mounira, go to International Christian Concern
MAY OUR HEAVENLY FATHER KEEP THIS WOMEN AND HER CHILD SAFE FROM FAMILY AND ALL PEOPLE AGAINST CHRISTIANS. I PRAY THAT GOD’S ARMOR OF PROTECTION WILL COVER AND PROTECT YOU IN JESUS’S NAME, AMEN
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