By Yvette Harding —
Lily Meschi, a Muslim Iranian immigrant to America, agreed to an arranged marriage, but came to regret it. Arranged marriages are part of the cultural tradition of Islam.
“One time I remember as I was sleeping, he started throttling my neck because he had a dream that I was with another man,” says Lily Meschi on Allie Stuckey’s YouTube channel. “He was very jealous, very controlling.”
Lily came to Christ when a fellow Iranian immigrant friend from Oklahoma came to visit her in Texas and showed her scriptures from the Bible.
As a child in Iran, Lily Meschi always feared being arrested by the morality police.
“If there was a young woman who had a strand of hair showing from under her hijab the morality police would come and arrest her,” Meschi recounts.
Due to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, everyone born in Iran is considered Muslim.
In schools, teachers inflame emotions against every non-Muslim and against Israel and America.
“They put the fear and hatred inside of children’s hearts towards Americans who are not Muslims,” Meschi says. “As children we don’t know why this hatred exists.”
In Iran women are often treated as second class citizens. What matters for a woman is not who she is but what she can do for a man. They are treated more as possessions than people. Women are permitted to go to university, but after that not many are able to find work. Women are also allowed to marry as young as 13 in Iran, she says.
While her father was successful in business, as the economy worsened in Iran, the family decided to immigrate to America, but they had to do it one by one. Meschi moved to Austin, Texas when she was 18.
Because she was immersed in Muslim culture and beliefs, she agreed to an arranged marriage with a man 14 years older. He was a fairly successful Iranian immigrant, so her father became friends with him quickly.
But the man showed himself to be less than ideal. Even before marriage, he began exploiting her sexually. Meschi was scared to object.
When she went to college, her husband spied through the windows and accused her of cheating. He’d monitor her phone to see who she was talking to.
“I was very, very down and depressed and in complete darkness, thinking that I’m trapped in this relationship and there’s no way out,” Meschi says.
Some of her friends then came to visit her with Bibles.
“One of the women there said, ‘Lily, I know you’ve been through a lot, did you know that when you come to Christ all of your past will be gone and you will become a new creation in Christ?’” Meschi says.
A fresh start was exactly what she was looking for.
The Bible verses convinced her of Jesus’ existence. At that moment she knew that he was her Savior.
When she was 19, she officially turned to Christ and was born again.
It wasn’t long before her entire family came to Christ. Her dad had a vision and her mom felt the conviction of Christ while at church.
She stayed in her marriage with her husband. She forgave him every time he hurt her because that’s what she felt Jesus told her to do.
Her husband did not like the fact that she was following Jesus. One morning he threw her Bible across the room when he caught her reading it.
She didn’t want to divorce him, but she soon felt God released her from her marriage. It is unclear if it was due to adultery, abandonment, or abuse.
Now Meschi serves at Iran Alive Ministries, where they use satellites to broadcast Christian programming in Farsi into people’s homes in Iran.
They have built one of the largest underground church networks in Iran where they teach people the love of Christ.
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here
Related content: Muslim polygamy in American and the West, Muslim girl lost 7 years of her life, how a UK girl got radicalized into ISIS, distaste for child brides drove her away from Islam.
About this writer: Yvette Harding studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy near Century City, CA.
