A True Story

 

 



A book I recently finished reading has run the gamut with my emotions, ranging from deep anger and sadness to pure awe and renewed faith. Captive in Iran is a story about two young Christian women, arrested for handing out New Testaments in a country that is not open to any other faith than what is held by the regime. What stands out in this story is that even though these women were locked away in the depths of one of the most notorious prisons in the country, their voices were not silenced.

In reading this story I was amazed over an over by the living testimony these women proved to be in how they related to the other prisoners - prisoners filled with hate for their unjust treatment - and rightly so. In a land where men's natural instincts overtake the religious system and allow them to lawfully abuse women, the consequences of prison sentences are hard to fathom. I was dumbstruck by the explanations that one of the lawyers was trying to impose on the women when it was evident that they would not give up their faith. He told them that in their own religion there is a loophole for a lie of convenience. Could they not call on such a loophole in Christianity in order to save face?

One example of how their lack of fear played itself out in a cell filled with deeply wounded, tortured and beaten women, tells of how one woman lay crying on her cot - when one of the Christian women asked if she could pray for her. Let me share this excerpt of what happened and why I feel God allowed them to share in the pain of these prisoners.

"As Mrs Mahjoob cried, we prayed - not loudly, but not hiding what we were doing. Gradually, the women around us stopped their conversations to listen. By the time we finished, nearly the entire room was silent. Someone called out, "Your heart is pure and God will listen to your voice. Will you pray for me, too?"

This is how a place that resembled a lawless pigsty became a haven . . . a church where there was no limit to what prayer and faith could do.

Part of the irony in this published story is that the imprisonment of these women has allowed us a view into the lives of other prisoners, their reasons for being there and their basic human need, so receptive to genuine love. The reasons for prisoners held in this place angered me, while the loving gestures these godly sisters doled out, filled me with awe. The effect of their actions in this prison was like a match lit in total blackness, one that I pray continues to shine a light on what is true, noble, right, pure and admirable.