Sister Sitora in Tajikistan
September 12, 2017 by Janelle P in Asia
Sister Sitora * became a follower of Jesus in April, at the age of 17; she prayed to receive Christ through the witness of believers from a local Protestant Church. Two months later, on June 25th, she was baptized. On the evening of August 25th, her brother, a Muslim, came home high on marijuana and demanded to know if Sitora believed in Jesus. Sitora did not want to talk to him and tried to evade the conversation with her brother, who was stoned, but he persisted and forced her to answer
Finally, Sitora told him that she believes in Jesus, belongs to Him, and wants to live with Jesus for the rest of her life. Enraged by her response, Sitora’s brother took the wooden handle of a shovel and brutally beat Sitora. The merciless attach left Sitora’s whole body covered with bruises. Since her brother used the handle of a shovel along with his fists, her nose was broken and her whole face swollen and bruised. Her brother refused to let anyone from the family take her to the hospital, threatening that if anyone were to take her to the hospital, they too would end up in the hospital.
Please pray for Sitora’s. She is a young, pretty girl who is at risk of becoming crippled because of her refusal to deny her faith in Jesus. Pray that God would heal her body, and give her the strength and endurance to resist her brother’s continued insistence that she renounce the Lord Jesus Christ and return to Islam.
*name changed for security reasons
Our Father, God of all comfort, have mercy on Sitora as she heals from her horrific wounds, both physical and emotional, and lives in the captivity of her own home. You have freed her from spiritual bondage to follow You, now protect and comfort her in her earthly bondage. She is so new in her faith; help her to see Your presence with her and strengthen her faith that she might stand firm. And free her from her captivity in ways that display Your sovereign power, that show that You have done it, drawing her family into saving faith. In the name of Jesus
