Author: Josh Depenbrok/Global Chistian Relief

By Josh Depenbrok and Chandler Peterson /Global Chistian Relief When we last saw Maryam and her family, she had just been released from bonded labor. Her debt paid, the once-enslaved Christian left behind her days working at a brick kiln in Pakistan for a new life of freedom, hope and restored dignity.  As GCR reported last year: When Maryam’s husband fell ill, they took out a loan of just $862 for his medical care. Little did they know that this financial “agreement” with the brick kiln industry would steal their freedom for years. “We agreed to the loan, believing that we would work…

by Josh Depenbrok/Global Chistian Relief Can you forgive the person who hurt you most? Nancy and Philemon are doing exactly that. Their journey through persecution in Nigeria is a powerful testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of God. “We were in our town when suddenly Boko Haram attacked us at night,” Nancy says, her voice holding steady despite the heaviness of the memory. “So we started running. My mother held my hand while we were running.” Nancy doesn’t like to dwell on the trauma she and her brother Philemon endured, even though they bear physical scars reminding them of their past. Instead,…

By Josh Depenbrok/Global Chistian Relief Ramata, a Christian woman persecuted by her family, was born to a Muslim family in the Ivory Coast where she was taught to study the Quran. Little did she know that she would one day find faith in Jesus–and that her belief would anger her family so much that they would starve and banish her, rather than accept her as a Christian. But through every trial, God never left her. This is her story. I came to know Jesus here in Burkina Faso when I was 17. I was very sick and no hospital could…