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.
- Boko Haram invaded Nancy and Philemon’s village. An extremist set their house ablaze.
- The brother and sister are now orphaned and left with nothing. Horrible burn scars continually pain them.
- Yet both of them decided to obey Jesus and forgive the men who hurt them.
“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, both siblings have chosen to forgive the terrorist who murdered their family and left them with lasting pain. Both have taken Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:44 to heart: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
When Boko Haram invaded, everyone in the village began running in different directions. Nancy and Philemon ran with their mother while their father tried to escape another way. He didn’t survive.
The children and their mother fled to Cameroon, where they lived as refugees. A man approached their mother wanting to marry her. At first she refused, until he threatened to kill her if she didn’t. She was terrified – and knew she had no choice.
“He is Boko Haram, but we had no idea,” Nancy says. “He came and lived among the people.”
Their mother gave birth to two more children, a boy and a girl. The man she was forced to marry became increasingly abusive.
“Whenever he became intoxicated, he would beat my mother,” Nancy explains. “My mom said she can’t bear this beating anymore.”
Their mother took her children and returned to Nigeria, where they lived with her brother. But her husband followed her there. When he found her and began to beat her again, her brother jumped in to stop him.
Deeply Scarred, Yet They Thank God
After years of abuse, Nancy and Philemon’s mother went to court, where a judge declared that her marriage was invalid. He told the man never to set foot in her house again.
But that night, the man came to the house they were staying in, which was made of grass, and doused it in gasoline. He set the house on fire and pushed anyone who tried to escape back into the flames.
“When he set us on fire, after some time, people came to our rescue and took us to the hospital,” Nancy says. “We were taken to five different hospitals before we were accepted by some doctors who said they could handle it. My younger sister died on the way. As for my youngest brother, he died in the hospital after a few weeks. My mother spent one month receiving treatment and then she died.”
Bedridden for three months, Nancy never thought she would go outside again. But kind neighbors paid for their treatments, and the siblings recovered
Now orphaned, Nancy and Philemon made their way to an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, a place where victims of persecution can seek safety.
Nancy and Philemon may have survived the attack, but their bodies are covered in deep scars and their pain endures.
“Even our [bodies are] not fully healed yet,” Nancy says, “It’s still painful.”
Philemon agrees: “Whenever I work under the sun, I still feel pain.”
And yet, they cannot help but thank God for their lives.
A Surprising Bit of Comfort
“I am thankful to God for keeping me alive,” Philemon says. “All I can do is to give thanks.”
“We are grateful to God for saving us,” Nancy adds. “Here we are alive, even though we never thought we would be alive. Here we are healed by Him and we can even work a little now. Here we are able to sit. We are thankful to God, our gratitude has no limits.”
As Jesus says in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”
Later, in Matthew 18:21-23, Jesus tells Peter to forgive someone who wrongs him not seven times, but 77 times.
Nancy and Philemon are following Jesus’ commands and have decided to forgive the men who hurt them.
“God said we should forgive everyone, and if we don’t forgive everyone, we will not see Him,” Philemon says. “That is why I feel I should forgive them. God Almighty said, before you enter paradise, you must forgive everyone, seventy-seven times.”
Global Christian Relief (GCR) met Nancy and Philemon in the IDP camp, where they live in a house together. But the siblings had nowhere to sleep other than the hard floor. Your generosity allowed GCR to surprise them with their own mattresses, finally allowing them some comfort in their home.
