Amidst bombings and death threats, this Syrian Christian seeks Jesus

Since the start of the Syrian civil war almost 10 years ago, Open Doors has stood with the local church to help Christians—believers who are forced to flee war, threatened by extremists, persecuted and who lost everything.

When we met with the 22-year-old Sozan and her family, the situation in Qamishli had calmed down. Bombs are not falling anymore. But the situation remains complicated—and coronavirus has complicated it even more since we spoke with Sozan.

Sozan and her family are new believers who came from Islam. This is one of the families you supported when the bombs fell in 2019.

“I am from a Muslim background,” Sozan says by way of introduction. “I wasn’t deeply involved with Islam and I didn’t have peace, I had no love, I felt hatred in my heart.”

About 90 percent of Syrians are Muslim. There are no reliable current statistics, but before the crisis in Syria, an estimated 7 percent to 8 percent of the population—2.2 million at that time—were Christians. It’s estimated only 744,000 believers remain. So many Christians have fled the country that some churches are nearly empty. And yet, the empty spots left by those believers are being filled by new believers who are finding Jesus.

“People in the neighborhood started talking negative about us, as we were open about our conversion,” she says. “One day, I think about six weeks after my conversion, I was out with my sister Arya. A group of men came to hurt us, to persecute us. We were afraid, both of us were crying. We were so afraid we would be killed. But then Jesus appeared to me. He said to me: ‘Don’t be afraid.’ Then the people all of a sudden disappeared; they even apologized. That can only be God’s work.”

Though she sheds some tears, Sozan has a positive outlook. “Persecution is for the glory of God, so it is OK with us,” she says. “Jesus says that in the world we will face difficulties, but that He has overcome the world.

“Jesus is the only one who gives me eternal life,” she says. “He is the one who says He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. I now have a beautiful life. I continue to pray to Jesus—when I do so, I won’t be in trouble. I won’t hide my faith. Why should I? Less than a year ago, I was baptized.”

Sozan and her family are one of the Syrian families that are helped through a local church that has become a Center of Hope—an Open Doors-supported program to create community outreach resources for Christians. These places helped Syrian Christians during the Turkish incursion in fall 2019 and have been helping distribute emergency aid during the coronavirus crisis.

“We really were in a poor situation; we are so thankful for the help we got. Also, in persecution the church stood with us,” Sozan says. “We received relief items, we got shelter when we faced persecution. God told His children to help others like us. Through that, we are feeling that God is with us—that He is not leaving us at all.”

She dreams that many more Syrians will know the Lord Jesus. “I can say, life for us was like hell before we came to Jesus,” she says. “[It was] like living in a forest full of monsters. I would like you also to pray that we will come out of this swamp of persecution. Jesus has done a lot of miracles for us. We can’t thank and worship Him enough for that.”

When asked what else we could pray for her and her family, she says: “Please pray for our nation, pray for salvation for everyone. Pray that God will open the eyes of the people, that they might accept Jesus. Pray for God’s protection for us when we leave our houses.