A church in Burkina Faso
“…Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” (Isaiah 40:31)
Martine was standing outside her church after the service one Sunday, chatting with other members of the congregation, when Islamic militants approached the church.
“They took the Bibles, the wooden pulpit and threw everything together and burned it all,” Martine remembers. “They told the men to follow them. And they took them behind the church. They made them lie on the ground to shoot them.”
Martine lost her husband, father, brother and brother-in-law that morning. She and other members of her church also lost their homes.
Since 2016, many Christians and moderate Muslims in Burkina Faso have fled their homes in the face of increasing jihadist attacks. Men are usually killed in these attacks, leaving women and children widowed, fatherless and homeless. Many live in camps for internally displaced people, which is where Martine ended up.
Your prayers and gifts renew lives in Burkina Faso
Thanks to your prayers and support, Open Doors partners were able to deliver much needed emergency relief aid to Martine and 2,100 other displaced families. Martine and 87 other women widowed in similar ways have also benefited from trauma care.
A trauma care training session for widows in Burkina Faso
“The trauma care training has helped me. The teaching that you gave me has renewed my life. And it has renewed my strength.
“I say, thank you for the fact that you thought about us. You also did not forget that our hearts have been hurt. You came to help us, so that we may have strength again. May God bless you and renew your strength.”
After receiving trauma care, Martine longs for other widows to experience the healing that she has: “If I can take those words of love that I heard and have victory, I also want other widows to have the same. If the others get the same, I don’t believe hatred and troubles will ever be in our widow-hearts.”
Thanks to you, Martine’s faith remains strong. Please pray with her that her church will continue to follow Christ no matter the cost.
“Pray for our faith to be strong,” she asks. “We want to remain in Christ. Deviate not to the right nor to the left. Pray for us so that we may have victory in our faith fight.
“We also ask you to pray for our nation so that peace may be back in Burkina Faso.”
