Below is the touching testimony of a young Christian woman who attended Maria’s Care and stood firm in her faith in the face of real hardship and difficulty. Ugandan names have been changed for the protection of the individuals.
” I am Patricia, a Ugandan Citizen, persecuted but still a born again and aged 22 years now. I was born in a family with a Muslim background. But my mum never got married to my dad. They just one time loved each other and so I was conceived and produced. Since they were not married, I grew up with my mum alone. When I approached 9 yrs of age, she got saved and I did. When I was 15 yrs, my mum died and so I had to go and stay with my dad who was from a Muslim family. The moment he discovered that I was born again, he made all possible ways to stop me from continuing. I loved Christ so much that I could not accept leaving Him. One day, after being caned seriously, he told me that if I could not accept his command of leaving Salvation, I had to leave his home. He therefore, sent me away from his home and I went to stay with one of the church elders. But what I remember, before I left home, he made me sit down and spoke to me words like; “I am no longer your father, my children are never your brothers and sisters and my wife is no longer your step mother. You will have to suffer for the rest of your life, …….” he followed this with an act of putting off his shirt to show that he had put off any kind of responsibility he would have rendered to me as his child. But though he spoke this to threaten me and make me submit to his command, I had already made up my minds to follow Christ.
Life wasn’t easy as I started staying in the new home, but I had to withstand. By this time I was just a week old at Maria’s Care doing my secretarial training. I therefore, struggled with life to see that I make my education successful, because my dad had promised never to pay my school fees again. But I very much thank God because by the time I was so much troubled and wondering about what to do, I came across a God’s Caring woman named Rhona Marshall, with whom I sat and explained my problems.With a lot of love she encouraged me, and gave me wonderful presents which became part of my success. I always remember the wonderful yellow paper which had the four reasons why I had to smile (truly whenever I read this paper, from no where I got peace in my heart and found myself smiling) and the small doll which whenever I held it and put it in my chest, I felt like Christ was always around me, caring and feeling my pain.
When I went on living in the new home, there came another elder who made a plan that I had to go back to my dad’s home and yet going back meant submission to my dad’s orders hence leaving salvation. When he told me to go back, I resisted and so he told the elder who was keeping me to chase me away from her home. I felt a lot of pain and life became so hard for me. I regretted why my mum had died, but I very much thank God because He never abandoned me. In that way, I was again chased from that home and I went to live with my uncle who was a staunch Muslim. After I had lived with my uncle for three weeks, my dad sent him to me to come and tell me that only if I could leave salvation, the door was very much open for me to go back home. As my uncle told me those words, he pressurized me and as I tried to resist, he seriously abused me and he also wanted to send me away from his home. I therefore, out of a lot of pressure, told him that I would leave salvation and go back home. But immediately after I had spoken such a word, I heard three consecutive voices speaking that ” Whoever denies me before people, I will do the same before my father in heaven.”, “Fear Him who has the power to destroy both the spirit and the body but not the body alone. Many gave up because they feared men’s approval and being chased away from their company but missed eternal life” ” When a person wants to build a house, he has to first sit down and calculate whether he has enough materials for full construction, But if he builds up to the middle and runs out of resources, passers – by laugh at his defeat.” After these voices, uncontrollable tears began to flow out of my eyes. I then realised that the Lord was talking to me. I immediately changed my minds and I, alone said, what come may, I will never leave salvation.
By this time all the church members had abandoned me from the Pastors to the youngest, except one girl who the Lord had told me in a dream that she alone would stand with me, and were all pleading with me to escape the suffering by abandoning Christ up to the time when I would be out of my father’s home. But although all of them left me, the Lord remained faithful and He never abandoned me, and He made only His word and the other girl’s word sound true in my ears and other words sounded lies.
I continued going to school. And now time came when they began sending me for school fees. Sincerely I never felt like explaining my problem to the principal because he wasn’t saved and even I was tired of people’s poor advice. So whenever I was sent back home for fees, I only went to stay at the nearby church and inform my heavenly father about my problem.
One day, there was a Pastor who heard about what I was going through and felt like he was touched. He sent people to tell me to go for school fees and I went. On reaching his home, the bad spirit that had surrounded my fellow church members fell upon him too. He therefore told me that he had used the money and advised me that if my dad was ready to give me school fees after leaving salvation, I had to do so, so that I would get school fees. With this I felt so much annoyed and hopeless, and my final decision was that I just had to end my education and go and live on the streets like any other street child. But the Lord is good at all times because when I reached home, I found my Uncle eagerly waiting for me because my Dad had told him that he wanted to see and talk to his daughter. I went to my Dad’s home and we sat and talked. If I am to clearly remember my Dad’s words this time, they were,”My daughter, I have seen how much you love your Jesus, I now leave you to serve your God the way you want because it is the Lord who enabled me also to produce you and take care of you up to this age. Come back home any day you feel like please and meet your brothers and sisters. How much money do they demand you at school for fees?” I told him the amount and he gave me not even half but the whole of it to take to school.
Though he had allowed me to go back home. I never rushed I only could pay them a visit. What I remember, for every visit I made, my Dad prepared for me only special things a person can prepare for a special visitor. I greatly thank the power of the Lord because it was not by power or by might that I managed to overcome, but by the grace of the Lord my God. THE GLORY BELONGS TO HIM FOREVER AND EVER! Amen. And I also very much thank my friend Rhona Marshall and my friend Naomi, (the young girl) who stood with me, by encouragement and prayer. May God bless you so much.”