CENTRAL ASIA — Jumagul’s* story is one of amazing redemption: after becoming a Christian, she was beaten and abused by her husband. But God heard Jumagul’s prayers and transformed her husband – and her marriage. After her husband’s death, Jumagul continues to follow Jesus – despite persecution from her local community.

Jumagul* lives in a country in Central Asia, where many Christians are secret believers. Her daughters discovered the Gospel while they were away at University and then Jumagul began to hear about Jesus through one of her daughter’s friends.

Jumagul:

“She started to share about the Gospel and worship. I listened to God’s words. I started crying and couldn’t stop. And I got so excited to go to a secret house church meeting the next Sunday!

“On that Sunday I woke up at 5am to go to church. My husband didn’t like it and he was scolding me saying bad words.”

Jumagul didn’t suffer only bad words. Her husband also physically assaulted her.

“As I was talking to my husband, he kicked me so hard that I fell three metres away. I got up and said to him ‘I still forgive you anyway.”

Jumagul’s husband was imprisoned for beating her and other offences.

“After my husband spent five years in jail he returned home as an alcoholic. One month later his mother passed away. Seven days later he stabbed me. He came up to me with a huge knife – a butcher’s knife – and he stabbed me. But that day I was wearing so many clothes, it was like I had a thick coat.

“That’s why the knife missed my heart by one centimetre. When the police came I didn’t tell them that he had injured me. I was unconscious in hospital for five days and I spent a total of 25 days in hospital.”

Because of his alcoholism, Jumagul’s husband was also hospitalized. The doctors gave him just days to live.

“I started crying and went to my fellow believers. After we prayed for his healing he got better and left the hospital. He lived for six more years after the doctor said he would pass away. And my husband understood what happened. One pastor started to have conversations with him and my fellow believers visited with him often. He really understood everything fully. He experienced that God is living, the He exists. He would drive me to gatherings at church. And later he joined me in attending the secret church meetings. He apologized to me saying that he was wrong.

“He felt really bad. He repented and stopped drinking. He asked me to forgive him. And for the last six years of his life we were really happy together.”

Christians in Central Asia face pressure from family and community members. But even though she is persecuted Jumagul will not give up her faith.

“Everybody started to threaten me and tried to forced me to forsake God. But I answered ‘I won’t.’ The mullah forced me to repeat after him in Arabic: ‘There is no God but Allah.’ I said to him: ‘I can pray to my God in a language that I understand. He blessed me, he hears me. He gives me His mercy. So why should I tell God something I don’t understand? I can never find this peace anywhere else. That’s why I will never reject my God.’

“I want many people to experience that Jesus is Lord. He is the source of peace.”

About Open Doors UK

For over 60 years, Open Doors UK has worked in the world’s most oppressive countries, empowering Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs. Open Doors equips persecuted Christians in more than 60 countries through programs like Bible & Gospel Development, Women & Children Advancement, and Christian Community Restoration.

Read more news on Widows, Violence Against Women and Christian Persecution.