Forced to choose between faith and family in Somalia

Oct 2, 2022 by

by Andrew Boyd, Christian Today:

After years of drought and civil war, more Somalis live outside of this country on the horn of Africa than within it. More than 99 per cent of its 12 million population are Muslims. It is extremely dangerous to be a Christian here. Believers risk being killed by al-Shabbab terrorists or their sympathisers, or even their own families.

For Lula, like so many other Somalis, believing in Christ forced her into a stark choice: her faith or her family.

Her father declared in public: ‘If you see her, kill her.’

Lula fled to another country, but she was followed by her brothers. She went into hiding for months and lived with the fear of discovery at any moment.

Then one day, while she was praying, Lula felt the Lord ask her how long she would hide. So, she left the house and went to the market. And it was there that she met her brother.

He threatened Lula, but she warned she would scream if he tried to harm her. Lula was able to walk away from the encounter and testify that God had delivered her from her fear of human beings.

Even then, her family continued to pursue her. One day, she returned from work to find her house had been demolished and everything taken.

And yet Lula’s love for her family was undiminished. When her father died, she found a way to attend the funeral, despite the obvious risk to her life.

Like many other Christians from a Muslim background forced to live in a foreign land, Lula was regarded with suspicion by the local churches, who feared she was a terrorist or a spy.

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