Jorina was never shamed or harassed when she followed Islam. No one ever threatened her husband or her children. Now she’s a Christian, that’s all changed. She’s determined to be resilient and is obedient to forgive. Whether she lives, or dies, she will do it for Jesus.
THE SEAL
Of the 170 million people in Bangladesh, 90% are Muslim and less than 1% are Christian. Women make up 50% (85 million) of the populace but are vulnerable in almost every aspect of life.
Christian women are especially vulnerable.
“In Bangladesh’s Muslim society, women are often neglected,” Jorina reflects. “For Islamic leaders in my village, it feels as if all Christian women are just as good as dead.”
When Jorina and her husband were still following Islam, life ticked along expectedly. Villagers were generally pleasant. The women interacted with her. They helped her and enquired about her children.
When Jorina and her husband accepted Jesus, the kindness abruptly ended. The community withdrew almost overnight and suddenly they were seen as enemies, all because they now professed Christ.
“When we received Christ, we didn’t feel the need to hide it from others,” Jorina explains. “We believed we needed to share the truth with others as well. When we started sharing this truth, people began calling us ‘Christians’ instead of our names.”
Name calling quickly escalated to cruel harassment.
“One day, 10 to 15 women from our village took me to a place with them,” Jorina says. “I thought they called me to hear the truth that I knew and shared with others. I went with them, and we all entered a house. Then they said to me, ‘We know that after becoming a Christian, they put a seal on you. Now, we will check your body for that seal.’ When they said that, I felt really embarrassed.”
Perhaps like many others in their province, the women also misunderstood Ephesians 1:13, “When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in Him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.”
Or perhaps they just wanted to humiliate Jorina in the worst way possible.
She told them they were mistaken, there was no seal.
“They said, ‘Shut up! We know you have a seal on your body. I had no choice. I undressed in front of them, and they began searching for the seal. I couldn’t share this with anyone else because it was a very sensitive issue and a deeply shameful incident for me. I cried a lot in that room.”
FINDING JESUS
Jorina was unaware that the Muslim man she had married was secretly searching for the truth and meeting with believers to learn about Jesus.
He often met with one man in particular, and when her curiosity overcame her, she asked him, “Who is this man? What are you talking about with this stranger? I am very interested to know. I want to join you.”
Culturally, it’s unheard of for a Bangladeshi woman to sit and talk with a man she doesn’t know. But her husband agreed and there, in the stranger’s unravelling of the Quran and God’s Word, Jorina met Jesus.
The stranger gifted them a Bible, and for two years they studied it.
She was astonished. The Quran spoke of Jesus, but not like this. Not like the Bible.
Jorina and her husband accepted Christ. They were Christians now.
That’s when life became the happiest, and most difficult, it has ever been.
HANDLING THE HURT
“After becoming a Christian, the biggest change in my life was that I had to love everyone and learn to
forgive others,” Jorina says. “I can’t live with anger anymore.”
She thinks back to those women and that terrible day. They never found a seal, by the way. It still hurts, but she has forgiven them just as Jesus said. Every day is an exercise in forgiveness; in relinquishing to God all those who mock and harass her; who threaten to erase her family.
“Despite all the persecution, we are standing firm in our faith in Christ,” she says, remembering how several in her region have already come to Christ, including the women and children she ministers to. “Pray that we can continue to stand firm and that through us, many others may receive salvation.”
“Pray that we can continue to stand firm and that through us, many others may receive salvation.”
