Recently, our partners in Cameroon shared this beautiful story about a mother of six and her Bible.
When we met her, she was living in a camp for internally displaced persons. Her village in Tourou had been attacked by extremist group Boko Haram and they had set fire to everything: her home, the family’s fields—and her cherished Bible.
Of all the earthly losses, her Bible was the devastating. Because where 32-year-old Rukayyatu lives in the country’s Far North region, attacks against Christians are so violent and frequent that some families leave their homes at night to sleep in the forest.
“When I am in trouble and feel discouraged, I hold my Bible to my chest, and I have peace,” she says.
The power of God’s Word
Rukayyatu understands the power of God’s Word in her life.
“The Word of God is the source of my hope and strength,” she says. “Boko Haram took my happiness away when they burnt my Bible.”
Praise God, our field partners were able to bring our sister a new Bible and other living essentials. They had no idea she’d spent the last year praying for a new Bible. But when they placed it in her hands, Rukayyatu’s wide smile said it all.
“Nothing is more precious than the Bible among all we have received.”
Rukayyatu
“Nothing is more precious than the Bible among all we have received. Therefore, I thank you for this love you have shown," she said as hugged the new Bible to her chest.
“I know in the Bible God tells us that His Word is Himself,” Rukayyatu says. “It has been hard for me to live without my Bible. The past year without a Bible has been empty; now I am filled.”
Before the attack, Rukayyatu and her husband were subsistence farmers, living off crops their land produced. Now in her place of refuge, Rukayyatu has no farmland to till. Her husband has since moved to the south to work, trying to provide for the family. Every month, he sends Rukayyatu money to pay rent and meet some basic needs. Occasionally, Rukayyatu helps others work on their farms to earn some more money for her family.
For Rukayyatu, she has found all she lost because the Bible is God’s Word and God has everything, she says. “Now everything that happened to me since is out of my mind from now on. But what I implore from you now is help in prayer in Jesus' name. Amen!”
Pray with Rukayyatu and Christians in north Cameroon
- Pray for God's sustaining grace for Rukayyatu and her family.
- Pray for improved security measures in the Far North to protect vulnerable communities.
- Pray that Rukayyatu’s Bible will become a daily source of nourishment to her, her family and her community: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
- Pray for Christians in the Far North of Cameroon, that this crisis will strengthen their faith, not diminish it. Pray that God's Spirit will make them resilient and that believers like Rukkayyatu will be salt and light in their communities.
