ICC Note: Athraa fled Qaraqosh with her family in the summer of 2014 as ISIS closed in. Since then, the family has lived in a church garden, a wedding hall and many other unorthodox and uncomfortable places. Despite all this trauma, Athraa has found a new hope in faith and in sharing everything she has with others. Since her displacement, Athraa has joined bible studies and become heavily involved with church groups. She explains that God has used terrible conditions to bring much good in her life.

09/13/2016 Iraq (Gospel Herald): An Iraqi Christian girl displaced by ISIS terrorism has shared how God used the horrific experience for good and allowed it to make her a more “patient and forgiving person”.

According to a report from persecution watchdog Open Doors, Athraa, along with her family, was forced to flee Quaraqosh, Iraq, after ISIS overtook the town in 2014, like the rest of those in the Christian village of about 60,000. Athraa said of the day they fled: “I remember that I wasn’t worrying too much that day. We didn’t think the situation would last long, we didn’t even take our identity papers.”

However, the situation turned out to be far worse than Athraa expected: “The first months were a disaster. We lived in many different places. We lived in a wedding hall and a church garden. We ended up in a tent in a sports center. It was a really difficult.”

She and her family of nine spent the brutal summer months sleeping in a small tent, where food was poor and water was lacking. Two years later, Athraa and her family have are still not able to return home, as it remains under ISIS control.

Despite the “terrible” situation she has endured, Athraa said she believes God used it for good: She now lives with her family in a house rented by the local church, and shared how the church has changed her life.

“After the displacement I was bored, there was nothing to do, so I went to church more often. Soon I got involved with a Bible study group that gathers twice a week.”

Aathra  continued, “I discovered that every line in the Bible tells us something. But what I like best is when we as a small group celebrate Holy Communion with the priest in the way the people in the time of Jesus did. We have a piece of bread and share that with each other.

“It is something wonderful. It gives me patience to continue my life, to see things from a bigger perspective.”

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