SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) -- Within a few short weeks, Iraqi Christians Fadi and his wife Hanna and children were traumatized beyond belief and uprooted from their hometown.

“One night militia came to our door and threatened us to take our daughter or son,” Fadi said. “Or we had to pay them $20,000 protection money. We didn’t know what to do. We did not have the money, and were considering ways to come up with a solution. We prayed to God for answers.”

Later that week, the soldiers returned and kicked the door open and demanded payment or one of their children. When Fadi ran downstairs, he saw his youngest son lying unconscious next to the door, knocked down when the soldiers stormed in. “The militia threatened us, beat me and left a fatwa (Islamic edict) with accusations against our family.”

When the soldiers left, Fadi gathered up his family and took his little son to the hospital in a taxi.

“We spent the next week traveling back and forth between the hospital and our sister’s house, terrified that we would run into someone who could identify, threaten or even kill us,” Fadi said. As soon as their son was released from the hospital, they hired a taxi and fled across the border from Iraq’s chaotic violence.

Arriving in a new city, they had nothing, not even food or clothing, as they squeezed into one room of a relative’s apartment. In cooperation with the local church, Open Doors provided the family with food and medical treatment for their injured son.

But Fadi and Hanna soon realized that they had not left behind their emotions -- the fears, anger and frustrations rooted in their weeks of terror.

“My emotions were still very unbalanced,” Fadi said. Whenever he became angry and enraged at the terrorists for what they were inflicting on his family and other Christians, he said, “I also would become very aggressive with my wife and two children. Later, I would regret my temper outbursts and ask God for forgiveness.”

On her part, Hanna was experiencing deep sadness inside, with no interest in eating. She often wanted to die. “Both Hanna and I had trouble sleeping, and we often had nightmares,” Fadi said.

But then Open Doors provided trauma counseling in their church, and trained the pastor and church members as counselors.

“Through this trauma counseling, I was able to rebuild perspective, hope and understanding of the grief process,” Fadi said. “I finally came out at the other side, with new hope and expectations, and with the support of the church community. Now God has led us into ministry to help others. This is what strengthening the church is all about!”

This is just one example how the Lord enabled Open Doors to impact thousands of believers around the world in 2009. A total of 226,000 individuals benefited from Open Doors’ social/economic development projects in last year�.Christians like Fadi and Hanna.

More than 170,000 Christian leaders were trained in programs which varied from intensive, on-going theological training courses in southern Sudan to shorter seminars like Standing Strong Through the Storm (SSTS) in countries such as India. SSTS teaches Christians how to deal with persecution and what the Bible says about suffering for Christ.

Worldwide, 3.5 million pieces of literature were delivered in 2009. They included Bibles, children’s Bibles, study Bibles, New Testaments, Gospels, training materials and other types of literature to strengthen Christians. A focus was providing Bibles and biblical materials, including a Bible story book for children in the Arabic language. Although these materials are designed to help Arab Christians understand God’s Word, many of their Muslim neighbors were intrigued to read booklets about raising children, having a healthy marriage and other life-changing issues.

“We give thanks to our Lord for enabling Open Doors to increase the number of pastors and church leaders trained in the Word in 2009 and also the increase the number of people helped through our social-economic programs,” says Open Doors USA President/CEO Dr. Carl Moeller. “Also, Open Doors continued its delivery of Bibles and Christian materials to believers around the world. Open Doors is truly making an impact for His kingdom. All this would not be possible without the support and partnership of thousands of individuals and churches who share our passion for the persecuted.”

An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors supports and strengthens believers in the world's most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development, prayer and presence ministry and advocacy on behalf of suffering believers. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (888-524-2535) or go to our website at www.OpenDoorsUSA.org.

Source: (ANS) www.assistnews.net