A 12-year-old girl in rural Mexico chose Jesus over safety when village leaders threatened to burn her family alive.
We sometimes forget how blessed we are to worship freely. We gather in our churches, sing our songs, and pray without fear.
At the same time, there are millions around the world who face cruel persecution for their faith.
That’s exactly what young Alicia and her family in Oaxaca, Mexico, went through.
Alicia lives in a village where old rituals have taken the place of true worship. When her family and 18 other Christian families refused to join the local religious festivals, the trouble started.
Village leaders arrested her father and beat him. They banned Christian families from their farmland. They cut off their water and electricity. They even threatened to keep the children out of school and deny them medical care.
“They took away all our benefits, such as electricity, water, and land.” Alicia said.
For Alicia, the fear was real. “What scared me most was that they would kill us, burn us alive one by one.” She was just a child trying to do her homework before dark because they had no electricity at night.
Her mother watched her daughters struggle and felt helpless. “I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’ My daughters were sad, thinking, ‘What’s going to happen? What are we going to do?'”
But Alicia found her strength in Jesus. Alone in her room, she sang worship songs and prayed. She held tight to the words from Joshua 1:9: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” She kept singing even when everything else was gone.
Alicia started writing in a diary during the persecution. “I felt that God was listening to me through it,” she says. She wrote down dates and names of people she wanted God to change.
Then Open Doors came to help. This organization has worked with persecuted Christians for 70 years. They taught the families how to prepare for persecution. They gave them emotional support. They started projects like sheep breeding so families could earn money again.
Something amazing happened. Through fasting and prayer, village leaders agreed to talk. The families can now worship Jesus in their homes. They can celebrate Christmas together. The restrictions are still there, but God made a way.
Over 380 million Christians around the world face persecution right now. They need our prayers. Will you pray for them today?
WATCH: Young Girl Refuses to Deny Jesus Despite Persecution
