Facing FearSample

PEACE IN THE FACE OF FEAR Twenty-nine-year-old Maryam Rostampour and thirty-two-year-old Marzieh Amirizadeh spent 259 days in Tehran, Iran’s notorious Evin prison. They had to overcome the fear of life imprisonment and the possibility of execution because they loved and followed Jesus Christ. They remained strong through weeks in solitary confinement, and endless hours of interrogation by Iranian officials and religious leaders. They endured months of harsh living conditions and debilitating sickness. In their first interview after release, they were asked about the worst part of the prison experience. Marzieh wept as she explained: “One of the worst was the execution of two of my fellow prisoners. I had never experienced such a thing. One of those killed was my roommate. We had spent a lot of time together. And one day they took her to be executed. For a week I was in shock that killing a human being was so easy…After these executions the spirit of sorrow and death hung over the prison. There was deadly silence everywhere.” When asked if she feared execution, Marzieh responded: “Before prison we talked about execution, but when we got to prison and experienced the fear of it—our way of talking changed. The very first night that we were arrested, when they threatened us, we were really frightened. We never imagined we would be so frightened; we had talked about these things before. But the atmosphere there and what happened to us frightened us beyond our expectations. We were confined to a dark and dirty room and paralyzed with fear. We could see the fear in each other’s faces. We prayed and what calmed us was the presence of God and the peace that He gave us. “It is easy to say that I give my life for the Lord and I will do anything for Him, even die. I always thought it would be a privilege to give my life for the Lord. You say these things. I know for sure that if this would happen to us we would rejoice ultimately. But human fears gripped us. The power the Lord gave us helped us to overcome these fears, just as when we prayed in the police station, God banished our fear and renewed our strength.” Today I acknowledge that God can grant His peace in every trying situation I face.