Leah's Story from Kids of Courage

Leah is a Christian woman in China. “The most important calling we have from God is to preach the gospel in places where people have not heard it,” said Leah.

Leah knows how difficult it can be to follow that calling. She went to jail for three years because she taught others about Jesus. Now the police watch her every day. She and her family have moved three times in the last three years to avoid the police.

God began preparing Leah to face difficulties as a Christian in China when she was a girl. She told her story to a worker from The Voice of the Martyrs.

Leah’s Story
I was about 5 years old when my mother became a Christian. My father was not a believer.

I knew about Jesus for a long time. My mother told me about him. But I didn’t get saved until I was 12. One day I went with my mother to a small church. Only about nine Christians went to the church. They had no Bibles and no pastor.

That day at church when they prayed, I wanted to cry. I don’t know why. One person asked, “May I pray for you?” I said yes. I felt Jesus’ presence and I really loved him and wanted to follow him.

After that I always wanted to pray. But I didn’t know much about Jesus. I just knew I loved him very much.

Sharing at School
No one at school knew I was a Christian. If they found out, I would not be able to go to that school anymore. I was tempted to stop believing in Jesus.

But when I was about 15, there was a fire in my heart. I wanted to study the gospel and tell others about Jesus. Even some of my cousins began to believe in Jesus after I told them about him.

I had never seen a Bible. Missionaries brought God’s word to China many years ago. Then the government kicked out all the missionaries. The older people passed down what they had learned from the missionaries to us.

I wrote down what I heard from the old people on notes and passed the notes to my classmates. Before class, I walked with them and talked to them quietly about Jesus.

After my classmates started believing in Jesus, I found out one of my teachers was a Christian! He was my music and math teacher. Christians could talk freely about our faith in his class and he protected us.

Finding a Bible
We talked about what the older people told us. But we didn’t know if it was correct or not, because we didn’t have a Bible. When I was 16, I found someone with a Bible! I thought, “I can read it myself and I don’t have to learn from others!”

I began to copy the Bible by hand. I copied parts of it to hand out to others.

Leah Today
Leah continued to share her faith with others, even when she was persecuted for it. She now has a daughter who is about the same age Leah was when she decided to follow Christ. Her daughter worries about her mother’s safety.

Please ask God to continue watching over Leah, and to give her daughter peace and comfort.

To protect their identities, the names of some of the people on this site and some identifying details have been changed. Some of the quotes and stories have been edited and paraphrased from the original sources for clarity.
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