As the tour was beginning to wind up and after spending well over a week together Helen and I began chatting about family, life the future and all those sorts of things and as seems to be the case with Helen, the story of her life is so much more than the 2.5 years she spent in prison.

Helen was forced into an arranged marriage at a young age and her husband and her sadly got a divorce some months later as he could see that they were not equally yoked, he was not a believer and a relatively successful business man and Helen was a committed Christian, worship leader and an entrepreneurial business woman who owned a hair salon – there was also a significant age difference with her husband being considerably older than Helen. However, one of the best things that came from that marriage was her daughter, Eva, someone who whenever Helen speaks about her Helen’s face lights up and you can see the love and connection they have.

I remember asking Helen about how difficult it must have been to leave Eva when she was in prison and she replied,‘it was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done but with every act of worship there must be a sacrifice and not being there for Eva was mine...’

Even this thought was totally mind blowing to me... sacrifice? ?? What have I sacrificed lately for the Gospel? I mean most of the time if the church service runs late I find myself looking at the clock wondering when it will finish – what have I honestly sacrificed for God? Moreover what would I be willing to sacrifice for God?

Our conversation soon moved onto how she ended up living in Denmark with asylum and Helen said after escaping prison she walked 500km in 7-days through the desert to the Sudanese border where she stayed for 2-months. I asked her what happened to Eva and she turned to me and said ‘2-months after I arrived Ava (12yrs old) walked for 50 days, 500kms with nomadic herdsmen to find me and by the grace of God we were reunited in Sudan.’

Oh... my... goodness... the funny thing is that meeting people like Helen can sometimes make you turn them into saints and rockstars but she is anything but that... we would regularly be driving and Helen would say we need to stop and pray... her life is devoted to God and she would not consider herself anything but a loving follower of Jesus... she is not super-human or someone to be praised... according to Helen she is simply living a life devoted to the creator of heaven and earth.

At the beginning of this series we talked about what would you do for Jesus if you weren’t scared? And my hope is that over the past few weeks you’ve been able to get an insight into what a response from Helen to this question might look like. We are all called to be ambassadors of the Gospel, people who unashamedly stand up for Jesus, we are called to be people of sacrifice, people of prayer and people who are above all...  willing.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans 1:16)

For more information about Open Doors and My Heart Bleeds or to book a speaker for you event please follow us on facebook or shoot us an email at mhb@od.orgwe hope you have enjoyed this series and that it has inspired you to chase God harder, speak louder and declare your love for Him.