Exile led Sarah to Jesus

Meet Sarah Gatavi.

Born in Iran in 1986, Sarah grew up in a Muslim family.

However, when Sarah was six years old her father gave his heart to Jesus. A year later Sarah’s mother also became a Christian.

“It was hard for me to understand why my dad and mum became Christians. I thought that they were wrong and didn’t understand what they were doing,” she says.

Sarah used to go to church with her father. She enjoyed the time, though mainly because it was an opportunity to be with a friend of hers.

Sarah says her parents were always preying for her and her sister that one day they might become Christians.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t have any interest in listening to what my parents were saying. I remember my grandmother once saying to me, ‘you are not my granddaughter anymore’ and she pushed me away from her,” Sarah says.

“That made me sad. I couldn’t believe what she had said to me. I just loved here so much but she ignored me and kept pushing me away from her.”

Many years later in the year 2001, Sarah’s father arrived home after work one day to tell the family they could no longer live in Iran.

“He said we had to leave this place and go to another country and that God wanted us to go,” Sarah says.

After a great deal of praying and arrangements being made by her parents, Sarah and her family moved to Pakistan.

“It was hard for me to leave my country and live among strangers whom I did not know. I couldn’t even understand their language,” Sarah says.

Yet, God had amazing and unexpected things in store for Sarah in Pakistan.

“Unbelievably, Pakistan was the place where I met my lord and savior Jesus Christ,” Sarah says.

However, Sarah says there were still challenges along the way.

“When I first started to read Bible it was just to kill time. Then God started to touch me by his word. I was still fighting with my spirit that Christianity was wrong and I couldn’t make the same mistake as my parents,” she says.

“I wanted to find the truth and I wanted to find my god but with my own way and not through Jesus.”

Then one day Sarah decided to pray to the ‘true and living God’, as she calls him.

“I asked him to show me the real way. I was crying, wanting to find the truth,” she says.

“In 2002, I realized I am a sinner and had to repent and be sorry to my God. I realised that Jesus Christ is the only way to God and there is no other way and no other truth.”

Sarah told her parents about her new faith and they were extremely happy about her commitment to become a Christian. They immediately prayed for Sarah.

When Sarah’s family arrived in Pakistan they did not expect to spend the next five years of their lives there.

“At first we thought we would be there for six months but we didn’t what God had planned for us,” she says.

“For the first two years we had enough food to eat and pay our rent and other expenses. But during this time I was really lonely. I didn’t have any one to listen to me or think about me and I thought that God forget about me.”

After two years Sarah’s family had no money or food to eat.

“My mom and my dad were very worried that what to do. My dad looked for a job but couldn’t find anything. For the first time I prayed to God and asked him to help us,” Sarah says.

“Suddenly one of our friends came to our home and he introduced us to the Christian community. He said, ‘I was praying for you and God put in my heart that I should help you’. I started to cry. It was a miracle. We went with him and the Christian community helped us pay our rent.”

Sarah attended a Persian and Urdu church in Pakistan where she met many people, made many friends and saw God provide well for her family.

“Suddenly, I remembered that God cares about his children. By comparison, Islam taught nothing about the love of God,” she says.

Since then, Sarah says she has experienced major changes in her life.

“My world has changed, my thoughts have changed and I know the most important thing – why God created me. I live because God has a purpose for my life and he wants me to be faithful,” she says.

“He wants me to tell everyone about the light which is shining in my life, and I have done so.”

Since becoming a Christian, Sarah says she has told every single one of her friends and many of her relatives about Jesus and what he has done for her.

Sarah and her family arrived to Australia on January 20, 2006 and soon began attending the Farsi church service at St John’s, Parramatta.

“I have met many people there and I really enjoy it. Since the first day of coming to this church I have been blessed a lot. But my journey with my Lord hasn’t finished yet,” Sarah insists.

“I have to tell more and more people until the last day when I leave this earth and start the next life with my Lord in heaven.”

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