Strengthened by His Faith
A 17-year-old girl wrote to the office of the Watch Tower Society in Moldova, a former republic of the Soviet Union, to express appreciation for an article that appeared in the June 8, 1998, Awake! The article was entitled “My Choice Between Two Fathers,” and it related the personal experiences of an Armenian youth.
“While I was reading the article,” the girl explained, “my eyes filled with tears because his story is similar to mine.” She continued: “When I was 15, I started to study the Bible, and my parents did not object at first. But when I began attending the meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses, they strongly disapproved. Then, in 1997, when I started to share what I was learning with others, they told me: ‘Go to your Witness friends and let them feed you, dress you, and give you a job. You are a very bad daughter!’ My parents even punished me physically, banging my head against the wall.
“That was a difficult test for me. I often had the feelings expressed by that Armenian youth, who said that he sometimes wondered whether Jehovah was pleased with him. I thought to myself, ‘Am I good for nothing? Will Jehovah forgive me for my former sins? Does Jehovah love me anymore?’
“It was very difficult, especially when I thought that Jehovah did not love me anymore. I often implored Jehovah in my prayers, with tears in my eyes, to help me, to strengthen me so that I would never leave him. And, indeed, I saw that Jehovah heard my prayers and answered my supplications. He gave me steadfastness, resoluteness, and courage. Especially did he do this through his Word, where the psalmist confidently proclaimed: ‘In case my own father and my own mother did leave me, even Jehovah himself would take me up.’—Psalm 27:10.
“On September 27, 1997, I symbolized my dedication to Jehovah by being baptized at a circuit assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Kagul. I can clearly see that Jehovah, our loving heavenly Father, fulfills his promise spoken about at Psalm 84:11: ‘Jehovah God is a sun and a shield; favor and glory are what he gives. Jehovah himself will not hold back anything good from those walking in faultlessness.’
“I am very thankful to that Armenian youth who shared his faith-strengthening story in the Awake! magazine. I hope that my parents and his will eventually show interest in the teachings of the Bible.”