CBN News is reporting today about an incident that took place in Pakistan where a gunman shot and wounded a seventy year old Christian woman who is a missionary in Pakistan. Bergetta Emmi, is the woman shot and wounded and is a Swedish national, and the director of the Full Gospel Assemblies in Pakistan.

I have to tell you that I just got done finishing listening to last Friday's Persecution Podcast and I really want to encourage you to take the time to listen to it. After you hear this past weeks prayer requests, which you can still pray for, you're going to be challenged as the VOM speaker discusses an influential person in his life named John and tells a story about Don, and 80 year old trumpet player.

On Tuesday, Nov. 20, a Pakistani court dismissed blasphemy charges against 14-year-old Rimsha Masih. The girl was arrested in August after a neighbor accused her of burning pages from the Quran, but the court dismissed the charges citing a lack of evidence.

It was after midnight, and the prisoner was tired. He was in the midst of twenty-eight days in solitary confinement in the Iranian prison, praying that God would help him endure. When the knock came on his cell door, he was tired and irritated.

A draft constitution was passed today by Egypt's constituent assembly, after many representatives—including Coptic Christians—had left the room to protest the process. Several articles of the constitution raise concerns for Christians who fear that more persecution may be coming in Egypt under President Mohamed Morsi's government.

From the minute I stepped into VOM’s offices for a college internship, I felt welcomed and loved – and very much disturbed. While a warm lady greeted me and an office manager gave me a tour, I couldn’t take my eyes off the pictures on the walls. A young boy whose limbs were burned. An Asian woman smiling brightly, her face disfigured beyond recognition. A man and his family standing outside what used to be their home. A lump caught in my throat. I shifted in my sandals. My life was about to be turned upside down.

Last month I visited Nepal to meet with and interview persecuted Christians. One of the brothers we met was a young pastor who'd been attacked by radicals just months before our visit. He was beaten up for trying to perform a Christian funeral and burial for a member of his church who'd died. I want to share a portion of our conversation, where he talked about the challenge of forgiving those who had attacked him:

Some months ago VOM's newsletter staff asked VOM workers who travel overseas and meet with persecuted Christians to share the stories that had most impacted them as they'd travelled. Several shared stories of Christians that had become personal heroes to them. Dory P. shared this story of her hero, a Christian woman in Nigeria: