Narine, 56, came of age at a difficult time, the era before Armenia became an independent country. Now married with four sons, she is happy to share the events of her life that led her to Christ.
She explains, “As long as I remember, there’s been sadness in my family. Now, I understand that it was mainly because of the absence of God and His blessings. We lived in bad conditions. My father, who was the only one who worked, drank heavily and always caused trouble. He regularly beat my mother, and if we tried to protect her, he’d even beat us. I can fairly say that my childhood was like hell.”
Like so many women of her time, she got married to escape the harsh realities of her family life. “The social and economic situation in my country deteriorated, and I got married at a very young age,” she remembers. “To me, it didn’t even matter who my husband would be, as long as I would be away from my father’s violence.” Her husband’s family was very kind and supportive of her. “I lived under good conditions in my husband’s family,” she says softly.
It was her mother-in-law’s faith that planted the early seeds in Narine’s life. “As a child, I hated everything connected with religion because my father would go to church then come home and beat us. That’s the reason I hated religion, the church, and God,” she says.
When her mother-in-law took ill, she asked Narine to care for the family and “be like a light and salt to the people.” Her sister-in-law invited her to come to church. “She encouraged me to join a Project Philip Bible study because it would help me to come closer to God. I followed her advice and the first time I went there, I sensed something special. Some kind of peaceful presence.
“I became more connected with the Word of God; I realized I had found a treasure. I repented and made a strong decision to follow Christ! God changed my life, and He made me a light and salt to my children and the people around me, just like my mother-in-law had said.”
