Helen Berhane was a singer and worship leader in an outlawed church in Eritrea. She sang worship to her Savior before she was arrested by Eritrean officials. And in prison, she kept on singing. Her captors were determined that they would silence her voice of praise. To punish her, they locked Helen in a shipping container for 10 months with a woman who suffered from severe mental illness. We asked Helen on VOM Radio how she survived those months.
First, when she tortured me, pulled my hair, many things, I say, “God, what can I learn from this?” Because you can’t ask God, “Why you did this for me?” He is such a loving God, that is why He died on the cross, so it is very silly to ask that kind of question. I am saying, “What can I learn from this?” Abraham traveled to Mount Moriah to sacrifice Isaac. He decide to sacrifice his own son, so why not sacrifice my comfort zone?
I decide to stand by faith, it doesn’t matter what the cost. Because everything cost a price. When you buy bread, it cost a price. When you buy car, it cost a price. Also when you follow Jesus, it cost a price. Everything cost a price.
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Despite her suffering, Helen kept singing songs of praise — even in the shipping container, and even when guards beat her and demanded her silence. How could she keep singing?
Because it is biblical! Like in Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas when they put them in prison they started singing! They are a good model for us; we can learn from them.
When I was in prison just worshiping, [it] just kind of gave me strength. Also when you sing, it’s a heavy stone on the head of Satan, because he put you in these kind of things and when you start worshiping he is shocked. People don’t understand when something happen they close their door and cry … so he comes with other kind of [trials] or you repeat the same exam.
But when you start worshiping God … it is totally no space for Satan to attack you again and again.
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