My husband didn’t come home

Deborah’s husband Job was sentenced to seven years in jail in Vietnam in 2004 for standing up for religious freedom.

‘When my husband didn’t come home from a meeting, I went out to look for him. No one had seen him. The next day, others from the meeting told me they had seen my husband being beaten with a plank that had many nails on it. While he was unconscious the police put my husband in the trunk of their car and drove away. A week later a neighbour told me: ‘I saw your husband at the hospital’.

‘My family and I went there straight away. My husband had been beaten so badly he couldn’t recognise me or the family. I cried as I tried to make him remember me.

‘In the hospital, the area for prisoners had no mattress, blanket or mosquito net. The sick lie on the floor with nothing to eat. I went out to buy food for my husband but he could only drink a little because his jaw had been broken. I asked for permission to stay to take care of him - but the police said ‘No’.

‘They moved my husband to another prison and wouldn’t tell me where he was. I found out later that they tortured him using electric tools, and after that allowed their dogs to attack him. They thought he was dead, but the Lord’s power kept him alive to become a witness.’

You can find out more about Deborah’s story in our moving video about Christians in Vietnam and Laos ‘Enemies of the State?’  This 25-minute documentary includes a personal reflection from the film maker Andrew Boyd, who describes how the Lord is present with his people as Emmanuel (‘God with us’) even in the darkest of circumstances. You can order it online for only $10.00