Joram lives in Syria—a country suffering from a brutal civil war. When Joram’s coworkers forgot to drive him home from work one day, he flagged down a passing car and asked for a lift.

Joram sensed something was wrong when the driver started heading in the wrong direction, insisting that he knew a shortcut.

Soon they were driving through trash-covered streets surrounded by abandoned buildings. The driver ordered Joram to empty his pockets and asked how much ransom money Joram’s coworkers would pay to get him back alive.

To put his kidnapper at ease, Joram tried making a joke, saying that his coworkers would happily pay the man to keep Joram away from the office. That’s when the driver pulled off the road, turned the car off, and opened his glove compartment.

There was a gun inside.

“What is going to happen to me?” Joram thought. “God, please have mercy on me.”

The driver yanked Joram out of the car, threw him onto the dusty ground, and—to Joram’s amazement— sped off. Hours later, a patrolling soldier stumbled upon Joram and escorted him home.

The incident shook Joram to the core. He didn’t tell anyone what happened—not even his parents. Joram’s dreams were haunted by a recurring nightmare in which the kidnapper shot him instead of releasing him.

After suffering in silence, Joram finally found his voice. He shared his story with a caring nun in his community. Because of your support, Joram also attended a Bible-based trauma healing group for Syrians in February 2017. Through a ministry grounded in nearly 300 Scripture passages, Joram encountered a loving God who is intimately near the brokenhearted. In one of the most war-torn places on the planet, Joram met Jesus.

After dealing with the wounds of trauma in his heart, Joram decided to get out and share the love of Jesus with his suffering neighbors in Syria.

And he’s a completely different person. The shy, timid Joram who suffered in silence is now a smiling, confident leader in his community.

He helps hurting men and women experience the love of Jesus through Bible-based trauma healing.

He plays, sings, and dances with the little children in his healing group.

He is transforming lives in Syria by pointing people to the God who heals broken hearts.

Story originally published in the 2017 American Bible Society Stewardship Report.