“I fled with nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Richard is a refugee in Uganda. Underneath his warm smile and soft eyes, Richard harbors memories of the Job-like suffering he endured in his homeland of Burundi.

Two years ago, Richard was captured by violent soldiers from a neighboring tribe. They beat and tortured Richard.

“They were looking for me just because we were not in the same tribe,” Richard explains. Against all odds, Richard escaped their cruelty. But his tragedy was just beginning.

When doctors informed Richard that the brutal torture left him unable to have children, Richard’s wife abandoned him. Then Richard’s enemies decided to chase him out of his homeland for good. They destroyed the last vestiges of Richard’s life in Burundi.

“The night that I left, they set fire to my house,” Richard remembers. “My mother passed away in the house.”

So, Richard fled north to Uganda with nothing— absolutely nothing.

But in Uganda’s Nakivale refugee camp, God worked a miracle in Richard’s wounded heart. Through your support, Richard started attending a Bible-based trauma healing group hosted by Bible Society of Uganda.

In the healing group, Richard and his fellow refugees used biblical laments, such as the Psalms, to share their stories of suffering, cry out to God in their pain, and bring their darkest memories to their wounded Savior for healing.

“These lessons helped me understand that even when I am alone, I am together with God,” Richard says. “I learned how to forgive others. I learned how to cope with my problems.”

Richard says that one of the most meaningful parts of the healing group was taking his pain to the cross of Jesus for healing. During a culminating exercise, Richard and his fellow refugees wrote their darkest memories on pieces of paper and burned them at the foot of a large cross, symbolizing the unbreakable hope of Jesus’s death and resurrection for them.

Now Richard sees his suffering in the biblical light of God who loves him and died for him. “All the difficult things we face in our life are for God and his purpose,” Richard declares with confidence.

“All the things we face in our daily lives happen according to God’s will.”

Of course, Richard’s wounds have not healed completely. He still weeps for the children he will never get to hold.

“I have never had a child,” Richard says. “I have been crying for so long to have a child.”

But day by day, Richard is putting his life back together through the strength of Christ and his Word. After his first wife abandoned him, Richard married a loving wife named Cynthia. He is even looking for ways to minister to his fellow refugees in Uganda.

“So many refugees have different problems,” Richard explains. “I’m open now to share with others.”

Because of your prayers and support, Richard can face the future full of hope—for himself and for his hurting neighbors. He is eternally grateful for your love and care.

“It has really helped me for my heart to be healed,” Richard says. “Thank you very much for the trauma healing program.”

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