Sara* was just a young child, but she knew the dangers when the terrorists marched into her hometown of Mosul in Iraq.

“We had to leave our house and flee,” she remembers. “We left everything…our toys, books, clothes and we came with nothing in our hands. I was very sad, like all the family, my mother and sister were crying all the time, and me too. I cry, and sometimes I try to be strong, but I am missing my house, my friends and my country.”

In her short life, Sara has already been forced to move four times because of the danger. One of the items Sara hated to leave was her Bible. She is grateful that American Bible Society’s financial partners gave her another.

She holds her Bible close and says, “When I got this one, I was very happy. It means I felt like a piece of my home is with me, and that Jesus is with me, I know that Jesus loves children.…Almost every day, I sit with my sister, we look at the pictures and read the stories.”

“We are 16 families living all together in this big room that the church has given us,” Sara explains. “The church and Bible Society care for us.”

Throughout the Middle East—in places like Syria and Iraq—millions of people have been forced from their homes by terrorists and other violent groups. American Bible Society’s financial partners help offer provision, shelter, Bibles and other resources like Christian satellite TV. We are thankful these frightened refugees now have the comfort and hope of God’s love in action.

*Name changed to protect the beneficiary