The unthinkable happened to Maria Tala. In one day everything she loved was taken from her.

“My five children were poisoned by my sister-in-law and all died in a single day,” the native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) shares.

How do you recover from that tragedy? What can heal a heart that is utterly broken by pain and hate? Only God and his Word.

Maria found restoration in the pages of Scripture and a relationship with God.

“The wound of losing five children in a day was heavy on me,” she says. “But God is restoring me slowly. Receiving and reading the Bible has been a pillar in my life.”

Maria is not alone in her wounds. Throughout the DRC, people have experienced brutality, torture and devastating loss from vicious attacks by rebel soldiers. Mothers, like Maria, and fathers have lost their children. Families have been forced to flee their homes and live in utter poverty. And tragically, many children have been orphaned — all because of the ongoing violence in this volatile area.

Hurting people need the power of God’s Word so they can begin to heal their emotional wounds. When Bibles are placed in the hands and hearts of people who have nothing else to hold onto, God brings restoration and hope.