My daughter spoke earnestly. “We need to tell more people about Jesus.” I agreed. But in this religious culture, it’s not easy.

A few years ago, Sabia became my friend. She was lively and animated but was restricted to her home. Although she was enrolled in the university, her brother attended classes and brought the lecture notes to her. She studied the notes and read the books, and once a year a male family member escorted her to write her final examinations.

Her middle-class parents arranged for her marriage to a wealthy man, and she moved to his family’s home in another city. When she came back to our city for a brief visit, I was dismayed to see that her fun-loving ways had vanished. Her mother-in-law was making her life miserable. Soon after she returned home, she became pregnant. She grew gravely ill, but her husband’s family refused to let her see a doctor, so she returned to our city where her own parents cared for her. As she recovered, I visited her often, being her only contact with the world outside the walls of her home. I prayed for her in the name of Jesus, and she begged repeatedly for me to keep praying. I couldn’t tell what was happening in her mind, and now she’s back in her husband’s city. We don’t give up hope for Sabia. Many Christians live in that city, and we’re asking God to bring Sabia in touch with them—and eventually with Jesus.

Yes, my daughter, we do need to tell more people about Jesus. No, it’s not easy. Like Sabia, many women live in isolation, their voices muted. But God knows and cherishes each one. We keep praying and looking for creative ways to scale the walls (visible and invisible) that seal them off from the truth. A member of our team has opened a business that serves women only. The otherwise secluded women whom we long to befriend manage to come to the center a few at a time. We who are Christians go there, too, in order to be available to reach out in love to the women whenever they come. Please pray for Sabia and for thousands of women like her who need hope.

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Creative and resilient Christians can make a difference in South Asia.

“Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies,” Jonah 2:8.