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"In [my] neighborhood, the men were like dictators," Ariana* tells us. "Whatever the men said, the women had to obey. Girls had no freedom. I suffered a lot because of this, but I was always hopeful."
As a woman in Afghanistan, Ariana was expected to be small and silent. Where she is from, women aren't allowed to study through high school, choose a career path, or even choose their own spouses.
But she yearned for more. She wanted to fly away from her village and step into the vibrant life she saw women living in the Bollywood movies she loved. She wanted a life full of freedom.
"It's the presence of God that brings peace in these hard times."
Ariana*, Afghan believer
And it was falling in love with a young man from her village—just like in the movies she watched—that would ultimately bring her to Jesus and His freedom.
But Ariana's love for the man was a dangerous secret in a society that arranges marriages for their daughters. When her aunt discovered a love letter the man had written to Ariana, the news was a scandal through the village, and Ariana's brother even threatened to kill her.
To save face, Ariana's family quickly married her off to the man. But no one knew that her new husband's family were secret believers—and that they were setting her on the path toward Jesus.
"I had never heard about Christianity," Ariana remembers.
But she sensed there was something different about her new in-laws. She was even more curious after their family home was attacked—and her brother-in-law was killed. It was only much later that she realized the reason for the attack was their faith in Jesus.
Fleeing the violence, the family sought refuge in Central Asia. It was only then, far from home, that they shared their secret with Ariana.
"My husband and my father-in-law talked to me," Ariana remembers. "[My father-in-law] said very kindly, 'We want you to become a Christian, as we go to church. Do you want to?' I said yes, because I loved my husband very much, and I wanted to follow my husband."
As she began to go to church, Ariana started to see how oppressive her previous religion was and how scary the Islam of Afghanistan seemed. Plus, experiencing so much love and kindness from her husband's family made it easy for her to be open to attending church. Eventually, she realized the truth of Jesus' love for her and decided to follow Him.
"In Islam, there is only fear," she says. "But when I understood ... how much oppression and pressure Afghan Muslim women have lived under—how one man could have as many wives as he wanted and use them as slaves—it helped me see the truth that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life."
But this newfound faith came at a cost.
Today, Ariana and her family live in Central Asia, safe from the immediate violence of Afghanistan and the Taliban, but they live as refugees, without legal status, in a country hostile to Christians under the constant threat of being deported. And since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the situation has grown even more dangerous—the Taliban's warped view of Islam means that anyone discovered to be a Christian could be arrested or killed on the spot.
Miles away, whispers of Ariana's conversion also reached her family.
"One day, my brother called me," Ariana says. "He called and said, 'I heard that you sold your religion and became a Christian. If they are pressuring you, I will come and save you. But if you really sold your religion, I am willing to sell the carpet under my feet to come and kill you and put myself in prison for a lifetime so that I can clear this stain of dishonor from our people.'"
Despite her family's struggles, Ariana's faith is her anchor. She has grown so much in her relationship with Jesus, and her reliance on Him and His word carries her through challenges that seem insurmountable. She has not lost sight of what truly matters.
"I share the Word of God with many Afghan families," she says. "This is an especially difficult time for them because the deportations [back to Afghanistan] have been happening for almost two years, and now things are getting much worse. I visit them to pray and read the Word of God together."
Through local believers like Ariana, Open Doors helps Afghan believers in this Central Asian nation with practical aid, discipleship materials and spiritual training—building up a new generation of Afghan believers who risk everything to follow Jesus.
"All the women I meet with say the same thing. They thank me and tell me: 'When you come, we feel at peace,'" Ariana says. "It's the presence of God that brings peace in these hard times."
*Name changed for security purposes