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Former Muslim Who Fled Family after Conversion: I Don't Live in Fear Because Every Day Belongs to God

  • Amanda Casanova

    Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and…

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  • Updated Jun 26, 2015

A Christian convert who ran away from her Muslim family in Ohio as a teenager says she doesn’t “live in fear because every day belongs to God.”

Rifqa Bary spoke to Christian Today about her journey from Islam and her new book, Hiding in the Light: Why I risked everything to leave Islam and follow Christ.

“I look back and I realize I was really traumatized by what had happened and I needed time to heal,” she said. “There was a lot of information that was construed in some way... people misunderstood some aspects, and so I really wanted to talk. My book has been my voice in expressing what happened behind closed doors.”

Bary was born Muslim in Sri Lanka but moved to the US in 2000. She said her father and brother beat her before she converted to Christianity at 12 and kept her faith hidden for four years.

“I remember weeping and I had this experience where I felt as if God was breathing in my brokenness, and I was breathing in his grace and mercy and love,” she said. “That was the day that that everything changed, where I felt the unconditional love of the Father.”

When her parents found out she ran away to Florida, she spent time in juvenile detention and foster homes as she fought a legal battle with her family to stay away from them.

She turned 18 before the case was decided and started studying philosophy and politics.

“I don't live in terror or fear because every single day is His, and he's the one who has the final say,” she said.

Publication date: June 26, 2015