One woman’s struggle to protect her children in the Middle East has taken them hundreds of miles from home.

ISIS’s reign over Iraq was brutal in the rifts it caused between cultural subgroups and devastation it wrecked on innocents. Civilians were used as human shields; chemical attacks ravaged entire towns; Iraqi soldiers caught in the battles against religious extremists were tortured and executed.

One widow remembers her harrowing childhood being taken captive by Uganda’s LRA and then barely surviving a tragic accident in a refugee camp.

How many of you remember the Kony2012 video?

It was a call to action, a cry for us to stop the human rights violations and atrocities that the Lord’s Resistance Army was inflicting on central Africa. In a few days, the video garnered millions of views.

“In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth. For the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will say, “Blessed be Egypt, my people…” (Isaiah 19:24-25 NLT).

My name is Samira. I live in a village in Egypt. I am 29 years old, a Christian, a mother of 3 beautiful children. I am a widow.

One woman’s miraculous encounter with God planted a sturdy faith in her that would withstand terrible persecution and loss.

Jahnavi’s neighbors brought her to a church that is World Challenge’s partner because she was demon possessed. Her family had ignored the issue, simply ascribing her strange behavior to a spiritual affliction from one of their thousands of gods.

One woman in Kenya finds support through the church and starts helping others who have also experienced loss and rejection.

World Challenge has been dedicated for many years to helping widows, particularly those who are vulnerable to exploitation, cultural stigma or poverty.