First, heartache beyond imagining...

Then, tears of joy.

In a dramatic turn of events in February, radicals kidnapped nearly 300 students from a Nigerian school, Breitbart reports, when "a militia of some one hundred armed men stormed into a girls' boarding school" in "a region where mass kidnappings are on the rise."

Then, just days later (and for an unknown reason), the bandits released the girls. Thankfully every student has since been accounted for.

One Media reported: "Kidnapping for ransom is rife in parts of Nigeria and has become a major security challenge."

While I am grateful to God that these young girls are now safe...

I cannot help but think how injurious this violence and fearmongering is.

These same criminal groups "terrorize the population, steal livestock, and loot villages" in central and northwestern regions of the country, says Breitbart -- and innocent people, including children and people of faith, are relentlessly caught in the crossfire.

The intense persecution, slaughter of Christians, enslaving of children and more that is taking place in Nigeria every week are what puts the nation at the No. 9 spot on the 2021 Open Doors World Watch List.

It is a horrifying existence to live daily knowing your child might be taken under cover of night...or your crops might be destroyed tomorrow...or radical Islamists may come and raid your village and set fire to your home.

Yet Christian families continue to trust in their Heavenly Father...

And I continue to trust that compassionate friends like you will keep supporting them in prayer and provision.

Your generous gift to Liberty Relief International will help provide for Christian brothers and sisters in desperate need of help and hope today.

Our partners on the ground in hostile places like Nigeria, the Middle East and beyond offer:

• Emergency aid like food, water, shelter and safety

• Critically needed trauma counseling

• Literacy and job training

• Help in rebuilding churches and homes destroyed in attacks

• Bibles and study materials

• Discipleship training for new believers

• And more.

Your contribution to LRI will minister to persecuted believers and others facing cruelty, brutality and heartache.

God bless you, FIRSTNAME. You have my deepest appreciation for your role in our efforts for those, like our brothers and sisters in Nigeria, who are suffering.

Mat Staver