Letter from Imprisoned Iranian Pastor

By Jeremy Reynalds, Senior Correspondent for ASSIST News Service

IRAN (ANS) — Imprisoned Christian Pastor Farshid Fathi has sent a letter from Iran's notorious Evin Prison, reflecting on God's faithfulness even in difficult times.

Pray for Farshid Fathi.

Fathi has apparently been in Evin Prison for almost 43 months because of his Christian faith and ministry. He is scheduled for release in Dec. 2016.

According to a news release from Elam Ministries, which assists the church in the Iran region and beyond, he wrote "In each of our lives, there are nights: nights of loneliness, nights of nightmare, nights of fever and pain, endless nights of prison, nights of missing, nights of hard-breathing and some scary, unexplainable nights in our lives." Fathi said these experiences are inevitable, even for those who have a close walk with Jesus Christ.

According to Elam, Fathi continued "When a child has a bad night, his father or his mother lies beside him during the night, tenderly stroking his forehead, kissing his cheeks over and over, calling his name in the most lovely voice, and they keep looking at the child's face until that bad night passes over. Then the child opens his eyes and thinks his father has just come to him. He was not able to sense his father's breath while he was battling with his nightmares."

That's the same for us, Fathi continued, when our troubling times end. We think that God has just come to us. But that's not so. "He was not only there in the morning, but He was with us all through the dark nights of our life . So I am absolutely sure that finally 'the sun of justice will rise with healing in its wings (Malachi 4:2).'"

Elam wrote, "Thank you for your faithful prayers for Farshid, who is in the midst of a dark night, and yet waits for the dawn to break. It is a great encouragement for him to know that his family around the world are still holding him up in prayer."

For more information visit www freefarshid.org.