Dear brothers and sisters,

With Ling’s (pseudonym) permission, I am deeply grateful to share part of her life story with you. I also hope that through her story, you will see how your generous and ongoing support has enabled us to walk alongside her through an incredibly difficult season of life. Because of your giving, we are able to provide Ling with bulk-billed services, allowing her to receive the care and support she needs without additional financial burden.

Ling’s Story

I was born and raised in China. In 1985, because my parents did not approve of marriage outside our ethnic group, I entered into an arranged marriage. Before marrying me, my former husband had just ended a five-year relationship, so from the very beginning our marriage lacked both love and security. Only three days after our wedding, he rejected me, and I had no choice but to return to live with my parents for a time. Later, I returned to live with him again.

After my son was born in 1986, emotional abuse began, and by the time my child was three years old, it had escalated into physical violence.

For nearly thirty years, I lived under the shadow of domestic violence. My former husband frequently gambled, had affairs, and stayed away from home for long periods. When he did return, he often came home angry and violent. I was repeatedly beaten over small household matters, and both my body and spirit suffered deeply. At times, I even feared for my life. As the years passed, the violence became increasingly severe. I was injured many times and often required medical treatment.

In my experience, domestic violence within marriage was often treated as a private family matter. Because of cultural pressure, shame, and concern for my family, I felt unable to tell others what I was enduring. Although I applied for divorce twice, the court imposed reconciliation periods and ultimately rejected both applications. After trying again and again to escape the marriage, only to fail each time, I fell into deep despair and even attempted to end my life by taking sleeping tablets.

Yet it was during those darkest days that I first came to know the Christian faith. In the midst of fear, loneliness, and despair, I encountered the love of God and the message of salvation. When I felt there was no hope left in life, faith became my only comfort and light. However, my husband strongly opposed my faith and would not allow me to attend Christian gatherings. Eventually, because of fear and pressure at home, I stopped participating in church life.

In 2015, desperate to escape the violence and leave the city where I had suffered for so many years, I responded to an overseas job advertisement. In 2017, I travelled to London to work as a nanny. Although this gave me temporary distance from my former husband, the cold weather in England worsened the pain in my legs and knees, and after five months I had no choice but to return to China.

When I returned, my home had already been demolished due to government redevelopment. At the same time, because of my age, I struggled to find work, and my small pension was far from enough to survive on. I continued to live in fear each day, afraid that my former husband would find me again and continue harming me.

Feeling that I no longer had a future in China, I applied for a tourist visa and came to Sydney, Australia, hoping to find safety and a new beginning.

After arriving in Australia, I returned to church and reconnected with the Christian faith that had once sustained me in China. Within the church community, I experienced acceptance, care, and support during one of the darkest and most broken seasons of my life.

In Australia, I entered another relationship, hoping to rebuild my life and find stability and companionship. Sadly, this relationship later became unsafe and abusive. In March 2023, I experienced another serious domestic violence incident, which had a significant impact on my mental health. I began to suffer from ongoing anxiety, depression, intrusive and painful memories, sleep disturbance, hypervigilance, and deep fear. Through counselling at First Light Care and support from social workers, I have gradually begun to face and work through the trauma caused by these many years of abuse.

Although I still live with physical pain and emotional trauma, my faith has become a deeply important source of strength and hope in my life. Even though my physical and mental health remain fragile, I now serve at church once each week. I often say, “God saved me, and I must serve Him.” Being able to serve gives me an opportunity to respond to the love, hope, and support I have received from God, through faith, and through the Christian community in Australia.

I have now been recognised as a refugee in Australia and am in the process of applying for permanent residency. I humbly ask for your prayers, that God would continue to make a way for me, sustain me, and strengthen me for the journey ahead.

I am also deeply thankful for the care and companionship I have received from First Light Care. I hope that through my story, you can see how precious it is for a person to be cared for, accepted, and supported in their most helpless and vulnerable moments.

Although Ling still faces many struggles and challenges each day, she continues to persevere. She often says that this strength comes from her trust in God — it is the love of God that upholds her and enables her to keep going.

If you are willing, I warmly ask that you continue to remember Ling in your prayers, and also continue to support the work of First Light Care, so that more people like Ling, living in difficult and vulnerable circumstances, may receive timely care, professional support, and renewed hope for the future.

With gratitude and blessings,

Cherrie