Lily Meschi, the director of partner relations at Iran Alive Ministries, came to Christ after growing up Muslim — and surviving an abusive arranged marriage in the United States.
“When I was 18, I was introduced to my dad’s business partner, who was 14 years older than me,” Meschi tells Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable.” “This marriage was arranged for me, and the string attached to it was the business that he was helping my dad to open.”
“I did not like him. I was not attracted to him at all, but from the get-go, he started manipulating me. He exploited me sexually before marriage to seal the deal, so to speak,” Meschi explains. “I was just scarred. I was very hurt after that, but I felt like I needed to be the savior of my family and just keep on going with this, with this arranged marriage, which turned very toxic, very abusive on all fronts.”
Meschi had witnessed other young girls and women be forced into arranged marriages and believed this was simply “the culture” and “something that we do as Iranians and as Muslims.”
“This actually happened a few times, but one time I remember as I was sleeping, he started throttling my neck because he had a dream that I was with another man. He was very jealous, very controlling. I woke up feeling I was being choked,” she tells Stuckey. […]
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