Meriam Ibrahim receives first ever ‘Cost of Discipleship Award’

Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese-born woman who was jailed while pregnant and given a death sentence for marrying a Christian man, was honored with the first-ever “Cost of Discipleship Award” presented to her by Tony Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council.

“Follow Him with all your steps, because He loves us all,” Ibrahim, speaking through an interpreter, said to a group of conservatives at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.

“God is good,” she said, smiling at the audience in the ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. “All the time!” many in the crowd shouted back.

Perkins and FRC Action sponsor the Values Voter Summit each year, and the event culminates with the recognition ceremony, concluding a weekend of weekend of political speeches, breakout sessions, and a presidential straw poll.

photo ACLJ

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who spoke Friday morning, won the Summit straw poll for the second year in a row.

Perkins chronicled Ibrahim’s strife as she was raised as a Christian, abandoned by her Muslim father at age six and refused to denounce were faith when she married her Christian husband.

“I am a Christian,” Ibrahim told a judge after three days had passed to reconsider.

With Ibrahim in jail awaiting death, the Sudanese government felt international pressure to release her, especially after headlines revealed she gave birth in prison while literally in shackles. The birth had delayed her hanging by two years – again, under Sudanese and Sharia law.

Ibrahim was released from prison and set to leave Sudan with her family in late June. She was re-arrested at the airport by the Sudanese government over alleged passport problems. After intense negotiations, she was finally allowed to leave Sudan on July 24.

Ibrahim recognized Naghmeh Abedini from the stage, telling her through the interpreter to “be strong, take care of your kids…the Lord will be with you.”

Perkins said from the stage that maybe, next year, Saeed Abedini will be freed and return to the United States, and receive the second Cost of Discipleship Award.

The event concluded with a prayer for Naghmeh Abedini and her family, and Christian music artist Twila Paris leading the gathering in three stanzas of “Amazing Grace.”