By Eden Garcia —
A panic attack stemming from physical abuse in her marriage brought Karima Burdette to the hospital bed. Her heart was racing so bad, doctors had to stop it and re-start it.
“Having your heart stopped for 10 or 15 seconds really woke me up,” Karima says. “I was thinking if I don’t leave this relationship, I’m gonna die.”
Born Muslim in Morocco, Karima Burdette moved to France when her mom married a French man. She got the chance to move to America in 1993 as part of a hair-stylist exchange program. She met and married the military guy who a couple months after the wedding began slapping her.
When she was a little girl in Morocco, Islam was everything for the family. Because she was little, she didn’t have to fast for Ramadan. Her mother divorced when she was 2. She remarried and moved to France.
After being accustomed to head-to-toe coverings in Morocco, Karima was shocked to see half-naked people on commercials,
But she liked the the chocolate bunnies for Easter and the Christmas tree. Neither her mom nor her step-dad (he was nominally Catholic) practiced their birth faith.
She gravitated towards beauty and became a stylist. At 18, she was randomly selected to participate in an exchange program and perfect her craft in a school in America.
That’s where she met her first husband, a soldier. They married fairly quickly. He was deployed to Texas.
They were discussing a disagreement (arguing) the first time he slapped her. He apologized and promised to never do it again but failed on his promise.
The physical abuse got followed by emotional abuse. He began controlling her life, calling her at work to keep tabs on her, forcing her to call him when she left for home.
When he shoved and choked her, she realized things were escalating. Karima was miserable.
“I found myself on the couch one night crying, asking myself, Why is this happening?” she says. “There was this sermon on T.V. He said, Bow your head, close your eyes, pray with me.”
That was her first experience with Jesus.
But she still didn’t come to Jesus. Lots of people invited her to church.
“In my mind, I’m thinking, There’s no way I’m going to their church. I would be betraying Allah and my family. I just can’t do that,” she says. “So I was really scared to even put my feet in a church.”
Then she met her current husband, Roger, who attended church. They fell in love.
By now, she relented and attended church with him.
“This feeling that I’ve never felt in my life came over me,” she remembers. “It was such peace. I felt like I was on a cloud. I felt so good. I remember leaving the church that day, and I was like, What was that about?“
She attended more regularly, and over time she thought about about her life and slowly came to think about signing up fully for Jesus.
The nudging of co-worker pushed her over the edge.
“Karima, it looks like God is after you,” the co-worker said.
When she finally accepted Jesus 25 years ago, she called her mom, who scolded her: “No, no, no, you cannot become a Christian. You’re Moroccan; you’re Muslim.”
“Being a Moroccan and being a Christian is two different things,” she replied. “It’s OK that I change my religion. Mom, I love you, and I love my family. But if I was to die today, you can’t save me. The only one who can intercede for me and save me is Jesus. I believe in him that he came and died for me.
“I can’t say no to him just because you want me to.”
