Anthem out of Agony

 Being honest about my pain   “You are so cruel!” I yelled out.   This statement was not directed to anyone in front of me.   It was directed to God.   I was angry.   I was frustrated.   I was hurt.   God was silent. I looked around and saw Him answer others prayers.   I saw others with no faith living a carefree life.   Yet to me He seemed distant.   I felt like He didn’t care even to the point where I thought He was cruel. I found myself bringing my list of accomplishments to Him.   I reminded Him of my sacrifices.   I told Him that I didn’t look for suffering to come to me. I knew that God could take how I felt.   It was important that I tell Him.   Honesty, is always a good place to start. If I had stopped there, I would have been stuck in a bad place.   But, I went on.   Yes, I was honest about how I felt but then I remembered who He was.   His character.   I recounted His w...

We trust in the name of the Lord!  2020 has been a year of grief, struggles, pain, loss and uncertainty for everyone around the world.   Yet, as I look back and reflect upon the months gone by, all I see is God’s amazing grace, faithfulness and provision blurring everything else.   There are many things to share, but I would like to share two. The first thing is that when our nation went into lockdown, there were so many inconveniences.   But that’s when our family became the most connected through prayers and Bible studies every morning until the online classes became too many.   For over two months we came together every morning through zoom and studied the Bible and spent time in prayer.   That was an amazing outcome of the lockdown for us as a family.   We became closer to God and to each other. The second thing is that as the classes went online fully, it became so difficult to make things work smoothly for my three sons with just one mobile...

 God's grace amidst my agonies   I’m 27 years old working as a teacher.   I’m originally from Chennai but settled in Kolhapur.   In 2016, I lost my sister who was just married for two years to renal failure.   Within a year I lost my dear Dad who was upset after the demise of my sister.   He was a railway officer at Kolhapur.   Now it’s only my mother and myself.   Immediately after my Dad’s death, I was detected with jaundice and Australian antigen virus.   There was no hope for me.   But God is so good, Jesus brought me out of this situation.   After a year, in May of 2019, I suffered from a slipped disc which was agonizingly painful.   Even after visiting 18-20 doctors and spending lots of money on treatments, nothing seemed to work.   I went into severe depression and lost hope of healing.   It was through God’s goodness and mercy that I underwent an endoscopic discectomy surgery this year in June.   I ...

 He makes all things beautiful in His time     As I listened to the sermon on Hannah about barrenness and hopelessness, it brought to memory my own personal journey.   We’ve gone through so many difficulties in our life and sometimes I even wondered if God really exists.   Everything seemed to be going wrong. About 4-5 years ago in December of 2015, my husband, Rahul, was given a letter of suspension without any intimations.   Our whole life took a turn which none of us were prepared for.   Our children were small and still in Montessori and were hoping to move into a regular school.   My in laws were staying with us and Rahul was the only earning member in the house. Things went from bad to worse and it seemed like life had drawn a curtain on us. We wondered what to do, why did this happen to us? What did we do to deserve this?   In my brokenness and shattered dreams, I turned towards the Lord not sure of our future.   We decided to...

 An opportunity to witness for Christ! Hello!   I am so thrilled to share an experience I had.   After almost 9 months I was able to share about Jesus face to face with someone!   It happened in my Gym where I invited my trainer to visit our church on December 25 th .   He was happy to accept my invitation and said how much he loved the environment surrounding Christmas with cakes, candles and music.   I had the opportunity to ask him if he knew why we cut the cake at Christmas.   He said he did not know and I was able to share about Christ to him.   Please pray that he would understand more clearly the love of God which is available for him.        Ravi  

 He is the same, yesterday, today and forever! Praise His Holy Name!     My mother has a case of type II diabetes and for the last 18 years has had hypertension.   March 5 th she was not well but had to travel the distance of 60 kms to her work place in Shillong.   Work commitment kept us miles apart but the lockdown brought us together.   My mother was then getting sickness after sickness.   She had a severe allergic reaction followed by severe UTI, then decrease in electrolytes level followed by severe case of diarrhea and finally she ended up with anemia in the month of October.   Her Hb was only 6.5 mg/dl and added to this, she is Rh negative.    Being a nurse, I wanted her to go to the hospital, but she was refusing to do so.   My cousin brother who is an MD then prescribed her some medication.   I am an only child and it was just my mother and me, but I knew without a doubt that my heavenly Father was with us.  ...

 The Lord is my Portion   Though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, His grace sustained me thus far!   My husband and I met with a scooter accident in 1979 while I was 8 months pregnant.   I was injured badly with a fractured jaw, but the Lord kept me alive.   My husband, however, died.   Preethi, our daughter was born one month later.   I was broken and shattered but found solace in Him alone.   My parents had to leave their comfort in Kerala to be with me in Bangalore to help me take care of my baby.   God gave me strength to go back to work after a couple of months.   He enabled me to complete my teaching career.   I had many challenges and difficulties but experienced His goodness and faithfulness in my life.   At present I live with my daughter Preethi and am blessed with two loving grandchildren.   Pastor Ashok’s influence over Preethi’s life during her teen years is also something I am so gratef...