Journey of Faith

I studied in the best schools with solid Christian backgrounds, from preschool when I was 3 to college days when I was in 20’s

I knew the routine of prayers and singing in the assembly every morning, which I participated in willingly, and once home, I followed the rules set out by my parents, the pooja, the fasting, and the rituals of various days and festivals. I was a good Hindu at home and a good participant in school assemblies, leading the school in songs I enjoyed the most.

This continued until I met a new girl who joined us in 12th grade. She was timid, yet her character spoke loudly; I was curious about what made her stand out. She was an avid cricket fan and would share the scores when she returned to school from lunch. We slowly became acquainted, and our paths reconvened when I saw her, Joy Miriam Chithra in my class at the college.

We became best friends through the five years, where she correctly introduced Christ as the one true living God and led me closer to Christ. We prayed alone, in groups with my classmates- Karen, Adeline, Anita, Nandini, Susheela, and Suganya- and sang songs together on field trips and on stage, as seen in the image above.

During long holidays, our family visits sets of temples, and on one occasion, we bathe in the temple pond before the pooja. That particular day, one of our neighbor’s sons who accompanied us drowned, and my brother, who wasn’t a swimmer, dove to save him and got pulled in. When I witnessed my brother drowning, I reached out to pull him, only to descend with them. When my feet hit the bottom of the 15′ pond, I knew I was good as gone. I saw them both bobbing up and sinking. I was suddenly pulled out to the shore by my father, who had also rescued the two boys. That was indeed another second chance for me.

Chithra asked me if I encountered trouble on a particular day; she said she was prompted to fervently pray for me as she felt I was in a dilemma, which I indeed was.

That’s when I realized I was rescued for a reason and gave my life to honor Christ; my promise verse was in 2 Corinthians 5:17, ” IF ANY MAN BE IN CHRIST, HE IS A NEW CREATION, OLD THINGS ARE PASSED AWAY; BEHOLD ALL THINGS ARE BECOME NEW.”

At this crossroads of my life, I met Nagi, a senior, vibrant and full of vigor; he took an interest in me while I was hesitant even to hold a conversation. He was persistent, and I prayed and asked the Lord to show me the right way, I was assured that my life intertwined with him, who would be my future. I told him about my faith and that I wanted to be a believer, and he willingly followed.

We prayed every time we met and knew convincing my mother would be difficult. After many years of prayer and perseverance, I married Nagi without my parent’s approval. They turned around and accepted us after that.

The journey together as man and wife had its share of trifles, and we tread through it all by the sheer Grace of God and are blessed with two wonderful kids, Rithi and Raj.

God has been faithful to us all along, and we were baptized as a family on January 20, 2001, and the children after that in 2011.