Hey! My name is Sudha and I’m 21 years old. I just graduated with a degree in commerce and business in May. I gave my life to Jesus when I was in 2ndgrade during a fasting prayer. My biggest breakthrough in life was when I was in 7thgrade. Up until then insecurity was my biggest stronghold and this kept me away from God. I was angry and hurt because I believed the lie that I was an accident and that God made a huge mistake when He made me. I hid that hurt with and never let anyone know, including my mom. I pretended that my life was great and fun and that I had no struggles.
In 7thgrade my mom helped me open up to her and when I did, I felt this heavy burden just lift of off my shoulders and it was a huge breakthrough. She helped me talk to God about it and when I did the Lord spoke to me through the verse in song of songs 2: 10. “My lover spoke and said to me, arise my darling, my beautiful one and come with me.” He started speaking words of truth and covering me with words of love and showing His thoughts towards me. I found my identity in Christ and since then I used His truth to rebuke the lies.
I also found my calling during this year. I feel called to minister and work with Muslim women and girls. To help them find their identity in Christ and to show them hope, freedom and justice.
The Qur'an.
This May, I attended a one- week course on Islam in Hyderabad and the institution that led it was called ‘Henry Martin Institute for inter religions and research'. This course taught me about Islam, prophet Mohammad, the history of it all, how it spread, and the Qur’an. My teachers were all Muslims, so I found it interesting to listen to their perspective of their religion and beliefs. But the biggest lesson God taught me during this one week was to stand firm in my faith. To not falter in my beliefs and to not compromise my faith for the sake of peace between Christians and Muslims.I am very excited to tell you that I joined Sons and Daughters. We had a one week retreat and it was my first time! That was where I became an official member of the Sons and Daughters agency. I got to know what Sons and Daughters was all about during that week. It was a time of rest and getting to meet the other missionaries who joined before me. I was amazed to see how God was using these missionaries in different parts of India and listening to their stories was so awesome!! We had sessions on wisdom, sabbath, Holy Spirit, emotional and mental well- being, budgeting and financing, and social empowerment. We also had slots allotted for sharing and prayer and those times were the best during the whole retreat. The best thing about Sons and Daughters for me was just to see how everyone was treated importantly and that it didn’t matter how many years you served or if you just joined, everyone was treated equally. I felt like I was a part of the group, not an outsider or a newbie. The whole time I was there, I could feel the presence of God in communion with the people around.
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| Islamic books. |
Now, I am attending a three months course on Islam in a bible college called SAIACS. It’s good because the classes are more discussion based rather than lectures. This month we’re doing a comparative study of the Qur’an and the Bible. It’s very interesting to see how the Qur’an got its stories from the bible all mixed up. We’re also learning on how to improve conversing skills with Muslims when approaching about their religion without attacking them with what’s wrong about their religion but using their Qur’an to lead them to think and wonder about why they do what they do.
Some of my prayer requests are:
1. Please pray that as I study God would give me understanding and patience when I read the Qur’an.
2. Pray that I will be able to continue keeping Jesus as my focus in all of this.
3. Pray that I would continue this journey of growing and learning with the same energy and joy I had when I started it.
