Praise the Lord! My name is Anshu Dhingra Die. Today I would like to share my testimony of how I met the Lord Jesus Christ and all the wonderful things that have happened in my life since I have accepted Him as my Lord and Saviour.
I will begin with a small background about myself. I was born in New Delhi into a Hindu family, and brought up according to the Hindu religion and traditions. As I grew up, I had lots of questions about the Hindu religion: How can there be so many Gods? Why do some of these Gods have many wives? Why do all of us have different days when we fast? Why my family doesn’t eat meat on Tuesdays only? What is there so much variation in the worship rituals and pooja’s from one family to another? Why is there no forgiveness with God, and that every bad thing we do is accounted for against us, and our reincarnated body depends on the number of evil things we do? And the list goes on…. I used to ask my mother many questions, every time she called me to perform a pooja or a ritual…but the answers I used to get were on the lines of “it’s part of our tradition, that’s what was told to me by mother, I don’t know the reason why..”. All of this just didn’t make any sense to me.
Since my dad used to work in the Indian Embassy, I was travelling throughout my life, and was exposed to a multicultural environment in school…various religions, and I was always told God is one, so whenever I used to pray, I used to pray to all Gods from all religions, thinking that one of them must be the true God and would listen to my prayer. At the same time it was difficult for me to pray to God, for anything in specific – for good results in an exam, for my career, for making the right decision in a situation, etc. The way I interpreted God was that, He has given us enough intelligence, wisdom, to carry out our lives….so why trouble God everyday with all our problems…..after all He has the whole world to take care of. So I used to make a simple prayer to all the Gods of all religions, on the lines of, “Thank you God (naming all the Gods) for everything in my life. Please continue to show me the right path in life at all times.”
In July 2012, I came back from Italy with my son to Kochi….at that time Charles – my husband was coming here to church, and He introduced me to Pastor John, and then Charles went to Delhi on a business trip. The first Sunday, I was in Kochi alone with Mickael, and I remember Pastor telling me that if I want, I can come for worship on Sunday. I somehow made to church, and the first day itself I started crying during worship, not understanding why? As I started reading the Bible, out of curiousity, I came upon the following scripture in John 14:6, Jesus said to Him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” I didn’t understand this scripture fully at that point in time, until I started reading the Bible more, and one day the Holy Spirit, spoke to me, and explained to me that Jesus had heard your daily prayer, “Please continue to show me the right path in life.” – Jesus Christ said I am the path/way, the truth/right and the life. I finally knew who God was.
Since Jesus has come into my life, there have been lots of wonderful changes in my life, in myself, my relationships, my perception about work/career, and I have understood who God really is. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says ‘Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.” Yes all things have become new and I am a new person. The first thing that I have experienced, is that I now have a relationship with God, He is not somewhere far away and mute, but is with me at all times, He sees, He listens, and He speaks. Jesus is alive and with me, in all my highs and my lows. Romans 8:15 says “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba Father.” Jesus is my Father, and I can now run upto Him and pray about anything, ask Him anything, just like a child does to His Father. Moreover, I can now go upto God and ask for forgiveness for my sins, which was not the case before I knew Jesus, as each sin was accounted against me. 1 John 1:9 says ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ Jesus’s mercy and love endure forever. Now that’s what I always thought God should be like, which was not the case before.
Since 1999, I was suffering from severe headaches, tremors, isolation and stress related health issues. Jesus has healed me of all these symptoms – 1 Peter 2:24 says ‘By Jesus stripes I am healed.’, and He has taught me through His Word-Bible, how to be stress-free. The Bible starts of in Hebrews 4:12, by , “For the word of God is living and powerful…”
Since I know Jesus, he has strengthened all my relationships, teaching us first to forgive, just as He also forgave all our sins, by dying on the cross. And also to love one another as oneself. 1 John 4:9-10 says, “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Last of all, before knowing Jesus, I was a career woman, always looking out for what more I can achieve….this never helped, but in fact deteriorated the quality of my life – I was always competing, full of stress and no relaxation. Until, I met Jesus, and I read Ephesians 2:10, ‘For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.’ I then understood, that we were not created to compete or achieve anything, but to do the work that He has prepared for us even before we were born.
There’s so much more I want to say…as there so many things that Jesus has changed and brought into my life. Every day, is a blessing in His presence! Thank you Jesus!
Posted on January 3, 2014