Watch: Nishanth’s testimony

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Video transcript

In catholic churches, they don’t encourage anyone to read the Word. They have another version with additional books known as the Apocrypha. So eventually reading the second commandment was an eye opener for me.

Hi, my name is Nishanth. I was born and raised in Chennai, South India.

I am here to share with you about my life journey and how I encountered Jesus.

I basically come from a very traditional and strict parenting background. Having said that, my parents loved me and my elder brother. They took care of our needs and provided all things possible within their reach, but it came with full of rules and regulations.

Any mistakes, I was corrected with a cane, which was readily available from the backyard, fresh from the tree. The fresh ones will not easily break but sometimes, I was beaten till the stick broke. Sometimes if their anger was not settled, they replaced the cane for a new one.

They believe this is the best way to discipline their children. Well in this process of growing up, I missed words of kindness, love, and encouragement. I didn’t have freedom like normal children to be naughty.

No freedom to speak or do things on my own. I was completely controlled and in their understanding, that was okay.

But fear was operating in me and that fear took away my confidence as I grew up. I guess my parents wanted their names to be highlighted in society, so they put in their best efforts to discipline us. “These are X’s children who are well disciplined.” Ultimately, yes, they achieved their goals.

I was known as an obedient parent-fearing child, instead of being a God-fearing child. At times, I noticed other kids did not want to hang around with me because their parents had told them about my strict parents. So my childhood was mostly with no friends around.

This impacted my school and college life when it came to friends. I faced rejection in school and in college. I was made fun of by the way I looked and spoke.

This disciplined life made me follow and obey whatever my parents showed me and I became an obedient, religious catholic.

As a child, I would kneel down during my prayers, say my rosaries, divine mercy prayers, and make multiple types of offerings to different saints and different Marys – there was not just one but many types of Marys – as per the catholic church and their rituals.

I used to visit different churches dedicated to the saints that offered masses for the dead. I prayed to the dead saints and paid money to churches in remembrance of my dead relatives. The priest would in return, offer prayers, believing their souls will be reunited with God in heaven as a result.

All this was me and my very self-centered prayers and offerings. I was living in complete darkness and deception, just running around to different saints, idols, and churches to get my prayers answered, because each saint and idol is assigned to specific benefits.

The top religious leaders would declare some new saints and we would start praying to that person, not realizing we were being misled. I never read the Bible, nor did my parents encourage or teach me to.

But from childhood, God had put this truth deep in my heart that the Bible is God’s only true Word. I wasn’t aware until I met Jesus personally through His Word.

In catholic churches, they don’t encourage anyone to read the Word. They have another version with additional books known as the Apocrypha.

Only priests would read a particular verse on a Sunday and spend maybe 15 minutes preaching on it and two ushers read a particular verse or a chapter.

So eventually reading the second commandment was an eye opener for me. It says in Exodus 20:3-4, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them…”

Fast forward, I married the girl whom I loved but whom my parents rejected. It’s been 25 years of love and friendship and 17 years of marriage, and we are blessed with two beautiful children. I strongly believe God brought us together and that’s why God gave me the boldness to stand up for the marriage against every strong opposition.

My family hated, cursed, and rejected both of us and our marriage.

This was painful and hurtful. God, in His mercy, brought us out of India to a new country so we could start everything fresh, from scratch.

Thirteen years in a foreign country, I found God’s favor on us, although I failed to realize it. Even though I started my career from scratch, I found favor from bosses, from multiple elevations in my career within a short period, and was recognized and awarded for achievements. But I continued to live in darkness. I could not see the Lord’s goodness and mercy because I did not have a personal relationship with God, the Father. I could only be religious and pray religious prayers. I was still in a deceiving faith.

Unknowingly, pride crept in and my lifestyle started to follow the patterns of this world.

The enemy of our souls came with many schemes, trying to bring defeat in my family life in the areas of health, faith, and marriage.

The Bible says in John 10:10, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

For example, doctors said that the scans of my son in his mother’s womb showed that his femur bone of one leg wasn’t growing. Also, he had to be delivered in emergency due to other complications.

As a very young parent and with no family around to support us, we had only God who we could completely trust and comfort each other. God worked an amazing miracle! My son weighed only 1.5kg but his legs were completely normal.

Likewise, doctors said my daughter’s head measurements were larger than normal after her birth. But it became normal in a few days. Praise God.

At work, I became a workaholic and ended up working 11-12 hours a day. At home, I started to show anger and irritation, and tried to discipline the kids with fear and anger. I copied the way I was brought up, instead of bringing up kids the way God, the Father, wants me to.

After a few years, my wife encountered Jesus and her life started to transform, but our relationship became tough because I was still blinded to the truth.

In 2018, I was posted to another country for better prospects, higher pay, designation, etc. It was a time when there were political issues and covid. But within two years, my company had to shut down its global operations due to internal financial crime.

I became unemployed with no friends around, no freedom, and added onto it was the covid restrictions. There was a sudden silence in my life, my busyness and worldly life.

All the strings attached to it came to a complete pause. It was like God put a full stop to my pride and my things attached to the pride.

During this period, my wife and my kids expressed more of their love and emotional support, which made me move forward to the next step of knowing Jesus in depth. I understand now that they could share love and peace with me because they knew Jesus personally.

A few years back, my wife gifted me a Bible by faith. She knew I would need it one day and it would change my life. Her prayers were finally answered after seven years of waiting for me to see the truth. I started to study the Bible. As I kept reading the Word of God, the scales of my eyes started to fall off, one by one. I could connect every dot to what my wife used to share with me about Jesus. My eyes were opened to the truth. I started to see Jesus in the Old Testament, which made things more interesting for me. I could see His goodness in my past and the present.

Things did not change overnight but His Word started to transform me inside out, step by step.

I understood there is so much power in His Word and the Bible is the living Word of God. I eventually accepted Jesus as my only Lord and Savior.

During this season of uncertainty, the Lord confirmed to my wife to stay where we were and not move back to India. We just obeyed, instead of packing our bags and leaving. But paying for rent, kids’ schooling, and other expenses became a real big challenge.

Though I was unemployed for 11 months, God took care of us in every detail.

I normally panic but my wife and family back home could see the peace in me, which was beyond their understanding. I found favor in getting my work visa renewed just before the closure of my company, which was an impossible thing, favor from my landlord on the rentals, 100% fee remission from school etc., which removed all my financial burdens.

My wife used to pray for a stress-free job with more family time and I can see that God answered her prayers in His perfect time here too.

Though my present job comes with lower pay, fewer facilities, and a low profile, God opened doors for both my kids to be in the same international school, which is completely subsidized.

All this is a clear sign that when we obey His voice and trust Him completely, we are actually allowing God to work things for our good in His perfect way. As 1 John 2:5 says, “But if anyone obeys His word, God’s love is truly made complete in him”.

Little did I know that God had so much in store for us. He later arranged for our family to be water baptized together. His goodness didn’t stop there, I later got baptized in the Holy Spirit as well. As we grew in faith and I completely moved out of the catholic faith, we both faced strong rejection from our near and dear ones back home. But God is our Vindicator and we trusted Him even when the world was not in our favor.

Jesus is a loving and patient Teacher who never gives up on us. He began maturing me in my marriage, at work, and with people.

I still had the spirit of anger, hatred, disappointment, and all the past hurts and bitterness operating in me. I still disciplined the children with anger and fear. This caused confusion and gave my family a tough time. This didn’t seem normal but God is good and faithful.

The Lord led my wife to a sister-in-Christ who helped us understand each other through God’s love. With the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we uncovered the unforgiveness, hurts, and bitterness we were carrying from our childhood, which affected our marriage. The enemy had also been building confusion and misunderstanding of our past hurts.

This sister guided me to renounce and repent of my unpleasant past and forgive those who had hurt and cursed me. This helped me understand the true love of Christ. I was able to gain a better understanding of love, marriage, my anger, and the way I should be handling my marriage and family.

As the Holy Spirit revealed more about my past religious practices, I renounced all the catholic rituals and repented over every instances which displeased the Lord.

This brought more awareness of God’s Kingdom and how He wants us to live our lives.

Once I understood the strategy of the enemy, I started to be more cautious. So now when misunderstandings and confusion stand in front of me, I understand it is the work of the enemy, not my wife or kids or the people around me.

Slowly, my approach and communication has started to change. I try to be more patient and I enjoy my time with my kids. My irritation has faded off and my wife can see the changes in me. My marriage started to be restored. I understand God has united my wife and me in marriage for a greater purpose. I believe what God has united cannot be separated by man.

God is faithful and His love and promises never change, no matter who we are and what we have done. In this beautiful journey with Jesus, I am still learning and accepting corrections from godly friends.

Dear friends, today I want to encourage you. Please don’t lean on your own understanding because this is one of the biggest mistakes I have made, and most of us make.

We might be facing stress, depression, brokenness, unemployment, sickness, maybe something unexpected happened to us. I know it is tough but please pause for a minute, take a deep breath, and remember we have Jesus who understands every single detail and He is above all our problems. Get to know the real Jesus. Run to Him. Turn from unforgiveness and bitterness. Go experience the love, joy, and peace of Jesus, which is beyond our understanding. He is always waiting for you with His arms stretched wide. Bless you all.