Jyothi’s story | Adopted and shown grace, in India

“Those who honour me, I will honour.” (1 Samuel 2:30)

“My mum was a missionary to India. Before that, she was a single lady, living in England… and then she was called by God to India. She was 21 and she moved to a little village where there were head-hunters. After years of learning the language, she started a radio station and recorded the Gospel on big reels. She and another British missionary would drive into little villages and set up the reels in the car and play the Gospel. All the village people would come out and listen, including the head-hunters. 95% of the people in those villages became Christians and now their children and grandchildren are going out as missionaries.

After that, my mum moved to another place, where she translated Christian biographies and other books into Telugu. There was no printing press, so she started her own press. which became well-known all over India. In between times, she adopted children. People would come to her with orphans who had no one to look after them. I was the ninth of her adopted children, aged three. When I was brought to her, I’d been living in an orphanage. My birth mother died, and my father couldn’t look after me, so he gave me up to her.

After I came to live with my adopted mother, my dad would visit me occasionally. Each time, he would bring me a bunch of bananas he could ill afford. I remember the last time he came he held me tight and cried and cried. He didn’t come after that because he moved to a different area.

My mum lived by faith. She had no regular income. People would just send money when she least expected it. She had such a deep commitment to people and a concern for their souls. As well as adopting children, she regularly had 20 girls living in her home. She was training them in the Bible. Every Sunday, she would have 300 children in the home, and she would train these young women how to teach Sunday school. Those young women often came back and said it was the happiest years of their life! Sometimes, we would go on picnics in the local area, and she would sing hymns in Telugu and preach the Gospel. Other people would join in, and she had such a love for them.

For me, I went off to a Christian boarding school where I heard the gospel constantly and I would go forward for the altar call almost every Sunday. When I was 16, I was at a Christian conference, and I was challenged to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I did, and it was a

turning point for me. At the time, I told one of the boys at the conference that I’d accepted the Lord, and he said he would pray for me… which he did, and then we got married 10 years later, in India.

Twelve years after our marriage, my husband and I came to Australia, with our two children and four suitcases. We didn’t know why God brought us here, but we were sure it was God’s leading. We joined the local church in Sydney and now, years later, my husband is the caretaker of the church since we have no pastor.

In the meantime, my mum went back to England, when she turned 60, after 40 years in India. I remember one day, when I was a kid, I was walking to school with her, and she told me about her favourite Bible verse. “Those who honour me, I will honour.” (1 Sam 2:30) She told me that she came to India with nothing. She was single and alone. “But now look at me!” she said, “God has honoured me. I have this huge family of children and grandchildren!”. As she finished talking, she said, “Look!” and there in front of us upon a gate of a school was this very same verse.

My mum passed away ten years ago. She made such a big impression on my life. I’ve seen how much she loved people, and she loved their souls. I’ve seen how much she honoured God in everything she did, and how much he honoured her. And now… I’ve seen that Bible verse at work in my own life too. Those who honour God, he will honour.”

Jyothi’s story is part of the Faith Stories series, compiled by Naomi Reed.

Visit Koorong to purchase Naomi’s Faith Stories book, Every Moment, Everywhere: https://koorong.com/everymoment