“A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.” 1 This is not the first time I heard this, but the first time I understood it. Every step and action of mine was in the divine time of the Lord, the divine time for me to follow, know, and love Him. The Lord chose me to follow Him and receive His blessings.
When I was 12 or 13 years old, I always used to walk in front of this building. This building attracted me a lot. It attracted me to peep from the gate, it attracted me to run my hand on the walls, and it attracted me to want to go inside it. I never had a chance to go in as I was not aware that it was where everyone was invited and accepted with love and care by members with hearts of gold. I always thought it was just someone's house, and I should not be peeping in, but I could not help it and continued doing all those things until I did my 12th. I finally graduated and had to leave that very path.
Life went on. I did my college courses. Later, I joined a play school. I worked there only for three months. During these three months, I met a beautiful lady who was my colleague and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One day she was preparing for a skit to celebrate Christmas Day but needed help writing the script in Hindi. I asked if I could help her with it. It was the story of Goliath that she was preparing. She was narrating the story, and I was writing it in Hindi. While writing, I got so curious about the story that I asked her to explain it thoroughly. She explained it to me, and my next question after listening to her was, “May I please join you for the Christmas Day celebration? Will you take me to your church?” Let me tell you, I was not aware that she was a member of that church. She answered me, “Yes! Why not? Everyone is invited. God loves everyone.” I was so moved and extremely excited to visit the church.
Then came the day of celebration. I went with her and was shocked to see that I was going to enter the very same building that had always been pulling me towards it. Let me tell you this was also the very first time that I heard about the church called “ The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” I went into a church that did not look like a church. I celebrated Christmas and met incredibly good people; now they are family to me. On that very night, when I was about to go to bed, I started thinking and tried to put everything in chronological order. Why did I meet that person, why did that building always attract me, and why did I feel the blessing of Christ on me every time? Then I realised that I am chosen; I am blessed to follow Him and be loved by Him.
Time passed. I switched my job, but somehow always kept my connection with that person and Christ. It so happened that I got a call from that colleague. She asked me to join the piano classes with her, and I said, “Yes!”.
I was so excited that I reached the church one hour early, and there was an English conversation class for anyone who wanted to come. It was free of cost. I was also sitting among the students and observing. I observed that students found it hard to convey their questions to the teachers, so I decided to help them translate. I started doing it, and three to four classes passed. During this time, I felt fulfilled, and my life was so good because I was doing something out of love and selflessness. It made me think that I was a teacher. I started meeting the teachers, learning about their work, and getting to know Christ and the Gospel more.
Finally, I accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and this has made my life complete.
Notes:
1 Isaiah 60:22