Great is Thy faithfulness!

In March 2020, Amy, my younger daughter will turn three. Time has flown by and looking back, I can only thank God for the infinite ways He has been faithful in the months leading to Amy’s birth. We had just moved to a new apartment in May 2016. It was July 2016, after a long and tiring road trip from Yellowstone National Park back to Seattle, when I discovered I was pregnant. My husband and I were thrilled! Our prayers had been answered!

My in-laws visited us in August and a couple of months later, we decided to call our parents over to visit since my husband’s project had gotten over and he was at home for a couple of weeks. We had been praying for a new project close to home but to our disappointment, my husband was posted to a new project in Phoenix. Considering that we had only a few more months on our visas, any move would not only be expensive but would also take a toll on us, especially on my health. Since we had prayed over this, we knew God was at work. There was so much to do! First, we had to find a new apartment in Phoenix without having to pay lease-breakage for the apartment we were living in. We frantically searched for all options to break the lease without any fee. Nothing seemed to work.Realizing that we didn't have much time left, my husband wrote out a cheque for the lease breakage fee which was over 3000 USD. Just before handing it in, we decided to pray over it and wait another day. Amazingly, that very day we came across a property in Phoenix that was owned by the same management that owned our current apartment. Guess what? We finalized an apartment in Phoenix without having to pay any lease-breakage, a huge cost-saving feat accomplished with God's help !

I was almost six months pregnant by then and we had to pack up and move to Phoenix from Seattle. Having finished the long and tedious processes of trashing, donating and packing all our stuff, we called the movers. Moving day came and all our stuff was loaded into the truck. Hardly had the movers packed up and left, when my husband got a call from his employer asking him to stay back in Seattle for three more weeks. We were shocked! Our stuff was all gone-no furniture or bed or kitchenware. Our apartment had been emptied, we had to survive for three weeks with practically nothing, and my parents were visiting in a week!

We trusted God to lead us. I’m thankful for the friend who lent us a bed for my parents to sleep-in, for the friend who lent me some of her kitchenware and even for friends who invited us over to stay with them (which we politely declined). On the day my parents were to arrive, my husband had to leave for Phoenix on an official trip for a couple of days. I dropped him off at the airport at 5 am and prayed for someone who would accompany me to the airport to pick up my parents in the evening. For someone like me who struggles to navigate the neighborhood even with the help of technology, the thought of getting around a place I’ve been  only once before, like the airport, bothered me. My friend, who accompanied me to the airport that day was an answered prayer.

Over the next couple of days, I drove my parents around Seattle for sight-seeing (Thanks to Mom armed with google maps!) after which my husband returned to take us all back to Phoenix. A friend in Phoenix who heard of our move, picked us up at the airport and treated us to a yummy Indian dinner at her home. Indian food in a foreign place was heaven indeed! Life's simple joys reminded me of a heavenly Father who cared and provided for us.

Our visas were getting over by March 2017 and I knew I had only a couple of months before I travelled back to India. My parents left for India in a month and I was to leave in January. I could’ve left with them but decided to stay back to celebrate Christmas and New Year with my husband. Since I was leaving the US for good, I had a lot of luggage. While my check-in baggage included 3 huge carton boxes, 1 big suitcase and my toddler’s car-seat, my cabin luggage had a duffel bag,a small suitcase, a backpack, a guitar, a toddler, and a baby in my tummy. It was going to be a long 30-hour flight with 2 transits. Travelling alone at 32 weeks of pregnancy, I must admit I was a little worried with a lot of what-ifs.What if I go into labour or start bleeding mid-air? What if my feet swell up? What if my toddler becomes cranky? I went to the Lord in prayer.Our God is a God who speaks- not only of instruction and holy warnings, but of promises too.The Lord spoke through Job 39:2 "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?” He who watches over the goat and the doe when they give birth would watch over me! What assurance!  Having cast my cares on the Lord, I was all set for the long journey ahead.

I had more cabin luggage than I was allowed on-board. God granted me favor in the eyes of the crew and I was allowed to take all of it in. My guitar which was supposed to have been charged extra wasn’t charged and was flown business class since it wouldn’t fit into the economy class. (A couple of months later, when my husband flew back home, he had to throw away a suitcase because they didn’t allow it inside the cabin, citing extra luggage. Lol.) My toddler did remarkably well the entire journey. A lady at the airport remarked that that I had too much luggage while travelling with a young child. I smiled because she didn’t know that there was a little one inside me.

I reached India safe and an ultrasound a few weeks later revealed that I had a low-lying placenta, a condition that would hinder normal delivery. I had trusted God in my previous pregnancy and delivery, and I knew God would do it again. Amy Arpana was born normally on March 8th, 2017 (A long story in itself) hale and healthy. Amy is almost three now, beautiful in every way — our own miracle of life and of love.

Finding God in little things!

Who doesn't love birthdays? We all do.Growing up, birthdays have always been special at our home-nothing extravagant but simple birthdays that made us feel special and loved.My Mom had to put up with my constant stream of reminders everyday, right from the beginning of my birthday month.I made sure she wouldn't forget it by any chance.On my birthday as a kid, there was usually a Bible passage from Isaiah read and I would be specially prayed over during our morning family prayer. Clad in a new outfit, I'd be beaming when the whole school would sing the birthday song during the morning assembly. Chocolate distribution to the whole class and to all the teachers would soon ensue. I'm sure we've all envied that friend who accompanied the birthday girl to all the classes.

Now that I've become a Mom, my role in making birthdays in the family special is pretty big, which translates to back-breaking work in the kitchen.For my daughter' s sixth birthday this year around, I had made Aapam with Aatu Kaal paaya (Lamb trotters stew) for breakfast, Biriyani with ennai kathirikai (eggplant curry)and Raitha for lunch.I had stayed up the previous night to bake a cake.Extra lunch boxes were packed for colleagues at  my office and my husband's.

I felt so accomplished! I had cooked, cleaned , gotten the children off to school and daycare and had made it to office on time! The biriyani had become an instant hit at our offices and I couldn't help brag about the morning feat to a few. Evidently, pride had kicked in.

The next morning my husband preferred the simple and easy-to-make curd rice for lunch. I headed to the kitchen, made the curd rice and began to prepare some capsicum kootu and soya stir-fry. Halfway through, I checked the clock and it was already 8:20! With just 5 mins for the school bus to leave, I panicked. My husband who usually helps was already hurrying for a meeting at work.I took out my temper out on my daughter who was still playing, got her dressed, and hurried her to the bus, only to have the capsicum burnt and the soya a complete mess.

I had terribly failed.That's when I was reminded of the verse,"Without me, you can do nothing".Although the verse implies that we can do nothing of eternal significance without God, I have seen God work in me or my circumstances when I depend on Him even in the little things of everyday life-like cooking.I wouldn't have lost my temper and handled everything much better, if only I had prayed before heading off into the kitchen.Doing life without God is indeed a recipe for failure!

Teach them young!

My older daughter who will be turning 6 tomorrow just amazes me. Her natural inquisitiveness and the amount of information she soaks in from the environment around her is just astounding. The questions she throws at me often leave me puzzled. Despite that fact that I wish she’d just go to bed every night without asking for a story, I end up telling her bedtimes stories -sometimes from the Bible. Recently at bedtime, I chose to teach her the spiritual armour of God and I think she understood. Well, sort of.

In The Pilgrim's Progress, Christian makes a stop at Palace Beautiful where he is supplied with a full suit of armour to protect him and prepare him for battle with Apollyon on his journey to the Celestial City.His body armour represents the Armour of God.

The Armour of God that contains the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit is essential for fighting the spiritual battles that we confront every day in our lives. And it's just as important that we arm our children and grandchildren with the same protection.

Growing up, my mother made us memorize Scripture every weekend and every advice she gave us would have some Bible verse in it. Consequently, there were so many verses that were just etched in our memory without us having to make any effort to memorize. We also had a daily devotional book (‘God & Me ‘by Scripture Union) packed with fun-activities from the Bible that we were supposed to work on every day. This foundation helped us look at the world from a Biblical perspective.

As parents, we‘ve been entrusted with the great responsibility of equipping our children with the tools, resources and skills they need to find the answers to any question they seek. Foundational questions on life and spirituality cannot be answered apart from the Word of God. With Bible illiteracy skyrocketing, we are commanded to hide God's Word in our hearts. We are also commanded to teach them to our children when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up (Deuteronomy 6:7). A child can begin memorizing Scripture as soon as he can talk. Teaching our children scripture doesn’t have to be hard. Singing is probably one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to memorize scripture. Playtimes and bedtimes for memorizing Scripture have always worked for me.

With childhood and teen years overflowing with temptations and peer pressure to walk away from the truth, Scripture will not only encourage, discipline and nurture our kids, but also prepare them for the onslaught of Satan as they are headed into the world.Let's also remember that our responsibility lies not in forcing our children into becoming Christians, but rather instructing them in the way of the Lord and demonstrating a Christian life at home. And then we can confidently walk in the assurance that Proverbs 22:6 provides: "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."