About Shalini

There is also another family in our life group. Shalini and sisters and an invalid mum lived on the edge of poverty. Their father,a taxi driver and the sole breadwinner of the family died of pneumonia when Shalini was 19. Some relatives attended the funeral, gave some money and dissapeared from their lives. If not because of some Christian friends, the family would really have been in dire straits or chased out of their home. A local church helped them with foodstuff and monthly love offering (later Sunbeam and our church stepped in). Our life group also contributed cash and kind. Lydia's kind friends also visited her home, repaired the lights and toilet, bought some provisions and painted the house. Through the kindness of some members of our life group, the last few payments for her house instalments were also settled.

Shalini with a not so good Form 5 qualification drifted from job to job. Through fervent prayers, she ended up with a good job at a local bank near her house! In fact the bank branch was just below our church! Since the first day at work, God had been with her meet and helped her with all her sales targets. Not only that, she was able to pass all her banking exams (even after having to re-take some of the papers). God was truly moving in her life. I could see God's love, mercy and compassion upon her....4 sisters with ages ranging from 13 to 20 and a mother who had not been able to move much for the last 6 years due to a bad stroke, Shalini had done a great job taking care of her family and honoring her mum.

When I think of her love and devotion to her mum and the sacrifice of her youth for her other sisters so that they could have a better life, I am inspired always to be a better daughter to my mother and a better mother to my children!

Today I visited her and I could see that her mum was getting better. Shalini told me that her mum could now stand up and take a few steps. A great breakthrough considering that she had been unable to do so for the last 6 years! I prayed for her and encouraged Maureen with the verse in Heb 11:1 "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen". I encouraged her to have faith in God in her total and complete healing. Truly one day, she will be able to walk again and climb the few flight of steps to our church and share her healing testimony with others!

Amen! Amen!