PERSECUTION AFTER MARRIAGE
When she was oppressed by her own people and became broken-hearted,
the Lord comforted her by quoting many examples. The Lord told her that repaying good for good is humans character,
that repaying evil for good is the Devils character and that repaying good for evil is the divine character. When He
asked her to choose any of these three ways, she expressed her desire to choose the divine way.
Another example:
Jesus told her:
As you look at the palm of your hand, so I look
at the whole world. There is a swarm of aunts on your palm. As you can see all the ants on your palm, so I can
see the spiritual condition of all the people in a minute. But I do not destroy them for their sins. However,
it grieves My heart that My own people live without doing My will. Still I am embracing them
with all the longsuffering and love.
One day, the husband of her elder sister refused to part with
a box required by her. She murmured in her heart on his attitude and went home. The Holy Spirit convicted her by saying,
Whether your brother-in-law refused to give you your own thing? Does not he have the power to give or not to give a thing,
which belongs to him only? Your murmuring is not right
One night her husband returned home after work. At that
time, she was worried about their constant state of poverty. Due to her mental depression, she murmured to her husband
about their sufferings. Her husband lost his temper and told her, you can die
by falling into a well. Immediately she ran towards a well to commit suicide. At that time, a Hand prevented
her from running to the well. That day was the Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane.
The nearby church was open. She went inside the church and started praying for hours together,
shedding tears before the Lord. When she came home, her husband was still angry. He uttered the words, The
cursed one should be lost for ever. Then she heard the voice of Jesus telling her that in this world the love
of human being including that of a husband was limited and that His love was eternal. He would never forsake her even
if the loved ones had forsaken her.
GREAT SUFFERINGS
In hunger
Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live. (Deut.8: 13)
By the above verse, God was leading and guiding her husband
named Thangiah. For five years, she did not remember to have cooked Kulambu
(a liquid gravy made of ingredients like pulses, chili powder, etc. which is mixed with the boiled rice for eating a delicious
meal) because she had no money to purchase the ingredients required for making this dish. Her husband used to bring
only half a liter of rice after 9 p.m. and they had to eat the boiled
rice without Kulambu. Without proper and enough food, the children could not sleep at night.
However, she went to the bed of children and prayed for them. Despite hunger, the whole family gathered for family worship
and Bible meditation. Not a single night passed without this spiritual food. During daytime, they had to eat only
boiled greens and to drink water. She asked the children to kneel down and sit around an earthen pot filled with water.
The children drank water from it after reciting Psalm 23. The children were satisfied with water and went to school
as if the water changed into milk.
For two years, the family lived in the same style of food habit.
However, the children were hale and healthy. Neither hunger nor any circumstance separated them from the love of Christ.
In nakedness
Each child had one set of clothes only. They used to
wear the same dress only. If it was torn, they got the same repaired. If it got dirty, they washed it and worn
the same clothes in a wet condition. However, none of the children murmured against God. They learnt to be content in
all circumstances.
In perils of robbers
The roof of their house was made of the leaves of coconut trees.
There was no proper door. It was not well protected. One day Ammal was praying alone
in her house. Her children were attending to the household chores. When the children opened their boxes, they
found, to their great amazement, that all their few dresses and belongings like scissor, small amount of currency notes, pen,
etc. were stolen by some miscreants. The whole family swung into prayer.
Some people abused the thieves. Ammal
asked them not to abuse them but to pray for their repentance. Around that time, the same miscreants were caught red-handed
while stealing from someones house. All the stolen things were recovered from those to whom the same had been illegally
sold by the thieves. All the stolen things were restored to Ammal.
The thieves belonged to her village. Committing theft
was their livelihood. She was advised to get this gang arrested by the police and put behind the bars. For this purpose,
she was advised to give a false testimony to the police that she had witnessed the theft being committed by this gang.
It so happened that a gangster had sought her forgiveness on hearing the gospel from her. How could she give such a
false statement against this man? At last, she refused to obey the voice of men.
Miracles in sickness
The whole family would never take any medicine for illness.
When she was pregnant, during the 4th month of pregnancy, the growth the baby in embryo stopped and during the
8th month, she had travailing pain. The babys half body came out, the remaining portion remained inside,
and this condition continued for 12 hours. Two persons were praying for her. At that time, a servant of God came
there and asked the family members to take her immediately to the hospital to save her life. However, she told him that
if it were Gods will, she would live without taking any medical treatment. At that time, she saw a vision of crucified
Christ and new strength came to her body. Without taking any medical help, the Lord caused a safe delivery of the baby.
Similarly, another miracle happened when she was again pregnant.
For 8 months, there was no growth of the girl baby in her womb. A servant of God came there and prayed for her.
The following month the baby was revived in the womb, and came out alive during the 13th month. At the time
of her delivery, she had no physical strength at all. There was no money also to buy food. But, God gave new strength
to her.
DEATH OF HUSBAND
Following illness, her beloved husband Thangiah
entered glory on 3rd April, 1947. On the deathbed, Thangiah committed his spirit into the hands of the Lord with a smiling face. Her husband was to be buried
on the night of Thursday, the day on which Jesus suffered in the garden
of Gethsemane. On that night, she was left with six young daughters
and a son. The last daughter was only 3 months old. Laying her daughter in her bosom, she was comforting the other children.
She wondered what to do in this world. She was not in a position to do any work. She was 40 years old. She did
not know eve how to buy things from a provision store or a vegetable market because she had relied on a young girl to go to
the market and fetch the vegetables, etc. She had no worldly possession except a hut made with the roof of the coconut leaves.
While she was pondering on her future, Jesus spoke to her from the Song of Songs 5:9.
What is thy beloved more than another beloved,
O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge
us?
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