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Learning the Language of Love
Anuja lives in a tent under a bridge with her abusive alcoholic husband, yet she has found hope in the Lord.
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(08 July 2009)
A slum dweller in her 40s, Anuja wakes up to an unbelievably harsh environment each day, yet her face has a radiant glow. Her home situation is volatile. She lives in a cobbled-together tent structure under a bridge—a place of squalor, where people throw trash. And like many women in Asia's slums, Anuja was illiterate and without hope . . . until some Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries visited her slum colony.
What she didn't expect was the horrific secret she would find out about her husband after they married.
Anuja was raised in a very poor family, so she's accustomed to not having much. What she didn't expect was the horrific secret she would find out about her husband after they married. Although the family she grew up in considered itself Christian, Anuja married a non-believer. For a little while, she was living a happy life in her new marriage. But her happiness would not last long. She soon discovered her husband was an alcoholic, something she had no idea of before they married.
From the time she made this discovery, problems began to slowly surface in the home. And because she was married, she was forced to worship the gods and goddesses of her husband's religious tradition. But she did not find hope from them.
GFA Women's Fellowship teams, like this one, see transformation in the lives of many women as they go forth with prayer and Christ's love.
Anuja's husband would come home fully drunk and beat her until she turned black and blue. She became very discouraged and had no peace. There was no one to care for her and her family in this desperate situation, and she felt unloved and helpless.
Anuja longed to have someone to share her pain and agony, someone who would have compassion on her, but found no one.
But in the midst of this seemingly hopeless situation, God was working. Jaya and Shanti, Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries and members of a Women's Fellowship team, began ministering in Anuja's slum. They started by reaching out to the children, and as they did, the parents began to open up with them and share their struggles. When they learned that many of the women were illiterate, they started literacy classes for them. Anuja began attending. The Women's Fellowship team poured their love into Anuja, and one day she decided to tell them her painful story.
After hearing Anuja's sad account, Jaya and Shanti spoke to her about God's love and encouraged her from the Scriptures. Using the passage in Luke 15 about the prodigal son, they showed her the path to Jesus. As they shared the Gospel, the Lord began to work in Anuja's heart. She repented of her own sin and sought the Lord for forgiveness and redemption.
As she began a beautiful new journey with Jesus, He filled her heart with peace and joy. Anuja is very happy she has found the Savior—and now she can read and write, too! And she has caring friends to worship with her and pray for her.
Please pray for protection and rich spiritual growth for Anuja—and for the Lord's hand to guide Jaya and Shanti as they minister to other women like her. And pray for Anuja's husband, that he will soon exchange his alcohol addiction for faith in Christ.
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