Abandoned, beaten by her in-laws, then COVID – a journey to faith and redemption

Twelve months ago, Nepal was the world epicenter of the COVID pandemic. With a fragile health service on the point of collapse, and COVID carrying a social stigma we just don’t see in the UK, the outlook was bleak, especially if you were poor.

Some of you may recall we especially prayed for Nepal during a Wednesday night Powerhouse. Some also gave generously to help INF meet the desperate needs we were seeing at the time.

One partner INF works through is a small church-based NGO called Sarwangin Sewa Samaj, or SSS for short.

SSS focusses on the people at the bottom of the pile. People that are dirt poor, that cannot pay for medicine or health care. Often, they are alone with no family or community to support them. During the pandemic SSS were a lifeline to many.

Earlier this week I received an email from a friend, Indra, who leads SSS. This is what he shared, in his own words.

“Sarita lives in Banke District, Nepal. After getting married, her husband went to work in the Gulf countries. At home trouble arose. Her father-in-law and mother-in-law both severely mistreated her. They didn’t care about her, and they often beat her very badly. Because of that, she left home and came to Manpur village to work in the soda factory.

She brought her two small children with her. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, the factory closed.

That left her and her children struggling, as they did not have reliable access to food. She also got infected by COVID at this time. SSS provided her with the food and medicine she needed, and now she and her kids can survive.

Two weeks after receiving aid, she contacted our local church and received Christ as her personal saviour. Sarita is pictured on the right, and on the left is the local church leader Janaki.

After she received Christ we continually provided fellowship to her. She began to join our sister Church group. As her husband heard about it he began to rebuke her. But Sunita did not listen to him since her husband was not supporting her and children's livelihood and his threats made no sense to her.

As she was growing in the Lord, she began to pray for her husband. She used to pray for her husband continually and used call him to see if he had changed his mind. Most of the times he did not speak with her.

But a few months later, one day her husband called her and confessed what he was doing toward her. He said that he also wanted to know Christ because he saw such dreams that were related to Jesus. So, she shared about Christ.

Now this family is united. Her husband is now sending money for her livelihood. Last month her husband said that he wants send money for the house construction. Now she is back to her village and began to construct their home. During the laying of house foundation, she invited us for prayer.”

In 1 Corinthians 3 v 6 we read “I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth”. Sometimes prayer and practical love is the watering that the garden needs to see new growth.

Can I encourage you that nothing you do in service of Christ is wasted. Sometimes, as above, God draws back the veil and we see what is happening, other times was simply walk in faith and never know the rest of the story.

(Names in the story have been changed for privacy)