vijay's Journey with Jesus

I was born in Haryana, a northwestern state of India, where all my family were devoted Hindus. From my dad’s family, we got the worship of idols, and from my mom’s side, the worship of the Earth elements. So from a young age, I knew our Hindu prayers inside out. For an Indian, Hinduism is not another religion but a lifestyle. Life is built upon Hinduism, and there are no on-off switches or a religious compartment (often found in western civilization).

My family and I did not know who Jesus was, but as I said before, He knew us. I could probably go back and mention the time when I suffered third-degree burns at the age of nine months, and against all medical odds, I was able to live a normal life except for burnt marks on my body. Many years later, I did ask Jesus if He would remove the marks. His answer was fascinating. He removed some but left a few and told me: “these are proof of what I did for you.”

Fast-forwarding a few years (still Hindu believers), I underwent a hernia operation at seven. After surgery, some meds were penicillin-derivatives, and I had developed a severe reaction to it, unknown to my family or doctors. This caused my heartbeat to stop for 5-6 minutes. I was told later that I might end up with some disability for the lack of oxygen during this time. However, I recovered so well that I ended up at the top of my classes, played sports, and lived a normal life.

Now, the big question is when I met Jesus. It all began at the age of nine when my mom started to have visions. It was quite fascinating. My favorite cartoon was Scooby-Doo, and all that mysticism was better than animated cartoons. My mom would be walking through our hallway, and suddenly you heard her scream or cry: she had seen an angel. It is a long story, but I will skip to the most important parts. One time she had a vision where Jesus took her to the mountaintop and gave her white garments. There Jesus gave her communion. When my mom was back from the vision, she still had the aftertaste and crumbs in her mouth. Note: we still had no clue who Jesus was or the Bible’s existence. On another occasion, she heard an audible voice that told her, “take up your cross and follow me”. At this point, she thinks she is losing it, and I thought it is better than Scooby-Doo. Boy! God has a sense of humor. She shared this story with our neighbor, and this old catholic-devoted lady gave my mom a crucifix and told her Jesus wanted her to have this. My mom placed it right in the middle of our other gods: a start. Being the eldest, my mom would share some of these stories with me, or I would witness them firsthand.

Long story short, one night, probably toward the end of 1983, I had a terrible infection in my ears – this was the only disease left from the burning – and my mother came to my room and made this very simple prayer: “Jesus, I read that you heal, if it is true, do it.”  That night I felt someone touch my ears, but if it was not my parents or brother, who could it be? My dad was quite upset that my mom would not take me to the ER and instead opted for the nonsense of praying to this crazy God. The following day, my mom took me to the doctor, and the doctor told her he could not find anything. It only needed cleaning. It was the one experience that made us understand that He was wooing us.

All I can say is, one moment, I was Hindu, and in another, I was in love with Jesus. I cannot pinpoint the day I made the salvation prayer (not sure if I ever did), but I am more in love with Him today than in 1984. I learned to tap the supernatural from a young age. I remember going to a Physics exam in College, and there were two questions (worth 55 points between both) that I blanked out. Ten minutes left, I asked the Holy Spirit: “We are friends, and friends help each other. I spent the night studying. So, are you planning on helping me?” Next, I know He spoke to me and told me what to do. To my surprise, it was an equation from the textbook, and I got the highest score. I could share how he spoke to me during my doctoral entrance test, but I will limit myself to saying this has happened many times during my college career.

Although my journey with Jesus began in 1984, I would say my true birth was in November 2013. It had been rough several years at my job. I found myself getting mad at everyone around me. Everyone was wrong, including my wife. I considered myself spotless, a man of integrity. I was so full of pride that I often looked down on people. Skipping all the storylines, I was accused of something I did not do and was suspended for six months with no pay from my job. I hit rock bottom: the integrity floor was torn apart. Next, my wife of nine years decided to divorce me. My world came down crumbling and really fast. I had an awesome idea: I would take her to my counselor so he would fix her. So, off we went to the counselor’s office, feeling excited that he would tell her everything she had to change. As you may have guessed: the counselor turned to me and said, “Vijay, you are the problem.” I was so mad. I didn’t want to speak with anyone. I was mad at everyone around me, God, and in a way, at myself.

Now, my pastor had an excellent idea: “you preach in two weeks.” What?! I told him I was never ever going to preach, and he said: “Welcome to ministry, figure it out.” I thought I would find a video on Youtube (I had never done this before). I will preach that message and done! What are the odds that the very video I pulled was one from Pastor Robert Morris where he started by saying: “Let me tell you the day I took my wife to the counselor so he would fix her…” You guessed it! The rest was history. That morning, I cried so heavily and knew it was me who God was after. I had been so wrong, a true jerk to everyone. I would say that Tuesday morning, a new man was born. I went through a season of inner healing, where I had to forgive and ask forgiveness from those around me, including myself. Today, I am still married to my wife, never got revindicated at my job, but God healed and delivered my soul.

To keep this short, I will skip my baptism of fire experience in 2002. His fire drives this unquenchable passion; without fire, we would need to keep feeding this passion. It is hard to believe that in western civilization, we must tell people to read the Word and spend time with the Holy Spirit. It is an incomprehensible concept to get my brains around. But, if we had a true conversion, shouldn’t the result be an individual completely in love and on fire for God? That relationship will take us through seasons to show our true hearts and in love work with us.