A family restored against all odds
A South Asian couple locked in conflict experienced how God can change even the most impossible situation.
Library photo by Vinayak Jayaram on Pexels
In a modest neighbourhood in South Asia lived a young family: S and V and their two children. To many people, they looked like a happy family.
But this “happy” family was not happy at all. S and her husband V fought every day.
Beneath the surface of all the arguing lay a wound that had never been addressed: S had been unfaithful. Her affair had caused a kind of damage that couldn’t just be swept under the rug. But even so, S’s affair quietly continued. Much of the fighting happened in front of the children, and it was bad enough that the police were called almost every week. But no one could see a way out – this was a household in gridlock.
Finding new hope through new friends
Even though S and V couldn’t see a way forward, everything was about to change. They had a neighbour called Sister Nitu. Sister Nitu was a Christian and belonged to a church planted and led by Asia-CMS partners Deepak and Kareena. As well as sharing the gospel and building a Jesus-centred community, Deepak and Kareena support local families through an after-school education programme designed to help children improve their future prospects.
“There was no peace in that house – only noise, pain, and broken promises.”
Sister Nitu had been praying for this family, and soon enough, she invited S to her church and began sharing the good news of Christ with her. S didn’t come every week at first, but the team at church were determined to support her and share God’s love with her. They sat with her in her home, opened the Scriptures with her, listened to her pain and prayed for her family. Her new friends didn’t share Jesus’ love with S as an abstract concept – she saw it and felt it in action.
Suddenly, V became very ill. People from Sister Nitu’s church visited him in hospital and he shared openly about the years of struggle, about the betrayal, about the weariness that had settled deep in his bones. As the team listened, V’s heart began to soften. As the team grew closer to both S and V, they began a careful process of counselling. They taught about the sanctity of marriage – how God designed it to be a covenant, not a contract. They unpacked the vows: what faithfulness truly means, to God and to each other. For S, much of this was entirely new. No one had ever explained the meaning of the promises she had made.
A big surprise
In the midst of this season of counselling and fragile hope, S became pregnant. This should have made her happy, but all she felt was despair. She had helped create a world of fighting, instability and shame. How could she bring a baby into all this? Surely she couldn’t keep this baby.
She confided in her new friends from church, who spoke gently about the sacred value of the life growing within her. They prayed. They wept with her. And by the grace of God, S decided to keep the baby.
Several months later, a healthy, bright-eyed baby boy was born. Today, he is an active toddler, always smiling, a living testimony that God can redeem any situation.
Starting something new on a solid foundation
Earlier this year, S and V took the most significant step of their lives together — they were baptised. Standing in the water as a couple, publicly declaring their faith in Jesus Christ, they buried their old life and started something new.
Today, their home is completely different – it is a place of peace. Their neighbours can see it, and are curious about what could have caused such a transformation.
S, who once spent her days in bitterness and strife, now lives a life of peace and takes her Bible to work with her every day. In her work as a nanny, she shares the gospel – not just with words, but through living a changed life. New people have come to church because of her testimony. V has found stability in his work, selling toys to provide for his family. Their two elder children attend Deepak and Kareena’s after-school programme, where they receive an education and the love of a caring community. And little Ashish – that smiling, energetic boy who almost wasn’t born – is a daily reminder of what God can do when a family surrenders to him.
