It was 1905. She said her husband didn’t come home and so she took her two children, a boy 6 years old and a girl 3 years old, and went looking for him. She was led to believe that he had gone on the ship, and so she followed him. She didn’t find him but was convinced that he went on the ship, so she did too with her two children. She travelled for over two months on a ship with two small children against many odds and made it to Trinidad. She still never found her husband and now she had no other choice but to stay and work and care for children and face the consequences of where she was. This was my great-grandmother, and her son was my grandfather.

She survived but probably had a difficult life, and only God knows how much she endured. However, both her children went on to have families and live well in Trinidad, and as the generations went on, life became easier. No one knows what really happened to her husband. Was he still in India when she left, did he come to Trinidad or one of the other islands that indentured laborers came to, or did he die that day in a ditch somewhere and no one found him?

When I heard this story, I always thought that it was so sad that my great-grandmother was tricked into leaving her home, and she endured so much to make a life here as a woman alone with two children living under indentureship conditions. But when you look at India’s history, you wonder if she would have had it even worse if she didn’t come. This was 1905, and my great-grandmother was 25 years old when she came to Trinidad. In 1947, when India finally became independent, it was a great victory, but the process came with terrible massacre and suffering. My great-grandmother would have been in her sixties, but if she had been there, who knows if she would have survived? A war broke out between the Hindus and the Muslims, and many were brutally murdered. People were uprooted from their homes and lost everything. When I read the account, it sunk my heart that it was so terrible. I am grateful that my family didn’t stay there and went through this.

Furthermore, when I read about the ways women were treated back then in India, I was again so grateful that my great-grandmother arduously left India. One example was that widows were treated like trash. They were put out, abused or abandoned, leading many to end up in prostitution. And let’s not talk about the education opportunities then for women. I know that all my female relatives had a much better life because of what my great-grandmother

I share this story to say that I know that I am where I am today because God used the evil intentions of humans to turn it around for good. I am here today in a privileged place because of God. I am here today, knowing the truth because of God. God was watching over me even then. He made a way for me. I share this so that we can reflect on our past and be reminded of how far God has brought us. We often never see what God saved us from, but there is still so much we can reflect on.

I tell this phenomenal story to say that God brought me from all the way over there, through all these tough circumstances and much suffering, to be able to know Him now. And I am so grateful for this. I know that God loves me, and my story is a testament to this love. And He loves all of us. He wants all of us to experience his eternal love.

³ This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, ⁴ who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man^[a] Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. – 1 Timothy 2:3-6

I hope that this inspires you to reflect on your own story and have a new appreciation for how far God has brought you and to not refuse his call today.