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My father was from a very strong Buddhist family

My Bible: reasons to believe in the power of the Bible

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‘My father was from a very strong Buddhist family but my mother was from a Christian family, so I learned about Jesus through her. When I was about 10, we left Sri Lanka for Zambia and my grandmother came to visit us. I was with the wrong crowd at school – there were things that were not of God, like dabbling in the occult. I told my grandmother and she read Psalm 23 to me, and I felt the love of Jesus. Throughout my life that psalm has resonated with me. 

‘My grandmother grew up in a very Anglican family. They'd been Anglicans for generations and my grand-uncle was bishop of Colombo. Because she had three step-brothers and sisters who were quite young, when she was 21 she married my grandfather who wasn't Christian. He said he would look after her brothers and sisters, but she almost had to forgo her religion and she wasn't allowed to go to church. When she had grandchildren she would talk to me and her cousins about Jesus, though she couldn't do that with her own children. 

‘When I was 19 I came to England to study. I met my husband at University. He was a Hindu, while I was a Christian but not really practising. When my children were born I started coming to church with a friend and we did the Alpha course. On the away day, I felt something special – it was almost a transformation, I knew it was the Holy Spirit. 

‘I think my husband wanted to come to church, but it was a gradual process for him. We went to the National Gallery and he saw a picture by Rubens of Peter in the boat. He said he felt overcome. The next day he came to church and there was a baptism, and I think he truly felt then the Holy Spirit, and ever since he's been a Christian. 

‘I never thought it would happen – he was very adamant that he was a Hindu and his family were Hindus, so that was quite amazing. 

‘Psalm 23 is about a journey, and that really speaks to me. My husband isn't good at learning Scripture, but this is the one passage he knows by heart.’

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