MY JOURNEY WITH MY GOD | KAIROS GLOBAL | MARCH 2021

Author: Daphira Pyngrope

Intro: Daphira Pyngrope talks about her faith journey and about the experiences of her formation in Kerala

 If I think now about my journey with the Lord, I acknowledge that it is God who walks with me. But for his constant presence from the moment I was conceived, I would be nowhere. I can't say that it is when I encountered God that my journey with him began, rather it is that moment when I realised that God was so faithful and that I could feel his presence. I love being with him. 

When I was a child, I was a person full of questions, a good girl. And speaking about my faith, I went to church regularly but never understood that God is real, or encountered him personally. I always thought that he was up there in heaven. It is here that I thank my parents for teaching me and instilling in me faith in God. I thank God and the JY movement who helped me encounter him personally. It was never hard and yet it was not easy either for me to journey with my wonderful creator, but one thing that makes me happy is the knowledge that there is someone who takes care of me, no matter what. When I am sad, I turn to him because I know that he knows me and when I am happy, I turn to him too. When you journey with someone you love, you are never afraid because you are not alone and that is exactly what I feel when I journey with my God.

I was blessed to be able to spend a whole year with the Lord, a year in which he moulded me into a better person. This was when I landed in the beautiful land of Kerala – God’s own country. And indeed God walked with me as I experienced my journey with him. At every step, I could feel God through all the people I met, although in the beginning, I felt sad as I didn't know the language nor could I understand the culture, which was totally different from mine. Yet I prayed always for God to shine through me in whatever I did. 

When I smile, I want Jesus to smile through me and Jesus was really doing this as he one day made me realise. I was sad that I was not able to do anything for him at a KCC program. But at that very moment, a person came up and said, ‘Chechi please put your hand and pray, let the Holy Spirit which is with you mingle with my spirit within me.’ At that moment I realised God was using me in spite of my not realising it.

Believe me, God uses us as his instruments even when we feel we aren’t doing anything, if only we surrender ourselves to him. Just your walking with him is a blessing. 

In those days in Kerala, my surrendering to him made it so easy for me to accept everything. Without my effort, he taught me to understand the language a little and adapt to the culture, which I could say with pride is mine because God had blessed me to be there for my formation, and there were many experiences where I encountered him. 

God taught me through one particular small incident. I was supposed to travel from Kacheripady in the heart of Ernakulam¹ to HMT Colony, almost on the outskirts of the city. Due to a change of plans, the person who was supposed to pick me up couldn’t. I was scared as I would have to manage the journey all by myself, using public transport and without the necessary language skills! Then I asked some of my friends to write the destination names in Malayalam so that I could identify and get onto the right bus through this. But this proved difficult as the buses moved so fast for me. Later I would say God is great. I committed to memory the script in Malayalam and realised that I could link it to English alphabets and numbers, scrawled funny. Keeping this version in mind, I looked at the destination boards on each bus and was able to catch the right one! I got in and was so happy!

My journey with him is also funny. He makes things easy even when they are hard. Till now, walking with him, I feel so blessed and I feel I can do all things because he strengthens me. He works through me and I surrender myself to him. Even though it is very difficult at times, the joy of being with him and experiencing his love strengthens me to hold onto him. I feel that it has been the Lord holding my hand on my journey with him this far. And it is a very special feeling to walk with my God. 

A full-timer of the 24th batch and JY forerunner, Daphira Pyngrope works as a Social Assistant in Shillong, India.