By Michael Ashcraft —
Coming from a poor family with a mother who was totally illiterate, Parameswari Arun struggled with an inferiority complex, comparing herself to other students in terms of talent, intellect or family background. Frequently, she cried herself to sleep.
She worried about her studies and whether she would ever attain an advanced degree. “Will I get a job? Will I be able to look after myself or my poor parents?” Parameswari says on a Your Living Manna video. “So many fears came and crowded my mind and put me down every night.”
Perplexed and distraught, the native of Pannaipuram village in Tamilnadu District of India spied two fellow college girls next door in the dorms who didn’t appear to be staggering under the crush of stress.
“They always used to look confident, joyful enjoying their life,” Parameswari says. “They were good girls in terms of their character and that caused me to have a type of curiosity, to go and find out how come.”
Still, she was shy.
“One day after attending my physics class, I was rebuked by my teacher,” she says. “I ran to my room to sit and cry alone, but my room was locked.”
So she went to her neighbors’ room. While there, she spied a Bible. She had never seen a Bible before.
“There was one word written underlined by red ink. God is love. That word came and pierced my heart saying that there is someone to love me and to take care of me,” she says. “But I couldn’t understand the full meaning when I was pondering over it.”
Parameswari asked her. “What do you mean by God is love?”
“God loves everyone in the world and He came in the form of his Son Jesus Christ to carry the punishment because of his love,” the friend responded. “He doesn’t want to see anyone going to hell because of the punishment of the sins that we do on earth. So he died on the cross and took away every punishment and curse and everything on him and freed every human being. Whoever believes in His name can enter into eternal life”
The friend explained that Christ’s blood covered everyone’s sins.
Parameswari, who was studying the biological and chemical sciences, couldn’t grasp this idea.
“The body contains a maximum six liters of blood,” she argued. “How can it wash the sins of the whole world?”
Parameswari rushed out of the room, rejecting the notion.
Notwithstanding, she continued to contemplate the Bible.
Borrowing the mysterious book, she read further.
“That book told me who I am, who is my Creator. The book told me that I am born to live. The book told me I will be on top, never at the bottom. The book told me that I’m chosen by God. The book told me that I am the beloved of the Lord. The book told me that I’m a child with talent given by God.
“The book told me that I am the aroma of my Creator. The book told me that I am the ambassador for God. The book called me as a holy child. The book called me as a holy citizen.
“When I started reading and rereading those verses, that gave me great hope and great life.
The power of God’s truth and the Spirit overwhelmed her, and she surrendered her life to Jesus as her Lord and Savior.
The change was dramatic. “The fear, the inferiority complex, all those negative emotions, I could see going away from me. I became so confident.”
Where once she worried about her studies, she now became confident — so much so that she obtained her PhD in chemistry. She now is associate professor of chemistry at Karunya University in Coimbatore and specializes in electrocatalysts, photocatalysts (Ti/TiO2), textile wastewater treatment (electrocoagulation).
“God has given me a good position in society today,” she says. “Once I thought that I may not be a blessing for myself and for my parents, but today I’m a blessing for myself and many people.
“I’m able to share what I received from my Savior and I’m able to share it to others. I could see the joy which comes out by sharing this news to everyone, above all these things.
“If I close my eyes, the world will say that she’s died, but it’s not the death of Parameswari,” she adds. “Parameswari is going to enter into another life, eternal life to live with her Creator forever and ever in that joyful heaven. Living in the presence of her Creator is the greatest hope she has.”
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