Praise the Lord!
First of all, I want to give thanks to Lord Jesus who gave me this wonderful opportunity to glorify his name through my testimony.
I want to introduce myself. I am Shivshankar Tiwari, born in an orthodox Hindu-Brahmin’s priest family on 29 February 1984. My grandfather Late Pandit Rohini Prasad Tiwari was a famous and renowned priest (Pandit/Purohit) of Jabalpur and also head priest of Gaurishankar Temple situated in Adhartal area of Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh). This is the reason why my whole family is an orthodox and hardcore believer of Hinduism & their gods & goddess.
I believe God has his own plans for everyone which he only knows and if you are the chosen one then eventually he would catch you for sure; no power of this whole universe can stop him. He has decided everything in advance that how and in what circumstances will you come to faith, who will share the word of true and living Lord to you, at what age, in which year, date & time his Divine light has to come upon & you have to surrender to him and accept him as personal savior.
Turning Point
Four years ago I got severely sick with multiple diseases & life threatening situations. I was getting weaker day by day, lost 8-12 kgs of weight, with complete loss of my appetite, fear of death, depression, stress, low immunity, severe abdominal and skin infections, 24×7 I would keep lying down on bed. I lost my job due to this illness while I was working in one of the top most hospitals of India situated in New Delhi. I was about to die in the period of just one month or so. My life became hell and my situation was so awful that I cannot explain in word. People used to say that let him die at least he would be able to get relief from such painful situation.
Meanwhile, there was a girl Bincy Pothen, who was my batchmate. She was also working in the same city. She supported me like anything even in the journey of darkest days of my life. When I was in college before my sickness, she told me nth times to come to church and believe on Jesus. She would explain that He is the True and Living God. She would persuade me to just try Him once and put faith in Him. She claimed that Jesus would change your life, he will fulfill your every desire. Not only this, she also explained that he will also help you to make a successful career but I never took her seriously. I would reply to her, “Listen Bincy, as you are suggesting me then surely I can give respect to Jesus, but if you will say that forget my Hindu gods/goddess and start following Jesus only, then it is not at all possible for me”. I would argue – why should I go to a new God when I am having my own gods and moreover, I belonged to a priest Brahmin family for generations. Indirectly I refused her and discarded her proposal to follow new God called as Jesus. Over a period of time, she stopped insisting me and didn’t invite me ever again till the moment when I was about to die. She could not control herself after seeing my merciful & pathetic situation and she once again requested me to pray to Jesus and to visit Jesus Calls Prayer Tower, Janakpuri, New Delhi-West.
As you might agree with me that when a person comes closer to his/her death, he forgets his all religious barriers and rigid beliefs in which he might have thoroughly believed in the past. In such life-n-death situation, no one hesitates to try any new belief, tantrik, peer baba, masjid, gurudwara,etc. He wants to try almost everything to save his life somehow. The most painful fear in this world is ‘Fear of Death’. This was the simple reason why I also agreed to go with her to the church without any second thought and any further delay. When I reached to ‘Jesus Calls’ along with my friend Bincy. One sister came to us and asked me about my problems and my prayer request. Then she started counseling me by the word of God (Bible) and she said, “Don’t worry brother, believe on Christ Jesus; he will heal you and save you.”
Due to my sickness and fear of death I was very much irritated. In those days, I was totally hopeless and frustrated, therefore I started debating with her. My response to her earnest suggestion was, “Look sister, there is no God thing which exists in this world. Had he ever existed then I would have never reached to such painful and pathetic situation. Its all rubbish to talk about the existence of any God since these are fictious imagination of human beings. My babblings went on and on but I must appreciate the patience and tolerance level of that sister with which she heard everything what I had to say. She was so gentle and humble throughout the discussion and kept on counseling me, trying hard to build up my faith.
Suddenly after half an hour of debate, I started feeling very uneasy. I started feeling like I must cry even though I was arrogantly laughing on her teachings primariliy because I was not a believer of Christ. I told Bincy to look at me. I shared with her what was happening to me. I was feeling as if something was forcing me to cry unwillingly even though I was not in that mood at all. Suddenly my tears started coming out without my consent and my whole body started shivering on its own. I started crying like a child who is harshly beaten up by someone. Followed by me, my friend Bincy also started crying. I thought she is my friend and she is not able to see my poor situation that’s why she has also started crying but when that sister who was counseling me from last half an hour also stared crying like anything then I got so amazed. I was thinking that she is neither my relative nor my friend then why is she crying like this, what happened to her. I realized that something supernatural is going around here by some supernatural power at work. I started repenting with tears that Lord please save me, heal me and forgive my all sins which I have committed in my life so far. I kept on asking for the forgiveness and kept crying for almost more than an hour. After some time, I heard a voice like someone is saying to me that “MY SON YOU HAVE GOT HEALED & YOUR SINS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST”. Thereafter, a great peace entered in my soul and I could feel that I have got healed. All fear vanished away from my life.
I felt that now there is no danger, no threat and I am secured. Finally I opened my eyes and what I saw afterwards Oh!! I can not explain that feeling in words properly. I saw Jesus Christ himself sitting in front of me. I witnessed him, he was there in front of me, I can never forget those eyes, what a peace and glow in them. People use to say that if you want to see God then you have to do tapasya (Meditation) for years and years altogether. I realized that it does not depend upon your efforts but its totally God’s prerogative to decide that in which form he wants to reveal himself upon you. Really I challenged to God that he does not exist in this world, while I was talking to that sister in God’s own place where his Spirit and his mighty presence dwells. He accepted my challenge and revealed himself upon me and proved to me that GOD DOES EXIST. God really exists and he spoke to me, “Look, here I Am the God of all god’s, sitting in front of you”. I devoted my whole life in Christ’s feet then and there only. I accepted him as my personal saviour. Today I am alive just because of Him. I can acknowledge that really “Jesus, you are the king of kings and Lord of lords. Beside you there is no God, I will serve you my Lord, my Master and I will keep on praising you till the time I am alive and even after forever. Death can not separate me from your Love and Faith,Halleluijah”.
I sincerely wants to say thanks to Lord Jesus to choose me and save me from death and fatal sickness. I want to thank him for giving me such a nice friend Bincy whom God used as a mediator to reach me. Bincy has now become my life partner, all glory to God.
Kindly be my friend in Christ’s fellowship & send me your friend request on my facebook account, named as –Shivshankar Tiwari and my email id – [email protected].
God bless you all.
Disclaimer: The above testimony was shared by Brother Shiv Shankar Tiwari through an email and he can be reached by email for more details or validating the authenticity. The above testimony is edited version of his email attachment (edited only for spelling and grammer mistakes).
Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Redemption, forgiveness and salvation are offered freely to us because of God’s grace and love, due to which Jesus paid the price of our sins. You may belong to any religion or faith system, you may put your faith in Jesus and be saved and blessed. May God bless you.
If you have found the above life-transformation story good enough to encourage you, you may pray this prayer sincerely and may start a relationship with God today.
“Dear Lord Jesus, today I have come to know that you are living and prayer answering God. Lord I am tired of my sickness and ill health. Lord please heal me and deliver me as I start trusting in you from today. Save me, forgive my sins and be my Lord. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering it. In Jesus name, Amen.”