God is creative. He orchestrates the events of people's lives so that they come into contact with His grace and open their hearts to Him. No two salvation experiences are the same and yet each one, it its uniqueness, brings a person to Christ.
My name is Simon Shashi and God changed my life through a song; and this is my testimony.
I am the youngest of three children born to Steven Dorai and Sarah Susi. My mother was the first from our family to begin serving the Lord with her whole heart. She went to church regularly and prayed fervently. The rest of us had no interest in spiritual matters, including me. My mom would continuously intercede and weep on our behalf, that God would bring about a change in our family and that we would come to know and love the Lord. God was faithful and He answered my mother's prayers.
I have not always served the Lord, for much of my young life, I lived as I pleased and wanted nothing to do with spiritual things. It took seventeen years for my mother's prayers and God's grace to catch up with me. Before I found Jesus, I would get disturbed by Christian influences. For example, when my mother listened to Christian songs, I would immediately change it to secular music, sometimes right in the middle of her listening.
Eventually, the day arrived when the voice of truth echoed in my life. It was November 1999. I was feeling incredibly burdened, so much so that my countenance fell and I was depressed. Struggling, I would simply lie in bed and ponder the cause for my despair. I could not understand what this great burden was, that I was carrying. Perhaps it was the weight of my sin like Christian in the Pilgrim's Progress. I did not realize that it was the Spirit of God at work in me. And as heavy and cumbersome this burden was, it was this very sorrow that finally led me to the foot of the Cross of Jesus Christ.
Somehow, I managed to find a Christian cassette by my cassette player and found myself listening to it. It was called "Messaia Geethangal, Volume 3." I listened to both sides of the cassette. As the very last song played, "Yesappa Ummai Theadi Vanthean," the Holy Spirit began to work in me. I fell asleep listening to that song.
The next day, November 19, 1999, I will never forget that day when God touched my life. I opened my eyes and found myself a new creation in Christ. My joy and peace in the Lord knew no bounds. Jesus had turned my darkness into light and my mourning into joy.
The Spirit of the Lord directed me towards Scripture, the living word of God, and I began to read the Holy Bible. I also began listening to Christian music and attending a vibrant church. I became a whole new person. As Paul says in Galatians, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."
Psalm 16:8 reads, "I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." I feel His nearness every moment of my life. My life changed in so many ways. Jesus delivered me from many bad habits. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
I have found the true way, the true life and the one true God. Jesus is my Lord, and I love Him with all my heart and with all that I am.
Music is one of my greatest passions. I love Western and Carnatic music. Unfortunately, I don't play any instruments, but I enjoy singing.
God has blessed me with a talent to create websites. Together with Sanjeevan Chandrabose from Oslo, Norway, we maintain a Christian Tamil website Tamil Christian Media complete with music to listen to and the latest news in the Tamil Christian community.
God has been good to me. He has blessed me abundantly and I thank God that He reached out to me in His grace and changed my life so that I might be a better person and useful for the extension of His kingdom. All glory be to Jesus alone—the Author and Finisher of our faith!
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