Several years ago, my family was in the throes of depression as we struggled to find help for my father who was dying of liver disease. After exploring every available option, and when the doctors had given him just a few days to live, my husband’s friend who is a Christian Minister came to our home, prayed for my father and he was miraculously healed. Thanks to this amazing miracle, every member of my family came to faith in Jesus Christ, and my father went on to live in excellent health for seven more years before he eventually passed away.
Sometime after my father’s death, the business that my husband and I owned went through a difficult time and we ended up forty thousand dollars in debt. Despite our best efforts, every door had closed to us and we were under severe pressure from creditors. The creditors would come to our home, often before sunrise, and my husband would hide under our cot, or would sometimes have to flee the house for safety, only to return home in the dead of the night or the early morning. At that time, our two sons were very young and this put a great deal of stress on my husband and me as we were concerned for not only our safety but that of our children.
On one occasion, the creditors kidnapped my husband. They tortured him almost to the point of breaking him and taking his life. Only after begging his captors to be allowed to repay the money was he eventually released two days later, in exchange for our two-wheeler. At another time, creditors sent police to our home and they forcibly arrested my husband, eventually releasing him in exchange for the one gold chain I had.
Everything came to a head when nearly two dozen creditors came to our house at the same time and surrounded us. They threatened to never leave our home, to take us to court, and they taunted my husband and me, telling us that we would be better off if we, and our children, drank poison and died. Unbelievably, the group of creditors finally left after I promised on the Bible that we would clear all our debts and I told them that we knew that God would come through for us with the miracle that we were expecting if they just gave us another chance. After this incident, fearing for their safety, all our friends and relatives abandoned us, and my husband became so depressed and frustrated that he made the decision that he would hand over our children to our Pastor and that we would both take poison and die.
Before he could act, however, God answered our prayer right at our moment of greatest need.
Desperate and almost completely hopeless, my husband and I went to a conference that our church was having and our Pastor introduced us to Apostle Austin de Bourg who came to speak at the conference. We poured out our hearts to this man and shared with him our struggles. After hearing our story, he asked us the amount of our indebtedness and we took time to calculate it before reporting back to him that we were $40,000 in debt. Amazingly, he immediately offered to assist us with $10,000!
Near the end of the conference, I asked Apostle to be his daughter (to which he graciously agreed) and since then he has become a Father, Mother, Teacher and so much more to me and to my husband. He has consistently demonstrated love and compassion towards me and my family. Through him, I have experienced the Heavenly Father’s love, and my depression from the loss of my own father also finally lifted.
By God’s grace, ALL OUR DEBTS were cleared through Dad (Apostle). He also helped us with provisions to be able to feed our family. Moreover, after clearing our debts, Dad supported us financially so that our family could relocate from Suryapet to Hyderabad. There I got a job as a Schoolteacher, my husband got a job in a cloth showroom, and my two children got into two different schools. The jobs, however, were very stressful, did not pay very well and it was very difficult to survive. Also during that time, one of my children started suffering health problems and our only mode of transportation, our replaced two-wheeler, was stolen. Once again, Dad understood our position and assisted us by paying our rent for a year. We were also assisted, yet another time, in getting a bike to replace what was stolen.
My husband and I knew that we needed to do something to make ourselves more financially secure and given all the experience that he gained from working in the cloth showroom, we believed that it would be good for us to establish a cloth store in Hyderabad. We sought Dad’s advice and he encouraged us to stay faithful to God, to thank Him for what He has done for us and to trust that He would establish the store. As we followed Dad’s counsel, our faith in God increased tremendously and once again, with Dad’s help, we were able to establish a wonderful store in Hyderabad as we had desired to and had been praying for. Now that we have the store, our aim is to work hard to develop it to the highest level, and to show our integrity, faithfulness and gratitude to our Lord and to Dad.
Today, I am extremely happy to say that we have no more debt. In every area of our lives, God has blessed us through Apostle Austin de Bourg. Through him, my husband, my children and I have been given a completely new life. Because of this, I wholeheartedly support the vision and the work of Dad’s new foundation called The ADB Foundation for Human Advancement as I have experienced firsthand how it can change lives and give hope to people in utterly hopeless situations. Until our last breath, we will keep glorifying the Lord, fulfill His vision for us, and be thankful for my loving Dad.
