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Cedarville Magazine
God Had Other Plans
by Elisha Injeti
I
come from Andhra Pradesh, a southeastern state in India. My hometown is the port
city of Visakhapatnam along the Bay of Bengal, where I still have family today. The
story of my journey across the globe fromVisakhapatnam to Cedarville is a testimony
of God’s grace and faithfulness.
I grew up in a Christian home in India, where about 80 percent of the population
is Hindu. For my family, the journey from Hinduism to Christian faith wasn’t an easy
road. I grew up listening to my grandmother Ratnamma’s stories of how God rescued our
family from not only the oppression of the caste system, but also from spiritual darkness.
Plans for Hope
Ratnamma’s older sister, Subbamma, was the first person in the family to accept the
Gospel. Both sisters were born and brought up in a Hindu “untouchable” family; life for
them was not easy at all.
They never went to school or temple because of their gender and caste. They weren’t
accepted, nor even considered human. Subbamma was married off at an early age as
was the custom during that time, and she
was expected to give birth to a son after
the first year. After 30 years of marriage,
after waiting and praying to all the Hindu
gods, she still didn’t have children. She was
becoming even more of an outcast; her
husband’s family started to disown her. She
was ready to give up hope, and one day she
went down to the river to end her life.
But God had other plans for her. He sent
a British missionary — Mr. Whitehouse
— to the river that day to stop Subbamma
from going through with her plan. Mr.
Whitehouse told her about Jesus Christ,
and she accepted Him as her Lord and
Savior. What would have been her last day
on earth became the first day of her new
life in Christ. God ordained all the days of
Subbamma’s life (Ps. 139:16) as she began
her journey as the only Christian in the
entire Hindu village. The Lord blessed
Subbamma’s new faith by giving her four
children, two boys and two girls.
As a result of Subbamma’s obedience
and submission to God’s Word, her entire
family — including her sister, Ratnamma,
my grandmother — and most of the
villagers also became Christ-followers.
God began to empower the two sisters,
and Mr. Whitehouse showed them how to
run a church and a school. They started a
school and served as midwives, delivering
babies in the village, while their husbands
got involved in ministry at the church.
Plans to Prosper
My parents were blessed to have been
born in Christian homes as they were
raised in the same village. Ratnamma’s
daughter, Elizabeth (my mother), and my
father carried the faith passed on to them
and raised me in the fear of the Lord. In
spite of growing up in a predominantly
Hindu society, some of my best childhood
memories are of singing songs of
praise and memorizing Scriptures in
Sunday school and sharing them with my
Hindu friends.
In 2 Timothy 1:5, Paul writes, “I am
reminded of your sincere faith, which first
lived in your grandmother, Lois, and your
mother, Eunice, and, I am persuaded, now
lives in you also.” For me, these are not just
words; they are my story.
The faith that was first in my
grandmother, Ratnamma, and my mother,
Elizabeth, became my own faith during
my first year in college. It was an exciting
day when the Lord got a hold of me and
The first photo ever taken of Elisha’smaternal grandparents, Nathaniel and
Ratnamma, and their son. Because of the testimony of Ratnamma and her
sister, most of the people in their “untouchable” village became Christians.
