
FS: Amazing Changes!
“What do you want to do?” Sami* asked her best friend, Flat Sujata*.
“Let’s go get squashed by a mango crate,” laughed Flat Sujata.
“You’ve already done that,” giggled Sami. “Seriously, what do you want to do?”
Flat Sujata sat thoughtfully as she considered their state of boredom. It was a Saturday. All their chores were done, their schoolwork was caught up, and it was very hot.
“Why don’t we go talk to our housemother?”
“Sure,” agreed Sami. The two friends walked back into their Flower Family home and sat down on the floor by their housemother who was sewing some tears in a blanket for one of their sisters.
“Tell us about being a housemother,” begged Flat Sujata.
Their housemother looked at them kindly and smiled. “Okay.” She paused in thought, trying to remember a story.
“Well,” she began, “this story happened when I was a young woman. I had the privilege of being the housemother of the Dahlia Flower Family taking care of about 14 orphaned or semi-orphaned girls between the ages of 7 and 12.”

“That must have been hard,” declared Sami.
“No harder than watching over you girls,” smiled their housemother. “I wasn’t experienced in raising children, so, I’m thankful to the Lord for giving me training in His Word, which really helped.”
“What kind of training did you get from the Lord?”
“Well, Flat Sujata, I went to Bible school for a year. One of my girls was an 11-year-old named Ani*. Sadly, she was known as a troublemaker. Because she had a hobby of picking fights, shouting, and then blaming others for the ruckus, no one really liked to be around her. She also was a sneaky thief and could steal things before the eye would know what was happening. I often sat with her, counseling her and praying with her, but to no avail.”
“And I thought Flat Sujata was bad,” laughed Sami. She received a quick poke in the ribs for that joke.
“What did you do?” inquired Flat Sujata.
“I was extremely exasperated with her behavior. I told her that as a punishment she was not welcome to come into my room for talks, games, etc. when I invited the other girls for various occasions.”
“That would be hard to accept,” Flat Sujata exclaimed thinking of all the fun they had with their housemother.
“One day I saw her standing outside my door peeking in. I suddenly wondered about her, as it seemed curious to me that she had become more cooperative the past few days as well.”
“What did you do?”
“I asked her if she wanted to come in.”
“Did she?”
“Yes, Ani was very apologetic and even had tears in her eyes. This was so unlike Ani! I didn’t know what to think or how to react. Tears began to well in my eyes, too.”
“I’m getting tears now too,” noted Sami.
“Ani knew everyone avoided her and no one wanted to be her friend. She was angry at herself for her bad behavior. Then she said the most curious thing.”
“What?” pressed Flat Sujata.
“Ani said that she used to shout and fight and throw tantrums. Then she said, ‘But I have changed!’”
“What did she mean?” Sami asked.
“I had noticed that her attitude seemed to be better. Ani was a clever, sharp student with so much potential. Her bad attitude made me sad. I asked her what had caused this change.”
“Go on,” prompted Flat Sujata eagerly.
“Jesus spoke to her through His Word. She was reading about Saul on the Road to Damascus and how the Holy Spirit dealt with him so severely, forcing him to the ground and causing blindness to get his attention since he was so bad. Finally, he listened, repented and Jesus forgave him and changed him to Paul. Ani realized by reading that story that Jesus wanted to change her too! By then we were both crying in earnest.”
“Recently, Ani visited her uncle and auntie in Mumbai, and she told me about her experience. She asked God for boldness to speak to them. She would not take part in their worship and explained to them that she worships only Jesus. She remembered Daniel and his bravery in the face of roaring lions. She knew she could trust God to share with her uncle and auntie about Him!”
“Wow! Ani sure has changed!”
*Names changed for privacy and security. Images representative.