The day Nanda Sawansare was born, her father refused to give her a name. He had desperately wanted a son and would not visit his wife and new baby in the hospital.
The baby girl went nameless for the first six years of her life, until Nanda’s mother registered her for school.
Under her parents’ roof, Nanda’s life grew increasingly desperate because of her father’s cruelty. He began to beat her.
“In this way,” Nanda remembers, “that hatred between us grew.” Nanda eventually moved in with her grandmother, who was also subjected to physical violence by her husband.
In her pursuit of hope, Nanda’s grandmother began attending a Christian church. There, she met Jesus and experienced peace and joy. She invited her granddaughter to join, encouraging her to share her burdens in prayer.
Nanda began attending services with her grandmother simply because she felt she had nothing to lose.“
Slowly, every Sunday, I started going to church,” she says. Eventually, she began to pray. “Jesus,” the little girl pleaded,“I have so much hopelessness in my heart. Please give me hope.”
God sat with little Nanda in her pain, and the girl sensed something change.
“He healed me,” she remembers.“I began to fully believe in Jesus Christ.”
But life continued to be cruel. At around 12 years old, Nanda moved back in with her parents, who did not accept her new faith. They told her she had ruined the family’s position in society and had no right to live. At night, after evenings of heavy drinking, Nanda’s father would shake her awake and ask, “Why do you believe in Jesus? What has Jesus given you?”
“I used to cry myself to sleep every night because I couldn’t answer,” Nanda says. ‘Jesus, please change my father’s heart.’”
“But I prayed, The abuse continued, and Nanda’s father’s anger culminated in an ultimatum. Nanda had to choose: her family or her faith.
“I knew that at some point in life I had to make a decision,” Nanda says. “I chose Jesus.”
The result was devastating. Nanda’s father banished her from home, forcing Nanda to leave her mother and siblings. Once again, she found herself moving halfway across the country, alone, back to her grandmother.
Thankfully, Nanda was able to continue her studies under her grandmother’s roof. After finishing school, she applied to bible college, praying and fasting for God’s will in her life. Nanda wasthrilled when her acceptance letter arrived but overwhelmed because she had no way to pay for her education. She wrote a letter to her father asking for financial help. He responded with the sentence: “You are dead to us.”
She sold a precious piece of jewelry to cover her entry fee, supplies, and ticket to school. But just 15 days into the semester, the money had run out.
In despair, Nanda cried out to God.
“Jesus, why did you bring me here when I have no one? No one knows me. No one is meeting my needs. Why did you bring me here?”
Nanda prayed fervently, day and night, as she watched her supplies dwindle and disappear.
After her provisions were completely gone—she had now gone two weeks without soap or toothpaste—a postman arrived. Many students received money from their families. He hadnothing for Nanda.
Angry and hurt, Nanda walked to the dining hall alone. Suddenly, a woman approached her.
“Take this,” the woman said, holding out a handful of money.
Nanda was taken aback and ashamed. The woman was the wife of a professor. She pushed back the offer, but the woman didn’t waver.
“God has told me that you need money,” she said firmly. “If I do not give it to you, I will not be obedient to God.”
As she realized what was happening, Nanda began to cry.
“That day,” she says, “I understood in a deeper way that God is alive and that He cares about His children. He had sent one of His people to meet my need at exactly the right time.”
From that moment on, Nanda watched God show up repeatedly in her life in miraculous ways. Sometimes, she was the recipient of God’s tender care and grace. Sometimes, she was blessed with deeper trust through obedience.
During her time at Bible college, Nanda felt led by the Lord to give a specific amount of money to a friend and mentor, Joshua. The money was more than Nanda had ever given away. Nanda met with Joshua, his wife, and their young child, praying for them and pressing the money into their hands afterward.
Joshua immediately began to cry. He told her that he had a ministry interview in two days, and was unable to cover the cost of travel. Nanda’s gift provided the exact amount he needed.
“You are so young,” he said through tears. “We should be helping you…God has sent you to provide exactly what I needed.”
“Jesus teaches even the young to bless and help those who are older, ” Nanda told him.
Joshua went to his interview and got the job.
“God taught me that what we have may seem small,” she says, “but when we put it into his hands, He can use it to bless someone else.”
Nanda’s spiritual life continued to flourish through testing. She married her husband, a pastor, and joined the Church of the Nazarene. She became a mother to two boys. She faced severe illness and financial hardship and watched God move miraculously to restore her health and provide for her family.
“God taught us to live by faith,” she says. “He faithfully provided for our needs, strengthened our trust in Him, and continued to lead us as we served Him together in ministry.”
Most incredibly, Nanda saw her father—once the darkest shadow looming over her life—come to know Jesus Christ as his Savior.
“He realized what he was doing. He confessed his sin and believed in Jesus,” she says. “That was one of the greatest joys of my life.”
Today, Nanda is a counselor, pastor, and president of Nazarene Discipleship International in India. She has committed to visiting 88 of India’s Nazarene churches over the next year to share the importance of discipling not only adults but also children.
At one church she visited, the leadership saw no need for children’s Sunday School because only two children attended the church. Nanda, who had once felt unseen, unloved, and alone as a child, knew the truth.
“One spirit is very important,” she told the leadership, encouraging them to start small by serving those two children. “God loves them,” she reminded the church.
Five years later, the congregation invited her back. This time, 22 children were attending Sunday School.
Twenty-two little lives learning about the love, compassion, and healing of Jesus in their very own hearts.
In her own life, Nanda has found forgiveness and even gratitude for her earthly father, because of her heavenly Father. She says her father’s abuse and neglect pointed her toward the unfailing love and mercy of Jesus.
“I thank my Lord,” she says,“because He [is] not like that.”
Nanda’s testimony shines through the darkness of her life experiences, and her passion to share Jesus with the lonely and little is palpable. But she is quick to point to the One who works through her.
“My life is a testimony that when we have nothing, God can make a way,” she says. “When people reject us, God receives us. When we are weak, He gives us strength. And when we trust Him, He can turn our brokenness into a testimony.
“All glory, honor, and praise belong to Jesus Christ.”
