Avowal by Shanvi Gautam

Greetings in the name of Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Shanvi Gautam. I am from the village Tircha, Ping, Kunda, Pratapgarh, in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

There are five members in my family—my father, mother, two brothers, and me. Before coming to Christ, we were Hindus. My father’s side of the family practiced occultism, and my mother was involved in traditional Hindu worship. I was sick from childhood, and even doctors had given up hope. This began to affect our whole family—everyone started falling ill, and we were tormented by evil spirits.

Then someone told us about Jesus Christ, and gradually we began to grow in faith and started praying. My uncle’s son, Hemant, was diagnosed with blood cancer. His mother had passed away. When Hemant was just 3 months old, my mother took him to a Jesus gathering, and God healed him. This strengthened our faith in the Lord.

As we progressed in faith and prayer, Satan began to trouble us even more. My elder brother, Sachin, started having issues with his eyelids—they stopped opening. The doctor said they would never open again. I used to faint often and suffered from epilepsy. My younger brother, Anurag, had a crooked neck since birth. But God healed all three of us.

Once we were healed, conflicts started in our home. My younger brother tore and burned the Bible and hymnbook. He even attempted suicide—he jumped from the terrace, tried to hang himself, poured 5 liters of kerosene on himself and tried to set himself on fire, but the fire wouldn’t ignite. Despite all this, he remained unharmed. Both brothers fought so much they almost tried to kill each other. My father also started getting involved in fights.

Though the diseases had ended, the conflicts kept increasing. In 2020, when we connected with Persecution Relief Family in a meeting, my father’s behavior changed, and he surrendered to Jesus Christ. But the brothers kept fighting until Shibu Thomas sir prayed for us in 2022, and the conflicts ceased.

In 2022, my younger brother went to Dehradun to study, but we didn’t have money. Yet, my parents had faith that they would send him to a Christian college, and they managed to pay the fees in installments.
In 2021, I came to Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Science, Allahabad, to study Bachelor of Divinity. It’s a theology college. Initially, seniors would trouble juniors. As a village girl, I was scared to talk to people. One night, around 1 AM, I prayed to God asking why, if everyone here was Christian, I was still being mistreated.

Then God showed me heaven and hell. He showed that those who were persecuting would go to hell, while those being persecuted in Jesus’ name would go to heaven. For about 10 minutes, I felt like I wasn’t in my body. When I came back to my senses, I was terrified. I was in the hostel and called my mother, who prayed for me and told me to sleep. I also spoke to my roommate, but she didn’t respond.

I prayed again and saw a garden in my vision. In that garden, Jesus was praying. On one side was money, and on the other side was Jesus. I had to choose one. I chose Jesus and prayed with Him. All my fear vanished, and I fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.

The Bachelor of Divinity program was for 3 years, which I completed. Now, I am doing my Master of Social Work. By God’s grace, I topped in the first semester. I’ve completed my second semester exams, but the results are not out yet.

Because of our faith in Jesus Christ, my family faced many persecutions. False cases were filed against my parents and brothers. My father was arrested and sent to jail. The church where about 300 people used to gather for prayer was shut down. Now, only a few people attend. Our crops in the fields were intentionally destroyed by villagers using animals, which caused a major loss.

All these incidents affected us mentally, economically, and socially. These persecutions also impacted my studies—I couldn’t pay fees on time, which disrupted academic activities and added financial stress on the family. Continuing my education became extremely difficult, but through all this, we rejoiced in the Lord.

Persecution Relief helped me a lot during these hardships.

I am very grateful to Persecution Relief Family, who supported my education and provided financial help to my family. His support gave me strength to continue pursuing my life and studies once again.