Sugar and Water

“Even if my father and my mother leave me, the Lord will take care of me.” — from Psalm 27

When Ramabai was about sixteen, a terrible famine came to southern India. A famine is a time when there is not enough food. Ramabai’s father was old and blind by now. The family spent all their money on gifts to the priests, hoping the gods would help them. But no help came. Soon they had nothing left at all, not even their cooking pots.

For eleven days they lived in a forest, eating leaves and a few wild dates. Ramabai’s father thought he was going to die. He hugged Ramabai tight and stroked her face. “Remember, my child,” he said, “you are my youngest, my most beloved child. I have given you into the hands of our God.”

Her brother Srinivas helped them all down to a village. There her father fell ill. He asked for a little sugar and water. They gave him water, but they had no sugar to give. A few days later he died.

Then her mother fell ill too. One day she was so hungry that she sent Ramabai to a neighbour to ask for a piece of bread. Ramabai felt so shy and so sad that she could not say a word. She tried hard not to cry, but the tears came out of her nose instead! The kind lady understood, and gave her the bread. Ramabai ran home with it, but her mother was too weak to eat. Soon her mother died, and before long her big sister died too.

Ramabai’s father did not know Jesus. But years later, when Ramabai had come to know God through Jesus, she believed that God had heard her father’s prayer for her that day in the forest.

This is a very sad part of the story. God does not say that sad things are good. But even when the people we love are gone, God does not leave us. He held Ramabai in his hands, and he holds you, too.

Dear God, thank you that you never leave me. Please be close to children who are hungry or alone today, and take care of them. Amen.