Heart’s Joy

“God is a father to those who have no father, and he takes care of widows.” — from Psalm 68

In 1880 Ramabai’s brother Srinivas became very ill. He was worried about his sister. Who would look after her when he was gone? Ramabai told him, “There is no one but God to care for you and me.” Her brother answered, “Then if God cares for us, I am afraid of nothing.” Soon afterwards he died. Ramabai was twenty-two, and now her whole family was gone.

A few months later she married a lawyer named Bipin, who had been her brother’s friend. He came from a different caste, or group of families. Many people were cross, because they thought people from different castes must never marry. But Ramabai and Bipin were happy together. They made their home in a small town called Silchar, and in 1881 God gave them a baby girl. They named her Manorama, which means “heart’s joy.”

One day, on her own bookshelf, Ramabai found a little booklet. Nobody knew how it got there. It was the Gospel of Luke, the story of Jesus! She began to read it with great interest. A missionary in the town came to explain the Bible to her.

Then something very sad happened. Early in 1882 Bipin caught a sickness called cholera and died. Manorama was not even a year old. Ramabai was a widow now, a woman whose husband had died, and she was alone with her baby.

But Ramabai did not give up. She said her great sadness drew her nearer to God. She did not yet know him well, but she felt that he was teaching her. If she was going to come to God, she said, “He must Himself draw me.”

When Ramabai was most alone, God was drawing her close. The Bible says God is a father to people who have no father. When you feel lonely, God is near you too.

Dear God, thank you that you are close to people who are lonely and sad. Please draw me close to you. Amen.