I BELIEVE!
Two Journeys, One Sovereign God Jerusha and James Lukose
Jerusha’s Story I was born in a Bible-believing Christian home. My parents were full-time missionaries in India. In 1947 a Christian revival started during India’s fight for national independence. With many missionaries from Europe and the U.S. returning to their home countries, my parents—new believers in Christ from a Hindu and a nominal Christian background—stepped out in faith to serve the Lord. For their spiritual convictions, they were disowned by their parents and families. I was born and raised in an environment of complete trust in the Lord to provide, protect and guide us for every need. The church that my parents served was made up of believers from Hindu, Muslim and various other religious backgrounds, many who were also disowned and persecuted for their faith. This was my first glimpse of a first-century type of fellowship described in the Book of Acts. I grew up in a community devoted to numerous church activities, such as weekly prayer meetings, fasting and prayer, lengthy Sunday worship services, love feasts, Bible studies, youth meetings, gospel outreaches, etc. I had heard the gospel many times. However, one day during a vacation Bible school class my leader expressed the message of the cross and what Christ had done for me. I was deeply convicted of my sins and in a personal way realized that I was a sinner and needed to be reconciled to God. I needed Jesus Christ to forgive and cleanse me. Being a part of the church and even a pastor’s daughter was not enough to save me. I knew then I was saved, and a couple of years later I was baptized. My walk with the Lord was steady thereafter. I was learning the things of God and had a great desire to read God’s Word, devotionals and missionary stories. My mom and I prayed about many matters together. During college, the Lord brought a young man to our church fellowship who was initially interested in me. He was also seeking to know and understand the faith. During one of his interactions with a church elder, James heard the gospel and came to a saving knowledge of Christ. My parents and the elders of the church had been praying for the Lord’s will to be clear regarding James and me, and eventually, we were married in 1983. The Lord blessed us with our first son in 1984. Jasper was born with a congenital deformity. As a young married couple,
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we had no knowledge or understanding of his medical condition. With his birth, our faith journey took a drastic turn to one now full of unknowns, fear and doubts. I regularly fell apart crying out in despair, at times fighting with the Lord asking him why. Why had he allowed this? Was this some type of punishment for a sin? What was he trying to teach us? I felt lost and in a daze. I felt like I was spiritually going through the motions. I lost interest in church activities. Many times, I did not want to be in church where my friends and other families had healthy children, all the while James and I were running to doctor’s appointments. When my husband was gone on business trips I was alone caring for the home and Jasper’s needs. God seemed so distant at times. Our son underwent a major surgery when he was eight days old. Even after the surgery he faced many health challenges. During the early years of this health journey, I learned to pray earnestly and in desperation as we struggled to care for our son with very little help from India’s medical community. In India at the time, there was not much known about his condition. The hand of God was upon our son, and we saw many answers to prayers, many miracles, and Jasper was growing physically. We as his parents and family were growing in our walk with the Lord as we learned to call on him in
