AMAZING STORY
Shailesh Ghimire: Finding Jesus in America
By Jeremy Callahan
The 700 Club
CBN.com -Shailesh Ghimire grew up in Katmandu, Nepal, where he was immersed in a world of Hindu gods, spirits and mysticism. “When I was 13 years old we had this ceremony, where you are dedicated to the gods of your ancestors. And the one that I was dedicated to was Shiva. I think he’s the god of destruction. There’s definitely a spiritual effect on you because you have made agreements now.”
Shailesh harbored a lot of anger as he got older. “(I had) anger and just a lot of negativity about myself. My inner man was very depressing. And it was gloomy. As the years went by I just got angrier and angrier. I got more upset, I was more moody.”
As a young man, he wanted to attend college in the United States, but the only school offering him a scholarship was a Christian college. “And then when I arrived on campus, I realized it was a fairly religious institution. The 20-year-old me thought. ‘These guys are hypocrites. These guys are ridiculous. All they want to do is convert me.’ I just kind of gave up and said, ‘Okay, you know what, I’m just going to get a degree out of this thing and get out of here.’”
Along the way, Shailesh met Amy, a Christian who moved into the apartment next door. “He blew me away with his knowledge of the world, politics. And we struck a really good friendship.”
Shailesh enjoyed Amy’s personality. “Things didn’t bother her; she had a free spirit about herself.”
But there were problems with the relationship. Amy explains, “He was a Hindu boy. I was clear. I was going to be a missionary in Brazil.”
The week after graduation, Shailesh had a confession. “He said to me, ‘Amy you know, you’re the first woman I ever loved.’ And I said, ‘Oh, I think I love you too, actually.’ And it was a Romeo and Juliet thing. This could never be.”
After college, Shailesh returned to Nepal where he was expected to make an arranged marriage. He returned to America to attend graduate school. He and Amy reconnected and began dating for awhile. Then, they broke up. Shailesh was lonely and depressed, and decided to visit a church. “The spiritual stuff was stirring in me a lot. I was heavy into just figuring out how to deal with this stuff. It was a very dark time.”
In a moment of desperation, Shailesh directed his questions to God. “‘Why am I going through this? Why is all this darkness? Why all this anger? I just want somebody to save me. Jesus if you’re real, I’ve heard about You. I’ve seen all this stuff; somebody save me. I just want to be saved.’”
“I remember asking a question, I said, ‘Why did you even bring Amy into my life?’ When I asked that question, I heard this voice. It was a powerful voice. ‘Cause I mean, I literally turned around and the answer was, ‘Because I’m preparing her to be your wife.’ And I wasn’t really asking for a wife necessarily. I was asking for somebody to save me.”
A few months later, Shailesh knew he couldn’t live with the misery any longer. “I was sleeping and all of a sudden I woke up. I felt like the Holy Spirit was saying, ‘Now is the time. Now is the time to come into My kingdom.’ At that point I said, ‘Lord, I accept You as my Lord and my Savior. I am Yours. Please forgive me of all my sins.’ I felt like the weight had been lifted. There was something in my spirit that… It was almost like—think of a really, really dark room. And then all of a sudden like a small crack opens up and light shines through. You just know it. The Lord is real. God is in me. The Holy Spirit is living in me.”
Today, Shailesh and Amy are married. He is free from the anger and depression that ruled his life. Amy notes the difference, “I’ve just seen in Shailesh, a tremendous, tremendous change, from really a life of anger to a life of peace and joy and eagerness to serve and to share with people. He is soft and gentle now. The way I see him deal with our little girls, he just loves these little girls and he takes care of them.”
Shailesh sums it up. “Jesus Christ to me is, first of all, He’s a Friend. He walks with me. He lives in me. He guides me. He’s just – He’s just amazing. He is everything I mean, when I’m down, He pulls me up.”
“When you earnestly seek the face of God, and you’re sincere in your seeking the face of God, God shows up.”
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