As a young teenager I was connected with my spirituality during high school, however, my spiritual experiences would only last me a few weeks and then I would return to my old ways. As I entered university studies, prayer and faith took the back seat, while my attention was solely on my demanding job and studies. I was so engrossed in my work that I would sometimes even miss Holy Mass or rock up in the last few minutes to receive the final blessing. I was going through a period of my life where I knew that God existed, I knew about the various blessings I had received, but I just thought I didn’t have enough time for Him.

In 2018 my parents had joined Shalom and become SPF members, where they would often attend prayer meetings and retreats. My mum would always invite me along to the shalom family gatherings and prayer sessions, but I just didn’t want to put any effort into my faith at that point and would make excuses to get out of going. At one of the gatherings, they had announced that there would be a program called Shalom Media Summit (SMS) for SPF members to send their children to America for a week, to learn how Shalom works and to become involved in the media side of Shalom. My parents proposed the idea to my two older brothers; however, they didn’t want to spend the money to “get tricked into going to another retreat”. I loved to travel and visit other countries, but because of my work commitments I never got the opportunity to do so. Meanwhile my brothers had gone to Europe and the Philippines. So, I approached my parents and told them that I wanted to go, where in the back of my mind I wasn’t planning on attending SMS, but instead just traveling when I got there.

In the lead up to SMS, the team that was going from around Australia had made a Group Chat, where we were to pray together for the success of the event and also to get to know each other. I remember one specific prayer call, where they had asked us to individually say a prayer and when my turn came, I didn’t know what to say. So, I simply did a quick Google search to find a prayer and said that. When my brothers and I would join the prayer call, we were astonished at how kids roughly of our age were so involved in the Church and had such an immense level of faith. I didn’t know that these key individuals would be the vessels through which God would impact my life.

Our Australian team met up a couple days before SMS and were able to do some sightseeing of the iconic sights at Chicago and it was an awesome experience. As a team, we had really bonded in such little time and this was so important to making the whole experience enjoyable. At the event we were able to learn about the various functions of Shalom and how it was able to bring about a Catholic Media platform in a world that is addicted to secular media. It was truly amazing to see the many individuals who work behind the scenes and to hear about their individual calling into the ministry. It was incredible to know that many of the members who worked full time for Shalom had previously worked for large companies or corporations and how they dropped everything to listen to God’s call. Something that really struck a deep chord in my heart was the saying, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called”.

After engaging in conversation, discussion and prayer with other teenagers from around the world, from places such as Ireland, Canada and from America itself, it was something special to see how we all shared similar experiences and also were linked by something as incredible as our faith.

Upon arriving back in Australia, I had a new perspective and outlook. We formed a prayer group with the Australian members, and we would wake up early in the morning to read the Bible and share our thoughts. This was pivotal in allowing me to hold on to the faith experience that I had shared at SMS. I had read the Bible several times, but never had the chance to complete it or to read it with a greater understanding. With our small group and taking on each morning with the Bible, we were able to finish the bible twice, which was such an amazing experience, something not many people can say. However, it was not all sunshine and rainbows. They say that the difference between believers and non-believers is faith. It’s the ability to have that level of complete trust or confidence. It’s the ability to understand that we are faced with challenges to make us stronger, not to break our spirits.

A couple of weeks after arriving back in Australia, I made a mistake and lost my Driver’s License, on my own street, very dumb right? Only a week before, I had finally convinced my parents to allow me to buy a cheap motorbike so that I can ride it to work and university as I didn’t have my own car at the time and couldn’t afford it. As I inquired about purchasing this bike, I became impatient and lost sight of the bigger picture. Yet again I was letting God ride in the backseat. Such was the value and importance I attached to getting this bike. I was rushing to the bank which was down from my street in order to collect the money to get this bike, and just before I even got halfway, I was stopped by the police and had my license suspended for three months. Initially I was frustrated and angry at God, why did He punish me when I was doing everything right? When I got home that night, I took a deep breath, sat in my prayer room, read the bible and waited for a conversation with God. God often speaks in the silence. I had this deep sense of feeling that something is different, He would not do that to me for no reason, there was a bigger picture, he was calling me for something else, so I decided to surrender it all into his hands, “let your will be done”. In the three months that I had lost my license, my manager at work would drop me home as it was such a short distance from our workplace. My manager was an agnostic. He was born as a Christian, however growing up, lost touch with his faith. At work everyone knew that I was a Christian. My mother was really spiritual, but I wasn’t one to openly broadcast and fight for my beliefs. On the car trips home, my manager started to ask me questions about my faith and about certain parts of the Bible. I then realised this was it, this was my calling. He started to talk to me each day about my faith and whether I was going to Church on Sundays. After about 2 months, he started rostering me to finish work earlier on Sundays so that I was able to go to Church without having to rush. I hadn’t even asked him to do that, but I feel that the Holy Spirit had inspired him to make a change in his life. Towards the end of the three months he came up to me and said, “Avin I went to church on Sunday, it was… interesting”. I was astounded, someone who stopped going to Church, didn’t care about his religion, had made such a comeback to even just attend one Holy Mass. This was stage one of God’s master plan; he wasn’t finished with me yet.

Towards the end of the three months, I started looking at cars again, but this time, I had a different mentality. As I prayed, I kept on saying, “use me as a vessel for Your glory”. This time God was going to ride shotgun with me in the front seat. I started showing my dad a car, not with the intention of buying it, but just showing him something that I would eventually like to get. It was a second-hand car which was kind of affordable. Two days before I was due to get my license renewed, my parents and I went shopping and we happened to be in the area where that specific car was being sold. So, we dropped off my mum at the shopping centre so that she could do her shopping peacefully, while my dad and I thought we might just go check out the car. As we got to the car dealership, we saw the car and wasn’t too happy about how it looked, when in the corner of my dad’s eye he saw the latest model of the car with the top of the range features. My dad and I being car enthusiasts were amazed, but I knew that my dad would never go for it, as he liked to make an informed decision, and with Indian parents that normally meant a ten-month waiting period. But my Dad started talking to the agent about prices and the different inclusions… I looked at him in confusion. What was the point? We weren’t going to buy it today, were we?

We left the dealership and went to pick up my mum. On the way back, my dad and I continued to talk about the car. My dad decided to show my mum the car of which we couldn’t stop raving about. Upon seeing the car, my mum also felt some interest towards it. This felt quite weird; both my parents liked the car and started to inquire about whether I could purchase it. I felt that in that moment on that day, the Holy Spirit inspired them and we purchased my brand- new car. This was incredible! Just three months back, I was looking for an inexpensive bike and now God had given me the opportunity to have the best of the best.

In the moments of hardship and suffering, I surrendered everything into His hands, and He renewed me. The blessings kept on coming, whether it was passing an exam, or getting a promotion; we are faced with challenges to make us stronger, not to break our spirits. It is in having that element of faith, in understanding that I may be unworthy, but He will make me worthy. Not only does God want the best for each of us, he selects us to become a vessel to preach his message and like in my situation it will be in the most unexpected moments. Today I still experience sufferings and temptations, but I am never afraid, angry or worried. I am confident through the word of God in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…”