The Story of a Leader

Transcript:

Pastor Priji: Greetings in Jesus name. We are so excited for you to tune in to this morning conversation. We are blessed to have Prakruthi with us for this leadership talk. Prakruthi, could you please take a moment to greet our listeners and say Hi!

Prakruthi: Hi everyone. It is an honour to be here in this podcast. So excited about the conversation, I hope it blesses people.

Pastor Priji: We would love to know your journey. Your relationship with God. How did you reach so far? It will bless the listeners who are aspiring to influence and be a leader.

Prakruthi: Now when I look back I know it has all been Jesus. It all started when I was around 10 years old. I was born in a Hindu family. I used to go to a convent school, that’s where I have heard of Jesus. My family was going through a tough time at that point and someone from my sister’s school asked us to attend a prayer meeting. So it was in that prayer meeting that we encountered who Jesus is and my mom was also given a Bible so she started reading it first. One day, we were watching something on television and a particular verse came up, and my mom was so excited and she started telling us that she read this verse that morning and that probably God is speaking to them. The verse was Romans 8:18 (KJV). “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
There was a situation that came in my family were suddenly my dad wanted to leave our family. It turned my moms as well as our lives upside down. It was in that place that Jesus met us and found us. There was no going back from there. It was like Jesus himself came for us. Having said that, I had my own journey. I had to encounter God for myself and it was through His word. That got me started on my journey with God.

Pastor Priji: Prakruthi, I wanna know how did you process everything that you were going through? It would have been so challenging. On one hand, you know that God is with you, He cares for you and on the other hand, you have challenges, unmet expectations and you have to trust God. So, I want to know how did you process everything in context with God and how do you bring all of those things into focus with what God was doing in your life.

Prakruthi: Two things: One that I was very angry with God, as to why everything as such is happening with us. And the other thing would be seeing my mom in so much pain. The pain of betrayal was very deep, to see my mom who has been so caring and loyal to go through so much was painful. I had a lot of trust and anger issues. Even with God, I could not expect His goodness. Even when I tried running away from God I could feel His covering. I could feel the Hand of God over me.

Pastor Priji: Like you said you had to encounter God for yourself, you started reading the word, how did that journey help you in becoming who you are today?

Prakruthi: It was Holy Spirit and mom who has really helped me. She has done so much irrespective of all her pain. There were times when I had not wanted to go to church but mom would push me. Initially, I was not able to connect to the presence of God but seeing how mom has experienced freedom and joy I wanted to experience the same. God was so gracious to me to present Himself to me in powerful ways something I could not deny.

Pastor Priji: You were inspired and pushed by spiritual and physical family. Who were the people who have been very important in your journey? How did God use them to help you reach where you are today?

Prakruthi: One of the people was my senior Pastor Paul Thangiah. I ended up looking to Pastor Paul to what he was accomplishing through his life and what I saw at that point was that he was passionately after the Kingdom of God, evangelism has been a core of our church. I have seen the strengths and challenges he had faced. He looks like Martha but he is actually a Mary. Another person was when God brought me to Face to Face. That’s where my shift happened with respect to ministry and worship leading. At that point in time, Pastor Nickson played an important role in my life.

Pastor Priji: So beautiful. I’m sure some of us are inspired by this. those years of hiddenness, what were you doing? did you work on your talents, gifts, what were those things you were sharpening yourself?

Prakruthi: For many tears, I was super depressed. I never went to a therapist. there was just so many things so I did not understand why and for what should I go to the therapist. I went through a lot of depression and I didn’t have the motivation to do anything. I also believed a lot of lies like it’s too late to learn keys and also I had sweaty palms. So, I don’t know if I have worked on myself like that but God definitely had His way to work on me.

Pastor Priji: As you are sharing your story I believe a lot of people are having hope, those who thought of giving on their dreams. How did the reignition happen?

Prakruthi: God definitely took me through one step at a time. Painfully slow process. But to look back and see how the songs have blessed people is definitely worth it. I always had this hope that God is faithful. My mom would always encourage me. I went through demonic oppression and I would be like why is Jesus allowing this. It would push me to the edge. My mom would constantly encourage me that there is a purpose and a destiny. God slowly showed me that how I need to forgive people.

Pastor Priji: Sometimes God takes us through a process a journey one day at a time. And that is something we have to be open to. What are those areas where you want to be a shining light and be a voice?

Prakruthi: One of the things definitely now were people being open about their mental struggles. I don’t want people to settle for a broken life. I have seen how God healed me from depression, it was a slow process. I want real freedom from people. Another thing would be family. Face to Face was a family. Finally, I had a community. Pastor Nickson showed me how to be a leader in our brokenness. To have people who walk with other people.

Pastor Priji: What advice would you give to leaders coming up? How do you do it from a place of submission and guarding your heart?

Prakruthi: One thing was to be real with God. Just being so honest and is a real find. and also having intimacy with the Lord where nothing can be faked. The only thing that preserves me is the affirmation and validation that comes from the Lord. Abiding in the Lord, He is the vine we are the branches, it helps us to stay true to Him and also ourselves.

To get in touch with Prakruthi, you could use these platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Youtube & Website.