Chapter 2: The Orphan Who Had Living Parents

Luke Ghalan

My Story | His Story

Chapter 2: The Orphan Who Had Living Parents

Years later, Lokendra finally got a pair of sandals. They were worn and secondhand, but to a boy whose feet had known only sharp stones, muddy trails, and winter frost, they felt like a treasure. Yet the sandals changed only his feet—not his future. His mother had already left. His father was lost in alcohol. Though both parents were alive, the boy grew up feeling orphaned. There was land, but little harvest. There were paddy fields, but an empty kitchen. There were cattle in the shed, but hunger at the table. To the village, it looked like they owned something. To the boy, it felt like they had nothing. Many mornings he walked to school on an empty stomach. The school sat two hours away through dense jungle and steep mountain paths—four hours of walking every day. During monsoon season, the trails became rivers of mud. In winter, frost covered the ground like broken glass. Still, he walked. Not because the journey was easy, but because his desire to learn was greater than his hardship. When school ended, work began. He climbed hillsides cutting grass for cattle. He disappeared into the forest collecting firewood. The bundles on his back often seemed heavier than the dreams in his heart. He sold the wood to buy notebooks, pencils, and secondhand books. Sometimes he had to choose between food and education. More often than not, he chose education. There was no electricity in the village. By the time his chores were finished, darkness had already settled over the mountains. Under the faint glow of a kerosene lamp, with smoke stinging his eyes and hunger twisting his stomach, he opened his books. Others saw a poor village boy- God saw a future being formed. The boy saw obstacles - God saw preparation. The boy saw loneliness - God was teaching him dependence. The boy saw an empty kitchen - God was filling him with a hunger that bread alone could never satisfy. Looking back now, Lokendra understands what he could not see then: he was never walking those jungle paths alone. Someone was walking with him. Every mile. Every tear. Every hungry night. Every unanswered prayer.

Now i Know!

"I thought I was carrying firewood through the jungle to survive. Years later, I realized everlasting Father was carrying me through the wilderness to prepare me for the powerful future."

A Promise to Hold

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." — Romans 8:28

When you look back at your own desert seasons, can you see the unseen hand that was guiding you even then?

REFLECT WITH US

What is God writing in your Life right now?

The God who watched over him in the cornfield was still writing his story in the wilderness. And perhaps that raises a question for all of us: If God could write purpose through a barefoot boy, an empty kitchen, and a lonely road through the jungle, what might He be writing in your life right now? "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." — Romans 8:28