Jesus Is Beautiful To Behold!

Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus Christ. My name is Marshall Naidoo and I am 32 years old. I am from South Africa. Shortly after I was born my parents realized that I could not walk. They took me to the country’s top specialist and it was discovered that I had Spinal Muscular Dystrophy, a disease which destroys the muscles in the body.

My parents, who were Hindu at the time, tried everything to make me well but there was really no cure for the disease. Doctors did not expect me to live beyond the age of 8 years but God controls our lives & our destinies and here I am still alive today.  Because of the disease, I am unable to walk or do most things for myself and must therefore depend on someone to help me.

But I have decided that my physical disability is not going to stop me from living for or praising God.

There were no schools for children with disabilities in those days and I started going to regular school at a late age. Prior to that, I could not write or even hold a pen. However, while at school I learnt how to use a computer.

In those days, Spinal Muscular Dystrophy was very common and many of my friends died because of the disease.  During that time there were hijackings taking place. I had actually been involved in two of the hijackings and because they were concerned for my safety, my parents thought it best to take me out of school.

I am thankful to God Almighty for blessing me with two sisters, one of whom is Michelle, my twin.  My younger sister is Thiloshnee. Both my sisters are married with one child each. After my twin finished school & got married, she started taking care of me, while my mum & dad worked.

Somewhere during my childhood, my father started changing. He started having affairs with other women and he became very abusive towards my mother. He beat her so badly that many times he almost killed her. I hated seeing my mother getting beaten up and crying all the time. There was no peace in our home and for me peace only came when I cried myself to sleep.

One night, when I was around 9 years old, I woke up to the usual commotion. That night, I started crying out in silence to a God I didn’t know existed. I just cried out to Him, saying, “Please, please, if there is a God, please save me.” Immediately, a peace came over me and I realized that God was real and giving me this feeling of peace was His way of revealing himself to me.

Marshall Naidoo

Shortly after that my, now deceased aunt, took me to church and I got saved. Some months after that, my dad, and my mum who was a secret believer, also went to church and gave their lives to the Lord. It was only then that there was real peace in my household. My father stopped beating my mother and everything changed.

At present, my entire family is involved in church, just like me. My mother works at a special school for disabled children. Earlier this year 2012, I was put in charge of the youth ministry and I also minister at church sometimes. I use my mobile phone to send devotions and I email my testimony over the internet. I love what I do.

I use my own finances to do God’s work.

Over the years, because of the disease, I have had a lot of close encounters with death. The fact that I am still alive today and doing all these things, is not because of the power of doctors but because of the power of Almighty God in my life.

Friends, I challenge you. What are you living for? Yourself – money, worldly gain, power, sex? or For God? Consider ETERNITY!