When I lost my mother I thought it was the end of my world. I felt the world turn against me. I felt as if there was no God and those who believed were fooling themselves. I was always told that God was a healer, not that He killed people. I was told that my mom went to be with Him.

I asked myself a lot of questions about God and came to the conclusion that there was no God. I ended up drinking everyday, not caring what happened to me. I did a lot of stupid things like hanging around gangsters and smoking weed.

At the time I was living with my big sister and brother at my mother’s house. My grandmother who stayed in the Eastern Cape heard about my doings and wanted me to stay with her. I refused because I was in control of myself at my own house.

My family even got my uncles to beat me up. I was rude and spoke back to anyone that yelled at me. I was even taken for prayer at one of the pastors. I did not believe in God so I thought the prayers would not work. So I continued my bad behaviour.

I ended up fighting with my big sister and she stabbed me in my back and neck. That’s when my grandmother decided she was coming to Cape Town. She asked them not to tell me that she was coming.

As usual on weekends, I was out drinking and this Saturday was no exception. My grandmother arrived at 2 a.m. that Saturday morning. I was drunk when I came home around 5 a.m. Everyone was still sleeping but when I knocked on the door I was met by my grandmother.

I was shocked as I did not anticipate her being there. I was very scared to enter the house now as I thought she was going to beat me up. But to my surprise she had already made my bed. I slept until about 9 a.m. and was greeted with a bowl of porridge. I didn’t understand why I was being rewarded after doing something wrong. That was the moment I decided to change.

So my grandmother took me for a walk to the church with a Bible. I did not want to go but I was afraid of my grandmother so I ended up going.

We arrived at the church and she read some chapters from the Bible, explaining things to me. From that day onwards my eyes were open. I stopped drinking and started attending church regularly as I knew God was really alive.

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Tell us: Why do you think Asive’s grandmother was kind towards her instead of being harsh?