Finding God: Siuneh Tombalakian - the God who delivers
Siuneh Tombalakian, usually in high spirits and joyful, lay in her bed with thoughts of worry and hopelessness swimming around her mind. With her love for her family and a concern for her and for their health, COVID-19 was extremely stressful for her. However, in the moment of anxiety, a sight from her window changed everything. From her bedroom window, Siuneh saw a huge rainbow cover the sky. Sitting up in bed, she was overcome with a new found joy and peace. All in one split moment, she was reminded once again of the faithfulness of God, so much so that it brought her to tears. She was overwhelmed with the love of the God who delivers.
“I saw this huge and beautiful rainbow outside and I immediately texted my mom and started crying,” said Siuneh, “I just thought, ‘God protected Noah and his family from the flood. He's going to protect me and my family from this.’”
Siuneh, despite growing up in a Christan home, had to take her faith into her own hands and commit to Jesus for herself. “I’m growing up in a Christian family right now but I would say last year was the first year I really knew Jesus for myself,” Siuneh explains, “That’s probably when I realized that God’s real and He cares, cause He kept my family safe. It could have been a lot worse, but He really delivered us from sickness.”
She elaborated on her experience during the 2020 shutdown due to COVID-19 and explained, “When we were quarantined I was really worried, but I remembered lessons about God that I learned, especially from my summer Bible camp, and that really helped me with that worry.” She continued, “I started to read my Bible more and raise my hands in worship which is something I have never really done before. I started to grow more as I went through that and I just started getting more in depth in my faith and I wanted to read my Bible more.”
In regards to continuing her walk of faith, Siuneh shared, “I think I’m going to take everything I’ve read in the Bible and try to apply it to my life a lot more. I think that’s how I can use that to let God work through me. I always pray that God will work through me so I can reach out to other people and try to talk and uplift people around me.”
While reflecting on the lessons she had learned through her trials, she offered encouragement to fellow Eastern Christian students. Siuneh said, “Always pray your full heart out to God. He’s your friend, even though you should treat Him with respect, He’s still your friend and He cares about you. Listen to worship music if you need to be lifted up from whatever it is you’re going through, and ultimately just seek God first."
"Bring your thoughts to Him and he will take care of you.”
