My family’s struggles have felt like a long winding road that never ends. And when I say this, I speak for every person because each person and each family have their own battles to overcome, no matter what the circumstance. The challenges life brings comes with uncertainty of the road ahead. Even when we believe in ourselves to overcome an obstacle, sometimes it seems that there is no end in sight. That there is no victory. I’m here to say that there is. Even in our darkest hours. All that is required is faith.

Just as my parents left their home in Sri Lanka to begin a new life in a foreign land, the story I now wish to share with you is about how my family found themselves in a situation where they lost everything that they worked hard for, again.

In the year 2000, my parents found land for sale in an area of Melbourne they only dreamed of. It was a stroke of fortune. The seller was in a hurry to sell, and my parents, simply driving through the area, happened to discover that it was for sale. They rang up the real estate agent, and the rest was history. What then began was an exciting time for my family. We went to home expos, got an architect to make a plan, learnt the construction trade, and did whatever was required to build a home. This process took 3 years. Eventually, my family built the home of their dreams.

What then transpired was my own personal journey. My journey of becoming a doctor. It led me to Hungary where I later graduated from a medical school there. Before my departure, I had saved up some money from part time work that I did for a year. This money wasn’t enough for tuition fees and meeting the costs of living for 6 years in Europe. When I was about to begin my medical course in Hungary, my father had reconnected with an old colleague from his days as a police officer in Sri Lanka. His friend had recently migrated to Melbourne and had found himself in a property development business that was profiting quite well.

He then shared this business with him. My father went along one night to a nice presentation at a fancy hotel in the city. And at this presentation was a man that explained how he became wealthy through buying land in developing areas of Melbourne, building houses and units on top of them, and selling them off for profit. It was all quite interesting, however, it was also quite a commitment to make. As the weeks passed by, his friend would explain how he had made the investment and also profited from it. That it was a legitimate business, and this was the answer to securing financial freedom.

Hearing this, my father eventually joined the business. He had to convince my mother first, and he hadn’t consulted myself as I didn’t have much knowledge in areas of finance and business. All the checks were done, the units were built, the company was registered, and the contracts seemed to be well professionally constructed, with plans attached. My father took serious consideration before joining, however. Having built his own home, he now had experience in building houses and placed his faith in the goodwill of others.

The man who held a presentation for this business was a former bank manager. He introduced himself as a financial adviser where he would use his expertise to help others make their dreams come true financially. And so when my father saw the success his friend was having, he made a connection with him. From that point onwards, with trust, my parents refinanced their home, used that money to invest in the business, and then promised that they would reap from the profits made on completion of the properties built.

And in this way, their faith was rewarded. The project had been a success and my parents were given the money they needed to fund my first year of education overseas. It was in 2008, that I felt I was leaving my parents in good hands as I ventured off to pursue my own dream of becoming a doctor.

The financial adviser involved became family to us. He came into our home many times a week to discuss property development matters. My parents would feed him as if he was their own brother. And in return, using his contacts in banking, the financial adviser would organise loans that my parents could later apply for. This would allow themselves to get involved into the next development project. So grateful to this man were my parents, that they would call me overseas and praise him saying, “This man is a God-send. He is the answer to our prayers, make sure you thank him!” And so I too, found myself calling from Hungary at times where I would catch him having dinner at our home in Melbourne and I would express my gratitude to him for helping us out financially. He was making our dreams come true.

At the time, we didn’t quite understand what he was doing. We were simply grateful to God that our dreams were being fulfilled. However, this journey would bring to us the realisation that the greatest gift we could ever receive, is discovering the gift that ultimately exists within ourself.