When looking back over the past years, seasons, multiple moves across continents and countries, I am filled with wonder at His grace upon grace! I am married to Coen, a mother of eleven children, a grandmother of ten-plus kids, and a missionary – all roles I cherish.
Despite bouts of boundary-less living during the past twenty-five years, this Martha-Mary has tried to persistently pursue a lifestyle of freedom, fun, and fruitfulness.
As a child, I was a bookworm and a spectator, a shy dreamer, and a quiet introvert. I struggled with inferiority, and as a cultural Christian, my life was characterized by aimless living and vain short-term goals. I accepted Christ as Savior as a university student at age nineteen. The first thing God asked me was to trust Him with my bulging bag of dreams – painstakingly collected after every magazine I flipped through, movie I watched, and book I read. Seek first My Kingdom and My righteousness, and all these things will be added to you – His still small voice encouraged me.
It was a tough call. One night I reluctantly and tearfully surrendered and started to prepare myself for a slow and ordinary life as the unknown citizen!
But God! My first adventure was to Israel. Kibbutz life was hectic. Jerusalem was heavenly. I stayed for seven months and can live there any day again! Apart from the gift of my first adventure, God birthed something deep within – a faith in the historical Jesus! I took care of an elderly lady with multiple sclerosis in Rehavia while working as a cleaner at the Israeli Museum. My favorite workdays were spent at the Shrine of the Book, cleaning the glass display that holds the scroll of Isaiah – all 66 chapters perfectly preserved and retrieved from a clay pot at Qumran! The remainder of my five months abroad, I traveled through Europe.
It is said that the image of God that you carry deep in your heart is the one that you will relate to in a moment of crisis. Upon my return home, my mother’s depression caught me completely unawares. The following years of study and work are hazy, and even after all this time, I try not to delve too deep or linger too long. In the prime of her life, and with most of my life yet to unfold, my mother, bereft of all hope, decided not to wait for death. I was twenty-five years old when she took her own life. But God! His tender love and infinite care as Father and Shepherd consoled me then as He consoles me now. The next couple of years were tough, for the road to recovery was treacherously steep. My own wilderness wanderings, I guess. Yet, here I am, eager to share my vivid life with as many people as possible – a planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified!
My call into missions was a major crossroads in my life! In many ways, it changed everything. Most importantly, it gave me a purpose beyond this life under the sun and my own pain. Discipleship and mission training turned me upside down and inside out! I have not recovered yet, and pray, I never will! India was my first stop, before I got married to Coen, also a missionary. For the next ten years, we pioneered a Discipleship and Missions School as well as a Teacher’s Training College in Kabwe, Zambia.
We also adopted kids – many kids! Inspired by Amy Carmichael, the Irish missionary to India, Coen and I took in our first child, Christopher, when he was twelve years old. The almost perfect child, I guess he was an important reason why others soon followed. Joseph, ten years old, was next.
After the birth of my two biological children, we didn’t stop adopting or fostering. Once our 16-seater minibus was full and every bed in the house was taken, we realised we had reached our capacity and had no choice but to pause.
The next five years were nothing short of extraordinary. At the height of the chaos, Coen and I would sometimes find ourselves standing in church, sharing feedback and laughing at the fact that we weren’t entirely sure how many children were staying with us at that moment—or even exactly who we were fostering at the time. We were dirt poor. We were always late. We gave new meaning to Piccadilly circus, one friend said. While another friend, who observed me preparing and packing for a long-awaited holiday, thought we gave new meaning to a military maneuver. The most memorable observation came from a visitor who bluntly told me, “I have never seen such ugly furniture in my life!” When he saw my shocked face, he reiterated, “No, really, it is the ugliest furniture I have ever seen! But, neither can I remember when last I experienced so much love in a family.”
Since starting A Vivid Life in September 2019, I’ve had the privilege of watching my children grow in real and beautiful ways—flourishing and floundering, finding their feet, spreading their wings, chasing dreams, weathering storms, always failing forward; all while intentionally learning to walk with God and pursue an authentic relationship with their heavenly Father.
This year, 2026, ushers in an altogether new season in all our lives. As we journey on together as a family and wider community of Jesus followers, it is my heartfelt prayer that we will be guided by these timeless words from Psalm 91:
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
Grace and Peace in Him
Suria
