God has clearly been teaching me patience. Through this, endurance too. I switch back and forth from frustration and exhaustion throughout the day. Our team has had some difficulty with organization in the program we use for the schools we visit.
Yesterday we visited a "senior citizens home" which were codewords for a place for the destitute, mentally challenged and dying. We saw a lot of hard things but we were able to pray for them. I saw a side of India I never thought existed and was able to do something about it. We went from person to person praying for comfort from the God of all comfort and the reminder that these men were still children of God despite their health or acceptance from society. Many of them were just skin and bones-I've never seen people so skinny. One of the men I prayed for had a baseball sized tumor on his forehead. At first I was taken aback-not at their conditions, rather that I had no idea what to pray for. Healing? Or just comfort through sickness? Expect a miracle or assume God's working despite death? The ones we prayed with were the healthy ones out of the group; there were many more who couldn't sit through our program. Do I take back thankfulness for my health or does this equate me with the Pharisee that thanked God that he was better than the broken tax collector next to him?
That afternoon we visited the Paul Gupta school on campus and through our performance was disorganized, we were able to make many children smile.
Hard days, but God is teaching me slowly things I could have never learned in the U.S.
Yesterday we visited a "senior citizens home" which were codewords for a place for the destitute, mentally challenged and dying. We saw a lot of hard things but we were able to pray for them. I saw a side of India I never thought existed and was able to do something about it. We went from person to person praying for comfort from the God of all comfort and the reminder that these men were still children of God despite their health or acceptance from society. Many of them were just skin and bones-I've never seen people so skinny. One of the men I prayed for had a baseball sized tumor on his forehead. At first I was taken aback-not at their conditions, rather that I had no idea what to pray for. Healing? Or just comfort through sickness? Expect a miracle or assume God's working despite death? The ones we prayed with were the healthy ones out of the group; there were many more who couldn't sit through our program. Do I take back thankfulness for my health or does this equate me with the Pharisee that thanked God that he was better than the broken tax collector next to him?
That afternoon we visited the Paul Gupta school on campus and through our performance was disorganized, we were able to make many children smile.
Hard days, but God is teaching me slowly things I could have never learned in the U.S.
I am sure your presence there was just another physical reassurance to the people that there is a God bigger than their suffering, that cares for them deeply. Keep bringing the light to those in despair. Praying for you! Love you SO much, dear friend!
ReplyDeleteYou being there, despite frustration, does wonders! I am praying over you and your safety as you travel to these places. Be the salt!(:
ReplyDeleteSweet girl,
ReplyDeleteI am praying for you! Praying that you stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit and you allow Him to work through you. That you will have supernatural strength through jet lag, frustrations, personality conflicts, and disorganization. May God be glorified! Love you so much!