August 7 Left at 3 in the morning for the airport, where half of us went home, and the other half traveled onto Hyderabad. I don't know what it is about these Kansas people I'm traveling with, but they sure do like to get me up at 3 in the morning to go to some airport! We arrived in Hyderabad with all our luggage and found our contact (PK one of the PALS) no problem, Praise the Lord for smooth and safe travel!
We went to PK's church where we gave our testimonies and Fred gave a message. Afterward they served us lunch where I made a “note to self” in my journal: putting lemon juice on already spicy rice will just make it 100 times more spicy NOT dull it down!! So with a mouth on fire we started on our long drive to Vijaywada (about a “6 hour” drive.) We arrived at our hotel very hungry and VERY tired, but God always knows when to revive His children. This hotel was clean, it had hot water for showers, it had toilet paper, it had snacks, the beds didn't have bugs in them, and it had wifi so I finally got a chance to talk to my family! No words can describe how much we needed this refreshing boost, but God knew and He will always take care of His children.
Yet as I lay all clean in my nice clean bed that night my mind couldn't help but bring up flashes of what we had seen driving that day. Mile after mile was spent driving past tent colonies, slums, and people sleeping on the street. Children with either no clothes or filthy rags digging through the trash piles on the side of the road trying to find some food or working along side their parents on a construction site, doing hard labor NO CHILD should have to do to survive. Beggars coming up to our vehicle with malnourished or injured babies, staring at you so intense with something in their eyes that makes your heart break, until you finally learn you just have to ignore the little tapping on the window and look the other way. If you don't you will give in to their pathetic looks and with a breaking heart you will watch them walk away to beg more knowing that there are thousands of others like them and you can't help them all. Not knowing if they are beggars that are forced to beg for someone else, or if the children really aren't injured or were injured on purpose just so the situation will look more heartbreaking. There are so many of them and its impossible to know what their true situation is, but to judge and ignore them is something Jesus would never do, so being examples of Christ what should we do? This is a question I've spun round and round in my mind for a long time, and I really have come up with no answer. All you can really do is give them a few rupees, say a prayer, and never expect a thanks because they will never give you one, all they will do is ask for more. Thinking of all these people in a filthy dangerous environment, while I am in a safe clean one, definitely made me feel guilty. It made me want to give them all hot showers and a nice place to stay, but there is too many to even make a dent. It made me think again how blessed I truly am, even in the little things. I could have been born one of those beggars or children in the slums, but I wasn't, I was born and grew up in a safe comfortable home not needing to worry about my next meal. So why DID God choose to place me where He did? It is because every one on earth is uniquely different and has a certain calling in their life that only they can full fill. I may not know the reason why God richly blessed me by placing me in the family I am in just yet, but he has a reason and a purpose for it. And I don't quite know why God chose to put me in a nice clean bed that night instead of one of the thousands that were sleeping on the streets. So undeserving am I of the many blessings He has poured into my life, that I many times fail to even thank Him for, but with love and mercy He keeps pouring them! Sending His only Son to die for us should be enough of a blessing for us that we should never complain, but we do, and even despite our complaints he pours blessings into our lives. Nothing we can do could ever thank Him enough for everything He gives us, and he asks for nothing in return except for faithfully following Him, and that is not to much to ask considering He will provide us with everything we will need to follow Him. Then even more amazing to think how many times we mess up and DON'T follow Him but Hes there to pick us back up and give us a new start. It seems like every time I turn around here I'm thanking God for something, its not until things are taken away and only given to us once in a while that we truly understand just how much He gives us and I recognize just how much a fail to thank Him for! All these thoughts kept me awake for sometime that night and all I could say was thank you again and again, knowing that nothing I do will ever be enough to repay all Hes given me, but when I die He will still welcome me with open arms and still say the words “Well done good and faithful servant... here is your crown” Such mercy and love I could never in my life deserve, but He gives it...FREELY, and why? Because that is just how much HE LOVES US!
“Imagine waking up tomorrow with only the things you have thanked God for today...”In Him -Katie T- The Daughter of a King
Bless you precious daughter of the KING! You are experiencing and learning much by watching and listening to all God has for you. Do not be discouraged or feel guilt: "to much that is given much is expected." You are recognizing how much you have and seeing the opportunities(to serve Him) that God is placing before you because He has given you much. Always remember that Jesus is the greatest gift and the power of His Holy Spirit living in those that accept Him will bring what they need the most. Investing in Discipling others will do more than all the money or material things you could give. Making disciples is not an option, It's a command (Matt 28:19-20) and you are following God's command! Making diciples is God's way of transforming cities and nations. Many continents have been evangelized (some over and over again) BUT they have not been discipled. God uses the process of personal dicipleship to bring about spiritual transformation in individual's lives and in turn those transformed individuals influence their business, family ,school and in time whole cities and nations! When we choose to disciple people in small groups, we are doing church the way Jesus did it! You are doing God's work God's way. I love you!!!mom
ReplyDeleteIf you stood on the dock looking over Gem Lakes on a still day, what would you see? A mirror. The water is as smooth as glass. You can see the reflections of the houses, trees and even people across the lake.
ReplyDeleteHow would one small rock impact the perfectly still lake? If you were to drop it off the dock, you would see one wave go out, then another, then another. The waves would continue to grow and grow.
One small rock in a large body of water can change the entire surface of the water.
It's amazing the impact one person can have on a number of lives! You might feel like a small pebble being dropped in a lake, but your impact will be far reaching. Here's the difference. The pebble has no power, no aptitude, and no ability to continue it's impact once it reaches the bottom of the lake.
You have the ability to make a multitude of impacts, the aptitude to "rightly divide the Word of Truth", and the power to communicate the Truth to others - which has an eternal impact!
Remember our classes with Jimmy Jones. We may not be able to fix all of the problems of the people that are put in our path, but we can point those people to the One who can.
Whatever you do, don't stop caring!
Love, Dad
Hello darling darling. I just read your post and my heart is right there with yours. It is so hard to understand why a loving God has so varried plans for all of his children. Funny I was just thinking about that very thing this weekend. Sept 24-25. I have your picture, one we took with the water camera where you are smiling with your mouth open before you swallowed half the Atlantic. It makes me smile! Oh it is in a cute red flip flop frame my cousin Sandy gave me. So I begin each day looking at it. I am so proud of you and what are you doing. I think about what you are teaching the children how to praise God with music and knowing how God is smiling just as big as you are! I love you so! Auntie Lo XOXOXOXOXO
ReplyDelete