Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Answered Prayers

   This week He gave me the joy of learning about faith. God has showed me that He is so true to answer our prayers again and again. Each time one is answered, He never ceases to amaze me and leave me in awe of how powerful He is. If you have faith that He will do it, He will! I will tell you a number of answers to prayer which have strengthened my faith tremendously and I hope it does the same for you. The other girls on the team and I spend some time each week with three believers who own shops on the beach. Susanna and I visited one of the ladies, Leah, and she was very down because another woman, who is not a believer, owed Leah a great sum of money for three years. She wrote it down in her books that she would repay Leah. Then recently she told Leah that she never owed her any money. She never wrote it down and denied the truth. Leah came to us just very hurt and in need of prayer. She felt powerless in this situation and felt all she could do was pray. This woman isn't a believer so she did not see any wrong in being dishonest to Leah. But we knew that God can do all things, even convict the hearts of the ungodly. We prayed together and then apart and after a couple of days the woman called and told Leah she would pay her for what she owed!

   Another answer to prayer was with a woman named Sheela, who comes to our Life Skills and English classes every Tuesday and Thursday. This Tuesday Sheela was very distraught and asked us for prayer concerning her sons. Sheela and her family are Hindu but they are open to pray to Jesus. One of Sheela's sons has been getting into fights with other men (both sons are in their late 20's) and causing much trouble in the family. He wouldn't even let Sheela, his mother, leave the house at times. She also wanted us to pray for her other son, Neil, to contact her because she had not heard from him in a very long time and it made her upset that he would not speak to her. We then prayed with her for her sons and for her family to come to know the Lord. We always pray for salvation but we pray in English so they do not know what weare asking Jesus. Thursday when we saw Sheela again; she was eager for more prayer to Jesus. She told us that her son who was causing trouble was now doing well and that her other son Neil called her the very next day after we prayed. Praise the Lord! Neil told her when he called that he has been reading the Bible also! We are now praying that Neil will become a believer and reach Sheela. She is so hungry and knows something about Jesus from all the other gods. When we pray with her to Jesus, things actually happen! I think she is realizing that. I pray she is.
 

   Sheela asked us to pray for some other things regarding her family and just before we started praying another woman named Sunita came up. She prayed with us and afterwards she said something that truly amazed me. Jules, another girl from our team, prayed with Sunita last week. Sunita is a young woman but she has been suffering from an eye problem for quite some time. She said they were very painful and her vision was very blurry, especially in the mornings. She explained this to Jules and Jules was thrilled to get to pray over her and see God work. Sunita told us that after Jules prayed over her, she was healed! My eyes filled with tears as I was in awe of God and how is constantly revealing Himself to these people in India. Through answered prayers he reminds me of His word and how we must have faith that He will heal and work through us to glorify His name. Matthew 17:20 says "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." At times, I find myself doubting God, especially at home. But he has taught me to have much faith. Know that we serve a God who is alive, not dead. He is working all the time and is ready to move when we ask in faith! Remember that He can do all things. NOTHING is impossible with God.

Blessings,
  EG- Goa Volunteer


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Beyond Barriers

During the week, I help look after roughly 100 kids ranging in age from 3 to 14 years old. I love them all, but one girl in particular has captured my heart.

Radica is old enough to to be in the second grade, but she, like so many girls in India, does not attend school. However, this has not dampened her joyful spirit. Every day, she comes in with a smile, big personality, and and infectious laugh. Radica only knows about 5 words in English, and I only know a few more in Hindi. Neither of us has a clue as to what the other is saying, but that has stopped us from forming a bond.

When I started working with the children I was very frustrated by the language barrier. The fact that I could barely pronounce their names, much less speak fluent Hindi, weighed on me very much. However, God has shown me that, despite these boundaries, He is able to work through them. As humans on this earth, there are things we are simply not able to do. However, our Savior is able to work through us despite this. When I receive a hug, or tickle a child, or make a silly face at a student, I see that His love is indeed getting through to those I am ministering to. Moses was not the best public speaker, and yet God worked in amazing ways through him. No matter how inadequate we may feel, He will always be able to work through us.

Blessings,
SB - Goa Volunteer

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Spiritually Disabled

This week was a little different from most. Schedules were changed around in order to accommodate sickness and other meetings going on. Because of this, I was able to work in the other ministry location and go back to the after school program that I hadn’t been to in a while. It ended up being one of the most special days I’ve had here so far. There are several children in the slum that have leg deformities. Two of the girls are sisters, and the boy is from a separate family. The oldest girl can walk on her own, but the younger boy and girl have to scoot around or rely on others to carry them from place to place. While we were walking in on Wednesday, the boy wanted me to carry him, and the younger girl sat in my lap the whole time during the lesson. She even gave me her drawing she had colored after the lesson. Being there and having the opportunity to love, to hold, and even carry these children reminded me of something my friend Andie told me after her trip this summer to Kenya. After visiting a Mother Teresa orphanage for the mentally and physically disabled she related that to how we are spiritually disabled. She taught me a lot about this, but it wasn’t until i was with these children with physical disabilities that I understood for myself what this meant.

Psalm 23:1-4 says, “The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right path for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me”.

God showed me through this experience that it is impossible to live a holy life in this sinful world without him. We have to rely on him to provide for us, lead us, and sometimes even carry us on this path of righteousness. We as humans will fail in this world if we try to rely on others or even ourselves too much. We have to fully be dependent on God knowing that we are debilitated without him. Seeing how those children are physically dependent on the people around them, made me realize how I need to be in my relationship with God, dependent on him for every aspect of my life.

Blessings,
JL - Goa Volunteer

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Seeds and Seasons

We found out Diwali is next week which is one of the biggest Hindu holidays, so this week ended up being our last week of ministry. It was hard to say bye to the many people we’ve met at our different locations, not knowing if we will ever see them again. There were a lot of emotions packed into this last week. Joy that God gave me the opportunity to meet such wonderful people, laughter thinking about the experiences and funny moments we’ve had being here, sadness in having to say bye to people I truly care about and love, and excitement for time adventuring and debriefing next week with my team before I go back home. I was sick yesterday so I stayed back at the house and in that time I was really able to reflect on what has happened since I’ve been here. 
One thing that was revealed to me in that time was how it was hard a lot of the time to feel like I had purpose here, that God was really using me. But what God showed me this past week especially was that he uses us even in the mundane. That we are his hands and feet whether we sharing a bible story to a room full of women, or letting a child play with our hair, or rearranging furniture for a new stitching class. That God uses us in so many different ways to plant seeds, and even though I won’t necessarily see those seeds develop, it’s evident that God is working in these women and children lives and softening their hearts, and he is allowing me to be able to be a little bitty piece of the puzzle. When he called me here he didn’t expect me to know what I was doing he just told me to love his people and he would do the rest. 

These women and children have taught me so much; I loved seeing their smiles everyday among the pain they experience at home. To be able to love them through a hug or a smile when communicating it was hard. To be able to just spend time with them and listen so they felt like they were a person and what they say matters. I don’t know if I’m ready to go back and be immersed in American culture after being here this long. But I know this season of my life has almost come to an end and I can’t wait to see what God has planned next!

Blessings,
 JL- Goa Volunteer