Sorry it has been so long since my last blog. Our ministry in India has been so incredible, that I didn’t want to take any time away from it.
In month two, in Swaziland, I asked God to allow me love like he does. I wanted men, women, and children to be able to see the love of Jesus in me. I wanted my heart to be open and full of love for everyone that I met.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8
I asked, and it was given to me.
From the first week in India, I fell in love with the 15 children that lived at Jireh Trust Children’s Home.
There are 6 girls and 9 boys that live at the children’s home. They are the most joyful children that I have ever met. And I am absolutely head over heels in love with them.
The first time I heard “I love you Auntie Ali!” my heart melted. I already knew how much I loved them, but when I heard that they loved me too, my heart overflowed.
One look at these children, and I just want to spoil them with all the love that I was given as a child. I want to teach them new games, cook them new foods, sing new songs with them, and spoil them with sweets. For the whole month, I just wanted to spend all the time that I had with them. For the first time in my life, I had a feeling of what it would be like to be a mother. I knew that I loved these children with my whole heart and would do anything that I could for them.
During the days, we would go on walks, play games, perform skits and teach them stories from the bible. Towards the end of the month, we worshiped a couple of times with just the kids. God showed up in those moments, and it was incredible. You could see Jesus in every one of their faces as they sang to the Lord and worshiped. To be able to see small children dancing and singing to Our God and Break Every Chain is an amazing experience.
All month long, I have been so extremely humbled by the servant hearts of everyone at Jireh Home, including the children. Whenever we walked with the kids, they would carry our backpacks. As soon as I finished drinking the water out of my bottle, they would refill it for me. After meals were over, we weren’t allowed to clean our own dishes. They have so little, but they were constantly serving us with everything they do have.
We are now in Nepal, and I miss my kids so much! Yes, even after one short month, I feel like I can call them mine. I thought that it was going to be one of the hardest things I have ever done leaving those kids, but right now I feel at peace. I miss them with all my heart, but it is in the same way that I miss my friends and family back in America. I miss them because I love being around them. I am not broken hearted, because I know that I will see them again. Usually when we say goodbye on the World Race, our sadness is based around the fact that we know we will not be able to come back, but as we were leaving and waving to the children from the window of our taxi, I just knew I would be seeing them again. It may be in one year, five or ten, but I know that we will meet again. I also know that each one of these children will be on my heart until I do.
1 Corinthians 13:13 – So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
