India. It has already captured my heart. This country is beautiful: full of colors, spices, warm people, and artistic details on everything. Even their semi-trucks are fully decorated….and I love it.
This culture is completely opposite of Western culture, which creates some shock:
Constant traffic chaos and noise (honking is not rude here, it apparently means I am here, don’t run me over…everyone honks all the time) and I am in constant amazement that it just somehow works.
Driving on the wrong side of the road? No problem, everyone does it.
You’ve heard that in India there are cows in the middle of the road? That’s a real thing. And they are everywhere. You don’t hear about the water buffalo, but there are herds of them all over the roads too. And pigs. And dogs. Occasionally a chicken.
There are temples everywhere. To the monkey god, to the snake god, to the cow god…over a million gods are in the Hindu belief.
It is considered indecent for women to show shoulders or ankles here. So this, of course, required shopping trips for punjabis and sarees! Wearing sarees always makes me feel like a princess, I am amazed that it is just life to them. Every woman wears them, every day.
Eating with your hand is a challenge….eating with your right hand when you are left-handed is a lot of work! Thankfully when we are home with our contacts, they provide forks for us.
Random power outages are common, usually lasting an hour. It just might happen when you are out punjabi shopping or when you are taking a shower. During the strikes, we have been more often without power than with it: dinner by candlelight and clear views of the stars at night.
There is extreme poverty and need here. It is everywhere and it is overwhelming. Manual tasks are performed by hand, often for only a few dollars a day.
Beyond the culture shock are all the blessings we have received. We were told we would be tenting in the church but we instead find ourselves adopted into the family. We were greeted with a welcome banner, flower leis, and a crowd of orphan children who are a part of their ministry, all of which brought us to tears. We were then provided with beds, air conditioning, real toilets, and meals cooked for us; with the whole family taking us shopping, on day trips, and to get ice cream or brownie sundaes!
And beyond all this, there are the God moments. The people of India are a spiritual people, so the war is clear and the lines drawn.
Most are Hindu, and it can feel like swimming upstream against a mindset so rooted in generations of belief.
I often feel like a spectacle in the small villages that have never seen white skin before and often uncomfortable in a culture of high honor when it seems to constantly be directed at us.
BUT when God shows up, everything changes. Much of our ministry is with the ‘untouchable’ villages.. beautiful and loving people that their society has determined to be unworthy to set foot in the nearby town in daylight because of their caste.
In these villages, I have seen 11 people accept Christ since being here.
I have seen a paralyzed man walking after we prayed.
I have seen a hunger and reverence for God that I have never experienced before.
I have held, hugged, and prayed over countless children…always feeling how precious they are to Him.
Despite all of these moments, or perhaps more truthfully because of them, there are constant attacks. Lies I thought I had left far behind me are suddenly tripping me up again. Exhaustion and feeling like I have nothing left to give seem to be constant companions. The question in my heart that never seems to go away has been heightened this month: Why has God brought me on this journey? Why am I here?
This journey is just as much about the faces of those in front of me as it is about me: of these ‘untouchables’ who saw for the first time what saved my life: the compassion and love of the One True God, who sees them and has already chosen them. But some days that knowledge is not enough. Often, my heart fails and I wonder what in the world I am doing here…in India…and still a long ways from returning home.
Walking by faith, God will purposely take us where we do not have what it takes…where reliance on Him is the only thing that keeps us moving forward. But He promises to strengthen and uphold.
This morning, I am sitting on the rooftop of our house with room to breathe. God is speaking softly to my heart. Psalms 103:14 says ‘He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.’ He does not ask more of me than I can give. Yet He asks one small penetrating question: ‘How much do you love me?’ The first and final question. Love requires action in order to be love.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)
He is worth whatever the cost, whether my heart fails at times or not. He is the true Treasure in this life, although my heart may betray me at times: chasing after everything but Him. The beauty of grace is that I can always walk straight back into His open and waiting arms. They are wide open for you too.
