Month four has begun and I AM FULLY FUNDED!
God has blessed me so much this past year and I cannot thank all my supporters enough for donating, praying and sending me encouraging words along the way!
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My team and I have left Nepal and I will be forever grateful for what God did in my heart and what that ministry was able to do in my life. Being unplugged from my family and friends allowed me to draw closer to God in many new ways. I learned things such as prophetic art and doing what is called “faith” days that make you put your full trust in God to do all the work.
I left there feeling closer to God than ever before.
I am currently in the southeast region of India. Due to the laws in India about Christianity, for the protection of the organization I am working with I will not be sharing exactly where I am, the organizations name, or the name of the villages I am visiting.
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We arrived groggy and slightly confused. We had just been on an overnight bus for many hours. I immediately went back to sleep. I was awoken by my teammates claiming breakfast was ready. My stomach became very happy. We sat down and they started to pass out bananas and something that looked exactly like donuts. Smiles spread quickly across the room. Unfortunately they were short lived. When someone took a bite they mentioned, “they’re spicy.” Umm what? Donuts are not supposed to be spicy. But of course. We are in India and one thing they warned us about was the spice was much different than the spice we are used to. These so called “donuts” were good (especially with the spicy hummus stuff they passed out later), but its really shouldn’t be something you eat when you first wake up. It would have been much better rolled around in some sugar than some spices.
The rest of my first official day at ministry was a blur. Not only was I getting sick but because of the overnight bus, my body created its own form of jet lag. We had orientation and were given a schedule for what we would be doing for the month. My team and I will be making trips to villages this organization works with, for about 2-3 days at a time. We would be able to see the schools the children attend and then sing action songs and play games with them after school. In the evenings we were to go to these children homes to pray for their families. Many of these families struggle with finances to support their children going to school, have health issues and many alcoholic parents.
In the beginning I didn’t feel like we were doing a lot by just praying for the family and leaving. They couldn’t understand us because they didn’t speak english and we didn’t speak Telugu. But God started to do something amazing. Once I started actually paying attention to what the Holy Spirit was asking me to do, God began to move. I was praying for this man laying down and from what I could understand, he couldn’t move from the bed he was lying in. So we began to pray. Instead of praying for this man I began to tell God Im sorry. Since being in India I felt like I had completely forgot about how close I was with Him the month before. I apologized for simply being human. I told God I didn’t deserve to ask him to heal this man. I wasn’t worthy of it, but to not allow my short comings to stop what I believed. And I believe that God is powerful enough to do anything He desires. When the prayer was done, I felt led to stay and pray more for this man. So a few of us prayed again. I again asked God to heal this man and allow him to believe in miracles as much as I did. When the prayer was done my squad leader asked, “Is there anything else?” I said, “One more time. Lets pray one more time.” This time I asked God to do what He already had plans to do. If he was going to heal this man, great. If he wasn’t, great. This mans life is not my own, just like my own life is not my own. God is in control of every situation. I prayed for peace over the man and peace over those who feel like we need a quick fix from our prayers with God. I walked away feeling that peace. Even though that man didn’t miraculously get up and walk, I knew God had plans for him.
For me that was the turning point in the night. My whole mindset changed and I was not only praying for these parents because they asked for it but because I BELIEVED God was going to provide for them in the way they needed, not wanted. We met an older christian woman who has been a christian for five years and mother who put her brothers needs before her own when it came to prayers. She wept in my arms. I felt the pain each of these families carried, but I left there full of hope. Full of God.
This is a little bit of what my ministry will look like this month. I am excited for God to use my team and I in new ways. It may seem daunting to pray the same prayer over and over again, but the amazing thing is, God hears them all. He is anxiously waiting with open arms for all our prayers to be asked. He dissent care if you stumble or get tongue tied. It can be the most beautiful prayer in the world full of eloquent words and it can be something so simple as “Lord I need you.” It is all about the power we put behind these words and the faith you have backing them up. God will do the rest.
