Meet Poulose and his precious wife, Rani. (On the row behind us is their daughter and son in law.) I had the pleasure of sitting next to them on our flight to Rome. To be honest, when I first realized I would be sitting next to people I didn’t know, I was a little tiffed about it just because, everyone else was sitting next to someone they knew, so why couldn’t I? However, by the time I got off that plane, I was so thankful that they were who I was sitting next to. It was definitely a divine appointment from the Lord.
In one of my blogs, many blogs ago, I talked about how I knew God was calling me into long term missions overseas and that in prayer, being on the World Race, God would in His time reveal to me the “where’s, when’s, how’s, etc” of it all.
When we were in India, God really placed this deep desire and love for the country on my heart, that I still have, but can’t explain. It’s actually quite funny because when India gets brought up in the squad, the conversation pretty much goes like this, “Man, I am so glad to be out of India. Definitely not a place I’ll ever go back to.” My response is always, “Really?? I absolutely loved India and really miss it. I’m praying God calls me back there.”
On our way to Europe, one of our layovers was in New Delhi, India. Needless to say, most of the squad didn’t care to be there, however, I was so excited when I found out I would be back in a country I loved so much even if it was just sitting in the airport for only an hour surrounded by a people group that I’m so drawn to. (Another upside to it, I got to enjoy some Indian food) As soon as we stepped off the plane, I literally felt at home. Again, I just can’t explain it. Anyways, we board our flight heading to Rome which was about 8 hours long. Like I mentioned above, my first thoughts of sitting next to people who I figured didn’t even speak the same language weren’t the most warming. During the flight, I watched movies, listened to music, TRIED napping (didn’t happen), you know, the usual to keep myself preoccupied but halfway through our flight, this man asked me something about us all going to Rome and what we were doing and before I knew it, we were having a deep conversation about Jesus! He was actually the one who initiated the conversation when he asked if we knew Jesus because his wife overheard one of my squadmates say “Praise the Lord” at some point. Come to find out, he and his whole family are Christians so I got to hear some of his story and all the incredible things the Lord has done for him and his family and in return got to share how I came to know the Lord and how he’s been so present in my life. I also got to tell him about this crazy year we’re living out, serving Jesus across the world and the things the Lord is teaching me through it all!
Guys, this was one of the BEST conversations about Jesus I’ve had since being on the race and I didn’t even understand half of what he was saying because of his accent! The Lord was just so present. I know without a doubt that God provided this divine appointment for me to have with this man who’s from a country that is so passionately on my heart. It was just such sweet conversation. It had me in tears realizing how the Lord set this all up to happen. We were sharing scripture with each other and just the struggles we’ve faced in life and how in those times when we didn’t care to lean on the Lord, he still showed up and pursued us even harder in those times. I got to share with him about our month serving in India and how the Lord has given me such a strong desire to be back in India to serve. I told him about some struggles we had in the villages with people not truly understanding what a relationship with Christ truly looked like and how I actually got discouraged but that in the last church service I got to attend in Hyderabad the Lord gently reminded me that there IS hope in that nation and he is still working. He then shared a little story with me about a crab and the ocean waves (kind of an odd story but it made sense once he finished) and then reassured me that the Lord is working there and that there is no need to worry about India. It meant so much to me (teared up as he was telling me this) because he wanted to reassure me that God (who the waves represented in the story) sees the bigger picture of things and that he does see the people of India and is protecting them and has big plans for them.
Right when the plane landed and we were about to start getting up, I asked if I could get a picture with them, so of course we did, I wrote down their names so I could continue praying for them, and then got to pray with them right there! It was just such a great experience and I know it was totally from the Lord.
I also believe that this was a moment the Lord was giving me to reassure me of how much He has grown me so far on the race because this is not something I would have been bold enough to do 6 months ago (I even had a squadmate afterwards ask about it the whole thing because she overheard and said she was blown away after realizing it was me because the Leah she met at training camp would not have done that.) Not seeing any growth once I get home is a serious fear of mine for some crazy reason, definitely the enemy speaking that lie over me, but the Lord allowed me to see for a second that he IS indeed growing me and I’m not going to be anything like that person that stepped on the plane in January. Ahh! The Lord is continuously showing me how good he is and how he literally orchestrates EVERYTHING in our lives! He knows our needs, he knows our desires… we only need to trust him!
PS- Please be praying for me about this whole India thing and that God would continue giving me clarity on why he’s placing this desire on my heart for that nation!
-Leah
