Hello All!
Welcome to India! Month four of this race is here and I find myself in this beautiful, diverse culture. I began this month asking God to make me more “thankful” than I have been so far on this journey. That’s really the only way you can be when you travel to different cultures. When there’s no A/C, when the mosquitos bite, and when you don’t know where you’re sleeping for the night – I remember to be thankful for God’s daily protection and provision in all of these experiences.
And can I just be honest? Traveling can either do two things – it can bring out the best in you or it can bring out the worst in you. My prayer is that God uses the hard, arduous days to build character in me. I think Paul says it best, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4).
Perhaps you don’t have mosquitos chasing you around like me, perhaps instead you find fear, insecurity, and anger chasing you throughout your days. It’s okay, we’re all bound to struggle in these areas because we live in an imperfect world and we are imperfect people. However, God doesn’t want us to remain fearful, insecure, or angry.
You see, one day, I’ll be back in my lovely Tennessee home, thankful for clean sheets and walls that keep all the bugs away. But, I’ll remember the faithfulness of the Lord during these hard days. I’ll remember Him healing me from all of my bug bites. And I’ll remember the joy I found in Him and not in my circumstances.
My prayer for you is that you find God’s strength in your own hard, arduous days. And we all can learn to be “thankful” when the bugs bite and when reality bites, because one day, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:4).
Praise Him! One day all the wrongs will be made right. Let’s hold on to this hope together!
And will you pray for India? Will you pray for the people of this great nation? They are hungry to be filled with the presence of God!
Much love,
Melissa
Psalm 59:9a
“O my Strength, I will watch for you…”
P.S. Mom & Dad – don’t worry! I’m using bug spray and the mosquitos really aren’t that bad. Just sometimes. 😉
