India has taught me two things; God is faithful and God is loving.
When my team first arrived in Chennai, India, we immediately felt that something wasn’t right about our ministry location. Though we felt unwelcome by the people we were around, we felt God calling us to love them regardless. The more time I spent in prayer by myself and with my team, the more I realized that God wanted us to leave. I still don’t know all the reasons we were called to a different ministry, but I do know that God made it very clear that it was urgent for us to go.
One night as I was praying about where to take my team, I silently prayed that God would clearly and specifically speak to my teammate Jenny about where we should go. My teammate Ashley prayed that God would give someone on our team a dream or a vision. Unbeknownst to me, Jenny prayed that night that God would give her a dream.
The next morning, Jenny announced to our team that she had a very detailed dream, unlike any dream she’d ever had. As soon as Jenny told me about her dream, I immediately knew it was from the Lord and I knew it was a sign we needed to leave. And soon.
The next night our team was praying about where God wanted to take us. After our time of silent prayer, Jenny said, “I saw an image of grapes, but I don’t know why. That probably doesn’t mean anything.” As soon as Jenny said this, my teammate Michelle got a huge smile on her face and started nodding her head. During our silent prayers, Michelle had prayed that God would give someone on our team an image of a fruit if we were supposed to spend the rest of the month with YWAM and an image of a vegetable if we were supposed to spend the month with a different team on our squad.
I’m not sure why we didn’t just accept these confirmations from God and pack up and leave the next morning. Some of us didn’t want to offend our contacts so doubt began creeping in our minds. That night we prayed again that God would give us one final confirmation by giving one of us a dream.
At 6:30am I woke up after a detailed dream and felt that I should write it down. A few hours later when I read it to my team, they immediately began picking out things from the dream and discerning the application to our situation. Again, we felt an urgency that we needed to leave.
The next three days we were completely guided by God. We made it to a hotel in Chennai, which was a temporary location until we knew our next ministry site. Considering I had no clue where we were going, it was a miracle that we got there safely. We were instantly welcomed by all the staff at the hotel. They quickly got us a room and showed us to a restaurant for dinner. The next day as we were waiting in the lobby, a Domino’s pizza man walked by us to deliver a pizza. We had just been wondering how we could find pizza! God placed him right in front of our eyes, just as a little blessing.
The next morning we left for our YWAM location in Bangalore. Once we arrived at the bus station, we had no idea where to find our bus or how to get tickets. Within a few minutes of arriving, a man started walking along beside us and said, “Bangalore?” We followed him to our bus, which was already starting to pull out. Some men threw our big bags in the back and we jumped on the bus, not having to wait at all.
The next thing that crossed my mind was food. We didn’t have any with us and these buses were known for not stopping anywhere with places to eat. Within a couple minutes of driving, a man along the side of the road had bags of grapes that he was selling. We made a quick exchange of money and grapes through the window of the bus.
After an hour or two of driving, our bus made a pit stop. Right when we walked up to a counter, before we said anything, a man looked at us and said, “Ice-cream?”
After another hour went by, as if God hadn’t already showered us with enough blessings, some men walked onto the bus selling fresh strawberries. One of my favorite fruits!
Once we reached YWAM, we were warmly welcomed by another team and our squad leader with hugs.
The fact that God initially called us to leave our ministry site and got us safely to Bangalore taught me again how faithful He is. He is so faithful to finish what He starts.
The fact that God showered us with delicious fruits and ice-cream showed me that He loves us enough to take care of us and even spoil us.
What an amazing God we serve! 
