I’ve been in India for half a month and you are probably wondering what we are doing for ministry. We have the honor of being the first team ever to accomplish our mission. We get to capture what God is doing at India Christian Ministries through videos, photos and stories to share with the world. We get to do village ministry three times a week, have three days in the office to work on media, and one day off, which we have used to go to the beach and the local market.
We have been to seven different villages and followed seven different pastors. Most church services are the same. We worship, they ask us to sing for them and to preach the word. We have all gotten to share a couple times, which has been such a great opportunity for personal growth and an opportunity to grow as a team.
The first time I spoke was by accident, but it revealed to me how powerful the Holy Spirit is and how He is always working for the good of those who love Him.
…The second day in India we bought fabric for our punjabis from a man pushing a cart. Hours later before leaving to buy groceries I looked for my wallet and could not find it. I was distraught! I looked through my heap of belongings at least four times and went through the streets looking for the fabric man, thinking that I may have left my wallet on his cart. When I searched and could not find it I wanted to fall onto my cot and wail, but I didn’t. In that moment of initially accepting that I may not find it I had to talk out the positive points of a not so fortunate event. My teammates listened as I listed that it was less than 50 USD, I hadn’t gone to the ATM for the month yet, and my license was going to expire next month anyway.
I tried hard to think of three positives for every negative, like I learned from Southwestern, but my mind was still being consumed by how dumb I had been to leave my wallet on his cart, that is if that is what truly happened. I woke up a couple mornings later my eyes welling up with tears wishing I could go back in time and strap my wallet to my wrist. As I was thinking about how dumb I was to lose my wallet, I also was down on myself for not memorizing any scripture thus far on the race. Before my feet hit the floor I asked Liz to pray for me because I was sad about my wallet. When she finished praying for me she said “You should memorize Philippians 4:8”, without knowing how I was just thinking about memorizing scripture!
So on the way to village ministry that day I memorized Philippians 4:6-8, which I will recite by memory here:
“Do not worry about anything, but instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank Him for all that He has done. Then you will experience the peace of God which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing: fix your eyes on whatever is true and honorable, and right and pure, and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”
I memorized it in 30 minutes, again thank you to the memorizing skills I gained from Southwestern sales talks, and started saying it over and over again whenever I began to worry about my wallet. That day we visited 3 churches and it was at the second church that I preached.
I was not planning on going up. I had my camera out, taking video and asked Isaac to let Alex know I would go up behind him to take video as he introduced our team. Alex thought he meant that I would be speaking so he introduced me to speak. I had nothing ready, but then was reminded of the scripture I had just memorized. So I talked about not worrying, praying about everything, and reminded the congregation that God is a good dad and wants to give us good gifts. We just have to ask.
Usually I am not a fan of preaching, but on the race it is what you do. This month I have began to love it because it gives me an opportunity to share about what God is teaching me. Last month I longed to see God’s word come alive and now He gives me His scripture that is exactly what I need to grow in and work on. I LOVE IT!
Thank you Holy Spirit for using Liz to give me the scripture that I needed, for giving me the motivation and passion to memorize your word, and for orchestrating the details of me getting to share what you are doing inside me.
When we share how God is changing, refining, and molding us, it ignites others to want the same.
What is God doing inside of you? Who can you share it with today?
