-Day 22-
“As Love grows in you, you will come to understand many things which you never dreamed of before. You will develop the gift of understanding many unknown tongues and you will learn to speak Love’s own language too, but first you must learn to spell out the alphabet of Love and to develop hinds’ feet. Both these things you will learn on the journey to the High Places, and now here we are at the river, and over on the other side the foothills of the mountains begin. There we shall find your two guides waiting for you.” – Hinds’ Feet on High Places, Hannah Hurnard
I MADE IT TO INDIA!!!!!!!! After a 10 hour flight, 3 hour layover, another 6 hour flight, 6 hour layover, another 2 hour flight, and a 2 hour bus ride, I finally made it!!! I have been here for 3 weeks and I still can’t believe I am in India!!!! God already is doing SO much! Since I began my journey here, I have been going through a book a sweet friend gave to me before leaving for the race. It is amazing how the Lord thinks of all the little details before we have any idea of what is on the works. Hinds’ Feet on High Places has helped me process through some of the things the Lord has been revealing about my heart as I experience the wonders of India.
LOVE, it may only be four letters long but even with its simplicity God choose that small word as THE WAY to him. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” 1 John 4: 7-8
If you were to look up definitions of love I’m sure you would find so many trying to compact the fullness of the word. It is honestly a word that is very difficult for me to grasp. Even after reading about the type of Love seen in 1 John, I still wonder how can one word carry so much weight? How can anyone, let alone the creator of the universe love someone like me? I’ve heard people say over and over again that things aren’t about us, and though I do believe there is truth to that, I have been learning that there are circumstances when it’s okay for things to be about oneself. The moments in our journey that becomes about us is when God individually and so carefully molds us, pursues us and chooses us to do his work. It becomes about us when the type of Love that our father exudes is the type of Love that lives within us. We can spend a lifetime searching for something to fill us up, when deep inside of us we were given heart with a fullness that was made in the same image of our creator. We have the ability to Love the same way God loves us! When we finally realize the power of that Love, we can freely pour out our hearts for others to witness and experience a Love that also resides in them. Who would have thought that I would see such a beautiful image and begin to discover the depths of my heart in Sielmat.
Sielmat is a small village in Manipur, India. In a country where only 2 percent of a billion people know the Lord. Sielmat is a place where the word of God is changing lives with 40 percent of the people here claiming to be Christian. It didn’t take too long to see Christ overflowing through the people here. We were received with so much hospitality and genuine excitement of our arrival. To be honest, Sielmat is the opposite of what I expected to see in India. I was ready to come and serve, not to be served. The first couple of days were actually pretty difficult because I couldn’t quite grasp what my purpose and role was going to be here. My heart was ready to pour itself out in service, but God had a different plan. God didn’t just want my actions, He is wanting my heart in it’s entirety. God’s love doesn’t have limits or conditions. I’ve realized that I love in a way that can be measured through how much I can give, and fear not being suitable to be loved in return. During a youth service where we were the special guest at a church, a young lady sang a beautiful song for us that it’s chorus would challenge the way I loved. “I choose Jesus the one who first choose me. He choose to love me when I felt unlovable. He choose to reach me when I felt unreachable.” The people here in these villages, for most would be considered people with not much to offer, yet they are some of the most giving people I have ever met. There is no doubt that the essence of God is not present within this “unreachable” part of the world. They don’t take being chosen by God lightly. They said yes to the kind of hope that will fill them up with Love that is unconditional. Through the diverse groups of people and the beautiful scenery here in Sielmat, God has opened my eyes to see a type of Love that has been born of God. I can’t help but to want to love in the same kind of way as God continues to shape me.
This is only month one of this 11 month long journey, and have felt God saying it’s time to focus on what he has installed in me. How can I use what the Lord has so kindly gifted me with, if I have spent so much time looking for it in the world. I may not be serving in the capacity I thought I would be, but I’m realizing that the Lord is taking me from point A to point B in order to love the same way He loves me. I first have to discover, understand, accept, and cling to the truth and power behind the meaning of love. I have to lose my heart in order to gain life. I have chosen a God that first choose me from the very moment I was created. God choose to reach and walk alongside me as I go up and down the valleys on my way to higher places. Once I do, only then will I be able to pour out the same kind of love to my brothers and sisters that I encounter during this journey. During this first month I have had to focus on my own heart in order to offer it to the Lord as I surrender my life to him. My mission for the remainder of the race is to completely give my heart to the Lord and speak the language of love to the ends of the earth!
Please keep my team in your prayers as we leave for Nepal on November 4th. Pray that the Lord prepares our minds, bodies, and hearts to what we will encounter in Nepal. Pray for the relationships we have made here in India, and that the Lord will continue pursuing the people here. I miss you guys deeply, and I am thankful to continue to count with your love and support as I am going through this journey. Please feel free to shoot me messages on how life is going for you or if there is anything I can be praying for you about.
Much Love,
Ashley
