Month 1.
India.
I would be lying if I said this month has been easy. This month has been one of the strangest and most challenging things I have ever experienced. It’s my first time outside of America, and the culture shock and jetlag alone were slightly overwhelming. Spiritual warfare here is more intense, and quite frustrating when you’re learning to live in 24/7 community with 5 other girls you don’t know. And in the little over two weeks I’ve been here, I’ve experienced an upper respiratory infection, a stomach bug that helped me become best friends with the squatty potty, and a painful blistering rash all over my body that caused my eye to become swollen shut for three days.
Alright India, you got me.
But let’s be real here for a second. This is what I prayed for. This is what I spent hours singing at the top of my lungs (and so have many of you):
”Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders, let me walk upon the waters, wherever You would lead me.”
And that He did.
Jesus led me right out of the boat. And just like Peter, I panicked. “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’” (Matthew 14:30) I understood Peter like never before; I felt like I was drowning in waves of homesickness and regret for signing myself up for 11 months of this. And then about halfway through my stomach bug experience, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Don’t you know that the joy of the Lord literally IS your strength? And that peace that you don’t understand WILL be your comfort?”
And the waves calmed.
And I got back into the boat. Everything I had experienced in India so far was still happening around me, but instead of trying to frantically swim through it all, I began to walk with Jesus through it.
And I believe that Jesus brought my whole team into the same boat, because a strange sense of peace and joy took over and changed the atmosphere.
And man, did the Lord change the way I looked at India. I began to appreciate all of the strange smells; the traffic became interesting instead of terrifying. I began to notice all of the flowers, the fabrics, the colors, the beauty; I embraced the spices; I finally started to see past the darkness that is covering so much of this place, and started to see where the light is piercing though; the joy of the orphans filled parts of my heart that I didn’t even know I had; the hospitality of the people here mixed with uncertainty started to fascinate me; and I realized that there is so much more to life than what I’ve seen at home. I began to fall in love.
Alright India, you got me.
I want to challenge you to get out of the boat too. Take Jesus’ hand and stop looking at the crashing waves around you. Come on this journey with me, as I take on the call that the Lord has put on my life to tell the stories of the people of His world. It’s going to be hard, but I will fight to love; to hear; to listen; to learn.
And I know, with all of my heart, that I will never be the same.
Thank-You for sharing this journey with me! Please follow my blog by going to the left side of the page and clicking “follow me”! Also feel free to share this blog on social media! I have $8,000 more to raise to be fully funded, $3000 that I have to have in my account by the end of September. Will you prayerfully consider joining my support team?
All glory to Jesus,
Casey
