This month you can find me on the streets of India where the trash is piled high, cows and goats walk slowly across the streets, horns honk constantly, people and autos are everywhere, children are used to beg for money just so they can give it all to their pimps, and sweat runs from every part of my body. All of these things are what makes India beautiful.
It’s been days since I last stood on American soil, and honestly, it feels like it has been 11 months. These days are long, but they carry so much meaning.
Each day my team and I travel to a different village to minister to the people and pray for their needs, and then meet the children in the program we are working with. Day after day, we meet twenty-five of the poorest children in the village (known as “untouchables”) and spend quality time with them; loving them, playing games, singing songs, doing skits, and praying with and for them.
This time spent usually echoes with roaring laughter and precious voices that are singing praises to the Lord—and mostly, lots and lots of sweat. This is the time that has become the most valued and treasured moments of my day.
The first fews days of ministry time, I struggled with thinking that I wasn’t making a very big impact in their lives. I disliked the moments where I was standing face-to-face with these people knowing that I’m coming into their lives only to leave in a few short hours later, never to return. Though I knew that I was planting seeds, and that those lies were not true, the battle was still raging on in my flesh.
It wasn’t until a few days later that the Father revealed a freeing truth to me through a friend. It comes from His Word in 1 Corinthians 3:5-9.
“What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward”
I realized that whether or not I make an impact in their lives, I can be confident and find hope knowing Christ impacts their lives. This allowed me to think and pray differently as I approached each new ministry day. I began to pray that His will be done; that the pastor there would feed his people meat and not milk; that future racers or groups of people would follow behind and plant more seeds and that His Kingdom would reign in each village. I began to pray that these seeds would not be uprooted; that they would withstand the harsh winds, the heavy rains, the rocky soils, the thorns, and withstand the devil.
“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” Luke 8: 11-15
My prayer and hope is that my team and I plant seeds that will eventually produce fruit—whether we see the fruits of our labor or not. It’s not about us or our works. That won’t get us anywhere. It’s about His kingdom and His power and His glory. It’s about telling these people that there is only ONE God that they need, not 33 million. It’s about telling them that there is only ONE God that took their place on a cross and covered their sin with His blood. There is only ONE God that gives His grace freely. There is only ONE God that has become their substitute, only one that has justified them, only one that has adopted them, only one God that cares enough to sanctify them, only one God that will glorify them. I wish everyone knew this. There is only ONE true God.
As far as relationships go, it was on a rooftop in India with God that He displayed opportunities to build relationships with the people in the city of Ongole. I looked down at the local corner store where my teammates and I go to get snacks and there was a relationship that could be built to tell this man about Jesus. I looked down at the children running and riding their bikes through the streets and there was another relationship to be built. God was all around this city and He was waiting for me to introduce Him to His people.
Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me, my team, and my squad.
Wandanalu
[PRAISE THE LORD]
-Holley
