India…The End…A New Beginning(Part 1)

   I haven’t blogged at all about India, but India has been a huge part of what has made up my race.
   I have loved India with everything I have! India has been my favorite month ministry-wise on the race…I didn’t see that coming!
  I was so convicted of simply putting off India as “Just another month” when God had so much in store for us here. God had plans to change us even more. He had plans of using us to lavish love on those we call “Special needs children”, and for them to show us what true joy and worship really is. Sometimes I even think, why even go to a School of Worship when you can with them all day and be schooled by their worship. God also had plans for us to declare his truth to his church, and over his children.
  I literally gave it all I had in ministry here in India loved every moment of it. Yes there were days when it was hard, when I didn’t feel like praying for the 100th time(literally), when I couldn’t sleep at night for 4 nights straight, but I pressed through…no, God gave me the strength to press through, and because of perseverance, God poured out His Spirit in ways where I just had to stand back and give him the glory!
   God taught me a lot about perseverance through prayer this month. There were times when I felt like I couldn’t pray over one more person because I had already prayed over so many. Then I had moments where I felt like my prayers had no power because I didn’t always see the sick be healed, and I didn’t always feel the power of the Spirit through me. But I learned that it wasn’t my job to see them healed…or to see what God was going to do. It was my job to pray. And that’s what I did. That’s what faith is all about-to continue asking even when you see no results. Prayer is kind of like jack in the box sometimes. You pray, you pray, you pray, you pray, and all of a sudden, BOOM! God does something crazy!  Sometimes he does those crazy things all the time. But my job is to pray in faith!
   God doesn’t need us. But I am so grateful he chose to use us here in India for the month of November. I know he is pleased because I know my Father and I know what pleases his heart! He was glorified! “May the Lamb that was slain, receive the reward of His suffering.” That was our prayer at the beginning of this month, and I believed it was answered. I believe it will continue to be answered as we go from here as well!

A few highlights from this month…
-Loving the kids at the orphanages!…I love special needs kids! I had some much fun with them.
-Being constantly filled with the joy of the Lord!
-Preaching, praying over the entire church, home visits where we pray for everyone and their neighbors(repeat three times in one day). That seemed to happen a lot. But hey, the harvest is ripe here in India, so why wouldn’t we do that.
-Preaching to and encouraging the kids at multiple services, then getting them to pray over the sick and hurting…and seeing God work through their faith!
-Praying over, and seeing countless people radically set free from demonic strongholds.
-Coming into a deeper understanding of the fear of the Lord.
-Running with the buffalo’s on the street.
-Running FROM the buffalo’s on the street!
-All the spicy curries…so good! A lot of burning in/burning out action going on!
-Getting blindsided while trying to cross a street by a team member! 😉
-Hearing that some people have six packs, and other people have family packs by a Pastor.(He’s got jokes!)
-Depending on God and seeing Him show up….again and again!
-Worshipping with the guys at the school of worship.
-People were healed…the dumb spoke…souls were added to the kingdom…glory to God!
-Auto rickshaws/tuk tuks…I’m sure going to miss them!
-Going to an Indian wedding…and sitting on stage with the bride and groom during the ceremony!
-India…yes simply India in itself was a highlight!

   I feel so spoiled we got to end the race here in India.  God is so good and knew just what I needed at exactly the right time! This month was all about Him. If it would have been about us it would have been so boring!

(I was going to write an India/end of the race blog all in one, but the India one got a little longer than the one paragraph that I had planned on! So I’m writing a part two!)