Wow. If I had to sum up my time in India in one word, that would be it: wow. The following is a journal entry from January 16th, the day we visited Home of Hope, a refuge for children and adults who have been abandoned and taken in from the streets. Many of the women we visited that day had mental and physical handicaps and are living at the home so that they can die with dignity. Their faces will forever be in my memory, and I am so thankful that God put them in my life, if but for a few hours. As always, thank you for reading.
Love,
Libby
WOW! Abba, there is so much I need to write down so I can remember what you have done in India. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for today. Thank you for your beautiful daughters at Home of Hope, my new sisters in Christ! Thank you that as soon as we got off the bus today, your daughters flocked over to the barbed wire fence (between the compound and the road), and when I stretched out my hand, they held my hand (even with food covering theirs). Thank you that when we walked through the gates, your daughters came smiling into my hands and arms. Immediately Sunri touched the cross on my neck and said, “God.” “Yes! Jesus!” I replied, “Do you know him?” She smiled shyly and shook her head. “Well, I do,” I said, “And he loves you — treasures you, in fact.” She took my hand and wrapped my arms around her. This was all in the first 60 seconds of arriving. Wow. More of your daughters came walking into my embrace, and I felt your love and power all around us.
Sunri led us into the room for worship, where even more of your daughters came around us. During worship, I held Sunri’s hand and another young girl in a yellow saree (whose name I sadly forget, but you know!), and we just sat together, smiling at one another as we sang praises to you. Then, when the young girl in yellow warmed up to me (thanks to your Spirit), we hugged and embraced each other. She leaned on my lap, and I rubbed her back. In the middle of the song, she said sweetly, “Pray over me.” Jesus, thank you for giving me the words to say over her! And your Spirit led Sunri and Anita to ask me to pray over them too! Wow! Thank you for opening that opportunity for us to pray and open our hearts to you together. Then, when Heith delivered the message and asked people to raise their hands if they wanted prayer to accept you in their hearts and lives, all 3 raised their hands!! We prayed that you would open their eyes to see how you have walked with them all the days of their lives, that you would take all their sin from them and nail it to the cross, that you would cover them in your righteousness and make them a new creation in you by faith in your Holy Spirit. We thanked you for blessing them with every spiritual blessing in the Spirit, making them co-heirs with Christ and saints in your Church. We thanked you that you are preparing a room for them in heaven, so that you might rejoice over them with singing and they might worship and praise your Holy Name forever and ever and ever.
God, thank you for this beautiful gift of prayer!
Thank you that three women behind us agreed to pray with me, too. Sanghita, Mani, and Sanraba all held my hands, and I prayed for their salvation too. I then whipped out my mini New Testament Bible (the one I thought I lost), and they read John 3:16 in Tamil. Beautiful wrinkles framed the full smiles that spread across their face, as they sweetly said that they would pray for me too. I thanked them, sharing with them a bit of my story, about how Jesus came into my life three years ago and changed everything.
When I walked to the back of the room, you put more and more women in my path to smile at and tell them how you cherish them. Then, Anita came over to me again and led me outside, where we sat with two more women who were a little more out of it. One of those women read John 3:16 again, and we smiled at each other as we talked. She said, “Praise the Lord” over and over, echoing the cry of my heart as well. She pointed to my earrings, and I put them in her earlobes, stretched and ripped in parts. She kissed my hands and sat nearer to me. Anita then touched my necklace, saying “God is good” over and over, and I put my cross necklace around her, something every follower of Jesus in the States gets right away. We prayed together, with a few more of your daughters joining us, accepting your love into their hearts. Lord, thank you that you dwell inside them! That you have made them priests and ambassadors of your love to the world. Bless them all the days of your life, Lord Jesus.
You are so wonderful, I can hardly breathe. You are life, Jesus! You are our treasure! Thank you, LORD!
