This month in India was…..beautiful, challenging, rewarding, heart breaking….just so many different things. But there was one consistent thing. The entire month was filled with small, special God moments. These moments, these “Little Things”, served to remind me of just how much God loves me and just how much His heart is for the lost in this world. I want to share these moments with you. I pray that the joy and sadness, the laughs and the sobering moments, move your heart like they did mine.
***************************************************************
How Jesus Lived
“I could get malaria here. You can die from malaria. I could literally die here.” These were my first thoughts upon waking up in India for Day 1 of ministry, and the morning only got worse after that. Besides the fact that I was constantly sweating, already tired of eating rice and curry, and, apparently, very concerned with diseases, I was quickly learning that there is no privacy in India. When we arrived in the village the afternoon before, we were informed that most of the people had never seen foreigners. At first I thought it was kind of cool the way they all gathered around, but it quickly got overwhelming. No matter where we went, the people were peaking in our windows or crowding us on the streets, or even coming into our room just to look. That morning all I wanted to do was be alone, but everywhere I went there were people looking at me. Frustrated with the situation I finally just went back to bed.
While laying in my tent, sweating, I knew I couldn’t keep this attitude all month. So I went to God and allowed Him to refresh my spirit. In the way that only our Living God can, He gave me a peace and joy about being in our village. With this change of heart, I decided to risk the invasion of privacy, and I went out on the balcony to look around. Just below I saw a group of young children playing in the back of an abandoned truck. They shyly waved up at me and then burst into giggles when I waved back. Their smiles were irresistible; I had to go down and play.
I hopped up in the truck bed and smiled. Curious, but still a little nervous, the kids peaked through their tiny fingers and grinned. After a few minutes of letting them warm up to me, they began playing once again and let me hold them or lift them from the truck to the ground and back up. I was so absorbed by their cute little faces that I hadn’t noticed the crowd of adults gathering around. As if from nowhere, 20 plus villagers were now surrounding the truck. I held my breath waiting for the feelings of frustration to rush over me again, but they didn’t. It was like the Holy Spirit was pouring peace directly into my heart. An elderly woman hobbled over to me and offered a piece of fruit. I broke it open and began eating the slimy white inside, spitting the giant black seeds to the ground like I had seen one of the children do. It took me about 5 minutes to finish the fruit. And they all watched, the entire time. But as I sat there it occurred to me that Jesus lived like this.
“Jesus, you were surrounded by people everyday. You constantly had a crowd waiting on you and watching you and demanding miracles of you. If you lived like this, then I know you will provide me the strength to do the same.” And as I realized that my Savior knew exactly what I was feeling, surrounded by so many people, He gave me even more peace and even more joy.
**************************************************************
An Unlikely Friendship
She and I could not have been any more different. She was 22, raised in an Indian village, married through an arrangement, and 4 months pregnant. I am….none of those things. But we are friends. She spent an afternoon drawing beautiful henna designs on my arm. We giggled and smiled as she meticulously crafted her masterpiece. The work was stunning, and i tried to express my appreciation to her as best I could through the language barrier. Afterwards, while we posed for pictures together, she began whispering to her husband. In broken English he said that she wanted me to come visit their house that evening.
When we arrived, she proudly invited me into their tiny one room living space, giving me the best seat in the house. I thoroughly enjoyed the couple hours we visited together just laughing and smiling. While there, she showed me a baby doll she had, something that a young girl would play with in America. I understood that, for her, it was a hopeful symbol of the new life to come. Again I thought of just how different we were, but that our hearts were able to connect in a way that defied these differences. I knew this was a gift from the Lord, a blessing that our Heavenly Father knew we both needed.
As we walked back to the pastor’s house I was staying in, she reached for my hand. In India friends of the same sex show affection to one another by holding hands the way you would in a relationship in America. Her display of love towards me warmed my heart, and it later broke when I found out she and her husband would be leaving our village for the rest of the month. I stood hugging my new friend, my arms barely fitting around her and the baby bump, while all the visions of spending more time with her vanished from my mind. I didn’t understand why I only got one day with her, but I thanked God for it anyway.
On the morning we were scheduled to leave our village, the pastor’s wife received a phone call…it was for me. When I answered, the sweet giggly voice of a 22 year old mom-to-be filled my ears.
“Logan!”
“Hi!”
“I miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
“I like you.”
“I like you too.”
“Pray for me.”
“I will.”
And I do pray for her everyday. For my new friend whose name is impossibly hard to pronounce. For my friend whom I will most likely never see again. For the girl who God chose to bless me through, I pray for her.
**************************************************************
The Tangible God
The number of people I have prayed for this month probably numbers in the hundreds. Tonight as I rested my hands on the slender shoulders of yet another small child, I was struck with a harsh realization. This boy could not understand my prayer for him. I couldn’t even ask him what he needed prayer for or find out if he believed in Jesus. I could have given into frustration at this moment, but instead the Holy Spirit whispered words of comfort into my heart. God knows every single detail of this boy’s life. His Heavenly Father knows exactly what He needs, and the same Holy Spirit that was speaking to me would intercede to the Father on our behalf. My responsibility was merely to speak a prayer and allow Him to do the rest. I was there to simply be the tangible touch of God in this little boy’s life as I laid my hands on his shoulders.
Be available and willing. God will do the rest.
