Immediately upon arriving at our host’s home, we met a sweet little boy named Mark. Though he owned pants, he didn’t like to wear them. He lived across with street wth grandma (or “auntie”) and his younger brother. Dad came home late and left early every day.
But where was mom??
A year ago, mom and dad had been regular attenders at our host’s church and had even gotten baptized. However, the spirit of hopelessness sat heavy on their hearts and home.
Upward mobility of any kind is difficult in India. Farmers with one bad harvest have no chance of “catching up” and can only sink deeper and deeper into debt. Though the caste system is no longer legally enforced, the idea behind it still pervades much of the culture. In many ways, you are born where you are at and can only go down.
We can only speculate as to why dad started drinking too much, but he did…and mom bore the brunt of it. According to our host, dad would come home drunk every day and beat mom. Mom had no voice, no recourse, no end in sight. So about one year ago (forty days after Mark’s brother was born) she waited until everyone was asleep, strung a rope around her neck and decided to make an end herself. “Auntie” found the body.
I wish Mark’s story was the only one of its kind, but unfortunately it is not.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12
While the symptoms of hopelessness vary, the root is always the same. Our souls were designed to worship the Lord and feed off of our communion with Him. He is the only source of true hope.
As dark as hopelessness and purposelessness are, His hope shines brighter. The organization we ministered with is fervently working to plant churches throughout the region of Nalgonda, India. They are investing in local networks of pastors who are passionate about bringing hope to their people. They are battling against the true enemy and seeking to offer light to homes like Mark’s.
If you are interested in learning more about the church planting efforts our team got to be a part of this month, please visit:
www.OperationSaturation.org
If you are interested in donating funds to directly assist the church planting pastors (who most times receiving little to no compensation for any of their efforts), please visit:
www.DonorSee.com/Project/108
One day “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things [will] have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4
Join me today in praying that His kingdom come in India!
