Happy Friday!
I was thinking, I've read some of the most amazing stories over the last 3 years following the World Race, and I'd love to share them with you!
So each Friday I'll share one of the WR featured blogs so you can be blessed by them like I' have been! Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the read!
Love & blessings,
Tera
The Night My Life Changed Forever
Today's featured country is India. India is a place where the Holy Spirit is moving in big ways. We hear stories from Racers of miracles, healing, and entire villages accepting God's love. Ashley Francis, of the July 2012 H Squad, experienced what it's like when the Holy Spirit comes into a place with power, and she'll never be the same.
One hundred and thirty deaf kids – kids who can't hear the sound of laughter, language, or the complexity of music. This is where our squad leaders the team created for worship. With three guitarists and outstanding vocalists, making music for God is what we are good at. The problem is that no one will be able to hear it.
How do we worship now?
I remember driving up to the boarding school and being completely clueless on how basic communication would look. We were told we would teach devotionals every morning along with every evening, and in between we would teach classes.
Here's the catch: The kids know sign language, but it's in an Indian dialect, so even if we knew American Sign Language it would be useless. The kids were beyond amazing. I've never seen children so patient and kind with helping teach us their language.
Between the twelve of us, we really had no clue what to do. We walked into the first day where our contact was leading a devotional to give us an idea of how she does it, and the kids begin to do their daily prayers. It was earth shattering. When the kids sign they try to "talk" out loud, which is just kind of like a groan or a noise. They don't know what words sound like, so it just comes out like whatever they think it should sound like.
There we were, watching 130 kids sign their prayers, eyes closed, and moaning to their Dad. I can't even place into words what that is like for your heart. I remember the twelve of us got together afterwards (some of us crying) – we just witnessed a piece of heaven on earth. I literally saw a place that God hung out at, his place of retreat in good ol' Pune, India.
Then they passed the responsibility onto us for evening devotionals and told us we would start that night. Having absolutely no clue what to do, we just decided to try to worship.
My life changed that night.
God came down and wrecked the snot out of me. God had been pursuing me with worship since the first month of the Race. He then decided to call me to a more quiet place of worship in Kenya when I recognized that I was no longer leading worship for him, but myself. God blessed me with a guitar and the quick ability to learn, but I lost the heart for him.
I had started becoming more concerned with how worship "sounded" and how it "looked" than with how much it glorified God.
For a solid four months I quit playing guitar because I wasn't exactly sure how to get past caring about the flesh of it all.
But that night in India we decided to give it a shot. Bryan picked up the guitar and started playing our favorite song, "Set a Fire," Matt began to play his drum, and a few of us girls picked up the worship flags and started swinging them around. All of a sudden we noticed the kids were swaying back in forth. This can't be. We stopped worship and signed to them asking if they could hear us, and they said they could feel the vibrations.
They could feel the vibrations.
I really shouldn't say anything more, because that's enough. They felt the freaking vibrations. They started signing the lyrics to "Set a Fire" and began to groan to God. They began to pray in sign language along with their moans for him. They began to clap and sway. One took Matt's drum and began beating away. The others would watch Bryan stomp his foot to the beat of the song. We began passing out worship flags and let them wave them with all the freedom God gave them.
I told you this was where God would hang out at. I kid you not, I have never seen the Holy Spirit fall so quickly and hard in my life. As I looked around I literally saw just about all of us crying. My life changed that night.
Children who can't hear. Children who don't know if you play the right chords or not. Children who don't care if you hit the right key or not.
Who's to say they needed healing of their deafness, because they were hearing God more clearly than I have my whole life.
These children were worshiping God with the purest hearts I've ever seen, with the most beautiful music I've ever heard. Their heart song for him.
There I was at the end of Month Nine in India, and God has called me out of my quiet place. He gave me a reason to sing.
*Photos via Jessica Gasperin
