Here I am in the Philippines on night duty in the orphanage and I almost fell asleep when suddenly I remembered that I will be in India in a few days and terror overtook me:/ I did three months in Africa just fine, China wasn't scary and the Philippines have been amazing but India is just a different ball game!!!! I have secretly hoped God would send me somewhere else but then He reminds me of Jonah and India is totally my Nineveh!!!
I dread it ! I dread every runny tummy over a squatty potty, every bus drive that will seem like my last ride( the third world is not much for traffic laws), every overcrowded train with people just waiting to help themselves to my belongings, everything, I dread everything……………..Ok , I don't dread everything, but it's close! I don't dread the opportunity to share the Gospel in a country that has 40% of the unreached people groups in the world. Unreached meaning they aren't just choosing not to follow Jesus they haven't a stinkin clue about Jesus! They don't know His name, His power, or the freedom that comes with knowing Him as Savior. And get this, I, by His grace, have the opportunity to go tell some of them about Him!!!! Me? Really, God? I'm blown away ! Not just cause He has chosen a weak, scared, silly girl like me to go do this, but also because He hasn't forgotten them; you know the poor, the 77% of the population who live on less than $0.50 (fifty U.S. Cents) per day, or the 20 million orphans scattered throughout the nation. I'm blown away that the God who spoke through Isaiah 2700 years ago is still the God that is saying to His people :
"……. share your food with the hungry
……provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."(Isaiah 58:7-9)
I love that these verses are not just speaking of physical needs, they are speaking of the one who is the Bread of Life, the one who clothes our nakedness with robes of righteousness and calls us His own because by His blood Jesus has given us something more lasting than bread that molds and perishes, He has given us Himself! We have been redeemed by His Blood! Now I have the privilege of going and sharing Him with those He longs to know and to be known by. WOW!!!!!
But I want to make it clear I'm not going to India because I'm brave or courageous, I'm not some great humanitarian, I'm not even going for the poor, they're everywhere, I could stay right where I am in the Philippines and help the poor that surround me now. You see this is the next place I've been called to and quite simply I am going because I'm in love…….. I'm in love with Jesus. He says if you love Him, you will obey Him. (John 14:15)
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." (Mark 16:15)
So I here I go:) Pray with me, would you? Let's pray the prayer of Jabez together :
"Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request."
( 1 Chronicles 4:10)
I will pray and rest in faith believing that God will indeed enlarge our territory in India, a nation that has had very little to do with Jesus would soon be one that calls upon Him as their Lord and Savior and that He would bless myself and all who enter and that like the church of Acts His hand would be upon us that many would be added to our numbers daily. And of course that He would keep us safe from harm, you know food poisoning, traffic accidents and such:)
