(Continuing my India story. If you missed it and are interested, click here for Days 1-4)
Wednesday June 20, Thursday June 21, days 4 & 5
We arrived in Hubli Wednesday evening.
As soon as we arrived, we unloaded our luggage at the hotel
and immediately went to Rebekah Hope.
Rebekah Hope is an orphan home supported by
Forgotten Children Worldwide. A lot of these children
are sponsored so I see their names very frequently.
It was really cool to see their faces, visit their home, hear their voices
("Sister! Sister!"), breathe their air.
We gathered together and the children and their families began to share.
Stories of hope and encouragement. Because of sponsorship and/or
microfinance loans provided by FCW, some of these children were
being taken home. Home to their families who can now support the
children themselves. These families were so grateful, so hopeful, so joyful.
The cycle of poverty has been broken for these families!! I don't think the weight
of this truth truly began to sink in for me until I got home and had time to
process it and reflect on it. HOW AMAZING!!
Our God is most awesome.
After hearing the families share, we ate a home-cooked supper
with Pastor Solomon and his wife Mani (pronounced "Money"). When we were
finished eating, our team leader Matt began going over the agenda for the next
day. I will go in to more details in my next post but I have to interject here that
my world was about to be rocked. Matt said
"I'd like some of you to share your stories of shame tomorrow."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I knew.This is why I'm here. This is it.
But I'm not prepared! What will I say? How will I say it?
What will my team think of me?? Am I imagining this?
I held back tears as all these thoughts bombarded me. But even through those thoughts,
it was as if puzzle pieces were coming together before my eyes.
I needed to get alone with God and sort this out.
The next day - Day 5 - Thursday - just so happened to be my day for
morning team devotions. I was an emotional ball of tears. I hadn't slept the
night before, I hadn't slept since the night before leaving home.
But Wednesday night was full of prayer and tears and conversations with
God, I was completely convinced He had given me a job to do.
I read Deuteronomy 33:26-29, Moses' final address to the Israelites:
"There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
who rides across the heavens to help you
and on the clouds in his majesty.
and on the clouds in his majesty.
The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms.
He will drive out your enemies before you,
saying, ‘Destroy them!’
So Israel will live in safety;
Jacob will dwell secure
in a land of grain and new wine,
where the heavens drop dew.
Blessed are you, Israel!
Who is like you,
a people saved by the Lord?
He is your shield and helper
and your glorious sword.
Your enemies will cower before you,
and you will tread on their heights. ”
I couldn't get through it without crying. It felt appropriate to me
because all 10 of us had been preparing for Day 5 for months.
Day 5 was the BIG DAY...huge. We all felt it, we all knew it.
Looking back now, I firmly believe Satan wanted Day 5 to go away.
Several of us experienced doubt, fear, thoughts like "Why me? Why go to India?",
spiritual oppression. But God is amazing! He brought each one of us through it.
Day 5 was about to happen!
The morning of Day 5. We went with Pastor Solomon to his farm.
A new orphan home is being built here.
A team from Hope Missionary Church (half of my team is from HMC)
planted the tree in the top left picture last summer, Matt, Joel & Andy were
there and helped plant this tree and many others which have grown and are
thriving. Then the rest of us got to plant trees as well.
As tired as I should have been, the Lord filled me with strength.
I was excited for the day, couldn't wait to see what He had in store for all of us.
9 comments:
You are doing such a lovely job with these India reports. I'm enjoying them ALMOST as much as hearing you tell them in person, btw!
My friend Barb, who came with me to Red Robin, was GREATLY moved by hearing your story. She THANKED ME for bringing her along when in reality it was she doing ME the favor by coming to help with the kids while I drove AND keep me awake on the way home.
Who's the poor little Purdue fan in the picture. Bless his heart - - - wink wink. I guess he's just thankful THESE DAYS he isn't a Penn State fan.
Thank you for sharing about your journey babe. I love hearing you talk about your experiences and I love the pictures!
You've got to like Purdue mom. They don't go around smack talking like the IU fans. My favorite thing about the sad IU fans is they only talk trash about basketball...that's all they have.
Great photos! Love hearing about your journey! You are SO STRONG!
That Purdue fan is me, Andy Ault. And I am thankful I am not a Penn State fan. And because I am an alum, I do pull for Purdue in all sports....not IU basketball and Notre Dame football like many around here. Oh, and I also like Appalachian State football. (Sorry Jason.)
Yeah, Yeah I remember your T-shirt that said something about "where's Michigan".
Andy, I don't have a way to contact you, but perhaps Keri will point you toward my reply here.
I was only teasing about you being a Purdue fan because I'm a Badger through and through and while we seem to "have your number" in football you seem to have Ohio State's number, for which I am GRATEFUL. I ALWAYS hope you will beat the red and gray when that game rolls around.
Actually, I'm such a Big Ten girl. I pull for ALL the Big Ten schools unless they are playing my Badgers that week. Oh, and I do often pull for ND too - - - I have another SIL that is a grad and I just can't help liking them.
And, Sorry Go-Blue SIL, I can ONLY pull for the Wolverines when they go to a bowl game because they often seem to have my Badger's number and that makes my stomach churn!
Oh well - - - now with Leaders and Legends my boys won't have to meet up with the Wolverines very often. You know, Badgers and Wolverines are mortal enemies.
Now, Andy - - - enough of this foolishness. My "little girl" told me what you said about being her friend in HS if you'd only known her personal struggle. I want to thank you for that AND thank you for being Keri's and Jason's true friend now.
Friends are so important.
Keetha,
Yeah, Keri and I bonded during the trip. It was an awesome time getting to know her and the other team members better. I obviously had no idea about the HS stuff...but I was in my own little world back then. I mean, the world does revolve around the quarterback of the high school football team and captain of the basketball team, doesn't it? :) At least, I thought it did back then. Anyways, Keri is an amazing woman...so strong in her faith. And she married a great guy...even if he is a Wolverine fan. I'm glad I had the chance to get to know her better. FYI, my wife is a Spartan alum (even played 4 years on the women's basketball team), so we have a fun rivalry in this house. We both pull for your Badgers when they aren't playing our respective schools.
Andy,
Thank you so much for this comment. You were the HS QB???? OH MY!!!! Ask Keri sometime about me and football.
OK, so I always pull for the Boilermakers and the Spartans when they AREN'T playing my boys too - - - - but LAST YEAR those stinkin' Spartans pulled out that win during the season in the most FRUSTRATING of ways. However, we got 'em back in the first even Big Ten Championship game in Indy - - - and in just about as frustrating a way too.
I guess in the Big Ten, what goes around comes around.
I'll be watching to see what happens to Kurt Cousins and Russell Wilson now that they are in the NFL.
AHEM you three....this is NOT a sports blog!!! :)
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