His Love

The past several days, God has been teaching me a lot about His love. These things are certain: God's love is endless; it is perfect; it is quite unlike anything we can comprehend. God alone can satisfy our deepest needs and desires. He knows us intimately, and desires us to know Him too.

He is the King of love. Everything love is, He Himself is. In our quest for love we don't need to look any further than Jesus. Everything we have sought and searched for, is found at His nail-pierced feet. He is truly all we need. Can we fathom how much He loves us, loved us when we were yet sinners, loves us still? I know I can't! Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.

A phrase suddenly comes back to me from the movie "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe." Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy and the beavers have just made the escape from the wolves and happen to meet a fox. The fox declares that Aslan has asked him to gather more troops for battle. "You've seen Aslan! What's he like?" The beavers ask excitedly. "Like everything we have ever heard," the fox replies.

That is what Jesus is. He is everything we have ever heard and hoped for, and far beyond.

Psalm 139:7-10 says, "Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast."

How do we take part of that perfect, endless, unfathomable love? I think by purposing to know God Himself, by spending much time each day acquainting ourselves with Christ. There is so much more to be discovered in Him.

Are we afraid? Perfect love casts out fear. Are we empty? He can fill. Do we long to follow after Him? We must remain in His love.

Fear is the enemy's weapon against us. Sometimes we can feel pinned down by anxiety, worry and doubt but God is able to lift us out of this and into glorious victory. Love conquers all fear. The one who fears is not made perfect in love (1 John 4:18). By knowing Him, by truly loving Him, we come to trust Him more than we ever have before. In His presence is complete rest and peace.

And even more amazing is that when we come to dwell in God's love for us, we are filled to overflowing in return and can be joyfully emptied out to others. We can't love our neighbours unless we dwell in God and allow Him to pour out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). There is no greater joy in the world than to be a brimming cup of love.

All I can think of is that beautiful scene at the end of the "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" when they go sailing through an endless sea of white lilies. I was going to describe it myself, but find in much more beautiful and true in C.S. Lewis' own words:

Very soon the open sea which they were leaving was only a thin rim of blue on the western horizon. Whiteness, shot with faintest colour of gold, spread round them on every side, except just astern where their passage had thrust the lilies apart and left an open lane of water that shone like dark green glass. To look at, this last sea was very like the Arctic; and if their eyes had not by now grown strong as eagles' the sun on all that whiteness made the daylight last longer. There seemed no end to the lilies. Day after day from all those miles and leagues of flowers there rose a smell which Lucy found it very hard to describe; sweet---yes, but not at all sleepy or overpowering, a fresh, wild, lonely smell that seemed to get into your brain and make you feel that you could go up mountains at a run or wrestle with an elephant. She and Caspian said to one another, "I feel that I can't stand much more of this, yet I don't want it to stop."

This reminds me so much of God's love. Untiring, never ending, overwhelming, sweet, and quite beyond what we can even imagine.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean
In its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me,
Is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward
To Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth,
Changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones,
Died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth,
Watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
Love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean vast of blessing,
’Tis a haven sweet of rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus,
’Tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory,
For it lifts me up to Thee!

~ Samuel Trevor Francis

Midnight Thoughts

It's 1:00 am right now and I just can't sleep. I'm too excited about India and want to write all about it some more. Here I sit in my cluttered living room, mesmerized by the shining lights on our Christmas tree -- which seems an odd fixture in the midst of the suitcases and various items strewn across the floor. I know it's a bit early to start packing, but I can't help that either. I'm bringing along lots of school supplies and other lovely things for the children at the Home. There are crayons and pencils and flashcards (for learning English words) and tennis balls and skipping ropes ... Imagine being excited about crayons at this time of night!

God is faithful. That is where it all begins and ends and stands in between.

There are so many stories about His faithfulness throughout this journey so far; I am completely blown away. And with the wide, expectant eyes of a child, I wonder, what's next? 

He is above and beyond anything we can ask, think or imagine. When we allow our will to be swallowed up by His, when we obey His gentle voice and follow His leading, the path beneath our feet is ever sure. One of my favourite passages in Scripture is this:

"As for God, His way is perfect: The Lord's word is flawless; He shields all who take refuge in Him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He causes me to stand on the heights" (2 Samuel 22:31-14).

What victory, strength and abundance is promised to those who are His! O, that we would always have that soft, child-like heart to trust Him fully each day. 

Culture Shock?

I can scarcely believe that there are only 21 days left before I leave for India! It's seems surreal right now -- I can't wrap my mind around it. One thought that keeps going through my head is, "How do you prepare for something like this?" Sure, you can do research about the culture and learn lots of generalized information, but that can't really ready you for the shock of being in a foreign country, one so completely different from your own! 

The only poverty I've ever seen are people living on the streets in downtown Toronto -- sitting in cardboard boxes on the sidewalks or sleeping in corners with all their possessions tied to them. India is a heavily populated country with extreme dichotomies of rich and poor. Street children roam everywhere, the problem of AIDS is increasingly rampant and forced prostitution is a fact of life for many. (These are just some of the many issues). What will it be like to actually see poverty with my own eyes, to hold in my arms a child whose limbs are frail and thin, to be at the bedside of someone dying of AIDS? I can't understand it all right now.

The only answer is prayer. Only God can truly equip us as believers to respond in love to the sick, the needy, the orphaned, the widowed. It says in Psalm 146:7-8: "He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but He frustrates the way of the wicked." It is the Lord who does all these things.

Amy Carmichael, who worked for more than 50 years in India, rescuing children from temple prostitution and other dangers, wrote a letter to a young woman who was a missionary candidate. She said to her: "Dear, you are coming to a battlefield. You cannot spend too much time with Him alone." 

This is a poignant reminder for me. Unless we're filled with the Spirit of God, unless God Himself has placed in us His heart, His perfect love, we are nothing. The best way to truly prepare for overseas missions is to spend much time in His presence, seeking His heart and becoming more and more like Jesus Himself.

The Secret to a Glorious Life

Today my mom showed me this lovely poem that was written on the front of a Christmas card. Its simple little message spoke so clearly to me about the way we ought to live:

The Secret to a Glorious Life

To walk hand in hand with the Saviour,

To talk to Him often each day,

To give Him your life

because He gave you His,

And simply -- to trust and obey. 

I know this post may seem unrelated, since this is a blog about India, but it was something I couldn't help but share with you today. God is good and His love endures forever.

Answering His Call

About a year ago, the Lord spoke closely to my heart about serving Him in India. My heart became incredibly burdened for the people of India, especially the children -- those who are orphaned, abandoned, forced into prostitution or begging on the streets. 

For a very long while, I did not quite know what the Lord's call to India meant. The organizations I found on the Internet did not offer opportunities for missions trips to India. I was also baffled by the sheer vastness of the orphan problem. What could I possibly do to help anything? Where exactly did God want me to serve and how? So I prayed and waited. And God answered, though when I least expected it.

Just about a month ago, He miraculously opened a door. Through the friend of a friend, I learned about the ---- Children's Home in a small rural village in Tamil Nadu, south India. The home provides orphaned, abandoned and impoverished children with food, clothing, shelter, medicinal care, education and most of all the love of Christ. They accept volunteers to come at any time and work in various capacities. Hearing about the Home filled me with an incredible sense of joy and peace. It was like the Lord was saying, "Go, and I will be with you."

God had given me these verses when I first felt called to India:

"Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of Me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place amoung those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:16-18).

The other day I was looking through a devotional book called "My Utmost for His Highest" and turned to January 10 out of curiosity (my departure date for India). Amazingly, I discovered that the passage for the day was the very same one! This is just one of the many ways God has confirmed His leading in this journey. 

I am utterly amazed at God's orchestration in these events. He doesn't just ask us to do something and then leave us stranded. He faithfully opens doors and guides us, providing us with all we need. I am so humbled by it all. His promises to me are clear, and I know my Lord will guide me each step. 

While at the Home, I will be given the opportunity to teach English in the school (which is on the compound), take care of the orphan girls on a daily basis by assisting with activities, bathing, serving meals, etc., and other duties still to be determined. My hope and prayer is that I will be a faithful soldier of the cross, and the hands and feet of Jesus to these precious little ones.

So by God's grace, off to India I go from January to April. I am expecting to be shocked, broken, blessed, amazed, stretched, challenged. It is not when we are feeling confident and strong that God sees us fit to be used, but when we are broken, weak and undeserving ... yet fully yielded. Truly He is able to use the vessels of our feeble human flesh to showcase the radiance of His own incomparable power and glory!