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!
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!
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