Get Ready…

We are now in our last month of ministry. When did it ever get to be November anyway? Which I KNOW this last month is going to go fast. I can’t say that it feels like just yesterday that we were exiting the plane in Goa, because really it feels like that was FOREVER ago,  but I know it was just there. We were just coming to this place, so unsure of what lay ahead but excited for all the Lord was going to do and how He was going to use us. And though many may be skeptical of what could happen in only three months, really the Lord is showing us day by day that His work has no limit. Not even time can hold His purpose back! Not even time can hold back what relationships have been made during the time we’ve been here. 

But yes, as the days fly past us like pages in a book, I keep getting that feeling. You may know that feeling. The feeling of sadness and already coming pre-nostalgia. Of knowing in a months time (ish), I will be wanting to be back here in India, spending time with those that are often forgotten by society, but I will never forget. The boy in Tuition with laughter that is so contagious, it could spread across India. The tiny little girl with the sweetest face whose structure somehow resembles an old lady and waddles across the room to hear herself jingle loudly. The women on the beach that are so beautiful inside and out and so dependent on God for strength and endurance. The young girls in morning sewing class who laugh over not being able to cook and over Shahrukh Kahn’s new movie. The women who come and listen attentively to what the Lord has to say through us, with their receptive smiles and head nods and of course, bobbles. The women in Nutrition that come to us for prayer with tears streaming down their cheeks as we lift up their abusive sons or husbands to God. Our sewing teacher who pours motherly affection and care upon us and scoffs or gives us a face of amusing disappointment when we tell her how much we paid for a Pashmina or a shirt.  The old woman on the beach that picks up trash in the hot heat, but waves at me with her toothless smile and handshakes like a gangster. The children that beg on the street with their tin plates and idol images, but are happy to get a banana or orange or piece of chocolate from us. 

So so so many people that I have grown to love. So so so many people. And in only a couple of months? I know it’s going to be so hard to leave. To leave all this goodness in the midst of darkness. To leave all these beautiful people and not know when I will ever see them again. And I know I have to get ready for the tears that I will shed with the goodbyes and final hugs and…ugh, just bittersweetness of it all that will come in a few weeks. I’m already tearing up just thinking about it! 

BUT. Again, I am so beyond joyful that with the Lord there is no limit. No time, no hinderances, no amount of tiredness or tears that can hold His purpose back and the fact that the Lord has blessed us with another month with these beautiful, wonderful people makes me so happy! If the Lord has been able to do so much in this last 2 months, I know the Lord will only do and establish so much more in another month! I am so excited to look back at this time next month and think, “Wow…this is what the Lord has done!” And though I know I will be bawling like a baby, I am excited to see what more the Lord will do and excited to love on these people with all that I have until it is time to say goodbye. And something else I am beyond joyful about? That though my team and I will leave in a month’s time, The Lord WILL NEVER leave these beautiful people! He will continue to love and love and love on them, far after we are gone. And the work that He has done in Goa will not only continue to be proclaimed, but will continue! And to think, I may not see many of these people during this lifetime, but I know I will see so many of them in the next life! Now THAT is something to be joyful about! Because the Lord will continue to love on them, so much so that so many of them will be saved. So many of them will finally answer that call to the Lord, and I can’t wait to see the fruit of the relationships we have formed in the 2-3 months we have been here! 

But for now I am getting ready by dwelling on this: 

[How Awesome Are Your Deeds]

Shout for joy to God, all the earth; 

sing the glory of his name;

give to him glorious praise! 

SAY TO GOD, “HOW AWESOME ARE YOUR DEEDS!…

All the earth worships you 

and sings praises to you;

they sing praise to your name.”

COME and SEE what God has done:

HE is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man!

He turned the sea into dry land; 

they passed through the river on foot. 

There did we rejoice in him, 

who rules by his might forever, 

whose eyes keep watch on the nations 

–let not the rebellious exalt themselves. 

Bless our God, O peoples; 

let the sound of his praise be heard, 

who has kept our soul among the living

and has not let our feet slip. 

For you, O God, have tested us;

you have tried us as silver is tried. 

You brought us into the net;

you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

you let men ride over our heads;

we went through fire and through water;

YET you have brought us out to a place of abundance….

Come and hear, all you who fear God, 

and I will tell what he has done for my soul.(!)

I cried to him with my mouth, and his praise was on my tongue. 

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

But truly GOD HAS LISTENED;

He has attended to the voice of my prayer. 

Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer

or removed his steadfast love from me!

{We will all stand back and see what the Lord has done…

He will part seas for them. 

Have them cross over dry land. 

He will keep their souls among the living 

and not let their feet slip. 

He will test them, but will bring them out like silver. 

Refining them and bring them out to a place of abundance. 

He will do so much for their souls. 

They will cry out to Him. 

They will praise Him. 

TRULY GOD WILL LISTEN TO THEM.

He will attend to the voice of their prayers. 

BLESSED BE GOD, because He will not reject their prayers. 

BLESSED BE GOD, because He will not remove his steadfast love from them!

So shout for joy all of India, all the earth, 

“HOW AWESOME ARE THE DEEDS OF THE LORD!”}