Ministry has been really good but recently I have been feeling tied down by feelings of exhaustion and being really tired. Our days are always packed. We are constantly doing something but I don’t want that to effect the way I serve. Working at the preschool has been a huge challenge for me because the kids don’t like to listen. Plus, they have SO MUCH energy that I am burned out within the first hour. Through my time here, God has been showing me a lot about strength. I have been very eager to ask the Lord for strength to interact with the children at preschool and in everything I do here. God has revealed to me strength in the form of how people live in India. It humbles me in a way that makes me take a step back and look at my life. The situations I ask God to give me strength in doesn’t even compare to what God has been showing me these past couple days.
We went to do house visits on Thursday and met a woman who was 21 years old. She was living in her sister’s house because her husband left her when she got pregnant. Her child was born about 11 months ago and as a result of her pregnancy, her breast milk had become infected. She has to have all of her breast milk pushed out of her. She had just returned from the hospital the day before we met her.
Also, I have been developing a closer relationship with the women who work on the beach, and it has been awesome hearing their stories. I have learned that women in India have to be strong in order to live the way that they do. One woman talks about how she has to deal with drunk men coming into her shop, which I think would be terrifying for being the size that she is. Another woman told me about how she was pregnant at 15, and after having 3 miscarriages, finally gave birth to a baby boy. She told me that her father forced her to continue working to make money. She has three children. During each of her pregnancies, she had to work on the beach, carrying bags full of clothes and jewelry to sell.
God has just been revealing to me the strength these women must go through everyday. I am encouraged by this in the way that God is making me see that difficulties are not as difficult as they seem in the big picture. I just pray that God continues to view my life smaller than the lives of others.
