Moldable

The Lord has definitely been working on my heart here in
India this past month. I just want to share with some of you some of the ways
he has been sanctifying me to become more and more like him.

1.      
1. He has been teaching me how to listen. Not to
tune him out when he is tugging at my heart. To create an open dialogue with
him. To be more intentional about listening rather than telling. That listening
to him isn’t as hard as we make it out to be. It is a discipline to be learned.
We just have to be okay with the silence and quieting the clamoring voices
around us.

2.      
2. Entering into his gates with a heart of
thanksgiving.  To not only thank him for
the big things but for the small things. For the boys smiles, for their laughs,
for the interactions with people outside of the orphanage, for the spicy food,
for eating with our hands, for the rain!, for chai and cookies, for night
devotion times, for the Crusade pastor that came to Asha and prayed over our
team, for learning some of the local language to attempt to communicate with
them, for being able to wash dishes and serve the people serving us. There are
so many things to be thankful for here amidst the darkness.

3.      3. 
Obedience. Not picking and choosing the easy
things daily in ministry. That he will give us the most joy and the most
passion when we endure through the hard things. When we hear God’s voice to
obey and do the things we don’t necessarily want to and that obedience to him
results in freedom for us!

4.      4. 
Trust. That knowing Jesus for these boys and his
love for them is far more important than the comforts of home and family that
they miss (if they have any). Trusting in the Lords protection over their
hearts and their futures. Trusting in their education system. Trusting that
even though these boys are young, that they can fully grasp the gospel.
Trusting that this place is a place of discipleship, commissioning them to go
out into the world and make the name of Jesus known.

5.      5.
Being aware of my thoughts. Silencing the
negativity of Satan’s lies (its too hot, home is so far away, you have no
purpose here, you are not equipped to teach these boys) and proclaiming truth
and life into each day. Eph 2:10 For I am God’s Masterpiece created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for me to do!

6.      
6. Being content in all circumstances Phil 4: 11.
When the power goes out at night you are left sweating yourself to sleep, when
you are served fish heads for lunch, when your mouth is burning because of the
amount of chili powder that is in your food, when you have massive cockroaches
flying around your room into your bags, when its so hot outside the heat burns
through the electrical wires outside your house, when a bat flies into your
room and you find it nuzzled right by the foot of your sleeping pad when you
wake up, when it takes an hour to teach a little boy how to spell the word
jackfruit, when the water runs out when you are showering, when you have to
hand wash your clothes every 4-5 days and they still stink, when you celebrate
food chunks in your hair because its not lice, when you douse yourself in bug
spray after you shower at night to sleep under your mosquito net because
somehow those little suckers still get in, when you have heat rashes all over
your body. All of these things have become our ways of life here in Barasat,
India. We have learned to be content in all circumstances and have been so
blessed with a team full of flexible people. Praise God!

Pray that we would run with endurance the race
that is set before us. To finish strong and to leave this place with no regrets.