Some things you can only get in India. Only here can you
risk your life and clothes to save a goat. Only here does chocolate mean
everything from DairyMilk to bubble gum and pineapple candies. In India I laugh every time I hold onto trash
and wonder where I should throw it out (the ground duh). Here drivers would
sooner crash than hit a cow. Sometimes you just have to go places to experience
things. Like the crazy colors and beautiful (not to mention cheap) fabric and
pearls. Like the horribly fried everything. Like eating your food with your right
hand and cleaning yourself with your left (we try to avoid that one ;)). The
spices and smells, the riches and poverty, the old ways and new. Things come
crashing together in India. Somehow we just live in the middle of the chasm,
and adjust because no one else seems to notice it. It’s pretty crazy stuff.
Only
in India is Asha. In India, we watched the girls’ home open in Renegad. We met
the girls and the pastor and his family before they even knew what they were
doing. We were there for the opening; we swept, prayed and clapped, and then we
said our goodbyes. This past week we went back, praise the Lord. It was
amazing. We had a dance party with them in the storage room next to carrots and
eggs (Katy Perry under a green light is where it is at), did their nails, brought
them toys and chalk, colored with them and held them. Lindsey on our team has a special connection
with the girls and thought to buy each of the girls a pair of nice, fancy
shoes.
The next day we had to say good
bye, but we have such a sense of joy. God is doing something awesome there. The
girls have a home and are fitting right in. They have beautiful parental
figures and even a big brother to watch over them. God provides. When I looked at the scares on Hemoti’s legs,
I cringed and thought wow, “This is the life she comes from. This is what she
knows”. This is only where she came from though. These girls will never have to
know abandonment or worthlessness again. They are royalty, daughters of the God
Most High. No matter what they face or where they go, He will always be with
them and protect them. I sat on the roof and watched the girls help each other
take baths and wash their clothes outside by the water pump. I knew then that these girls will grow into
powerful women of God. They will be the mothers of a lineage known to fear and
love God, a lineage of peace and joy. They will break chains, and their
children will be loved, secure, and free.
