Weakness or Strength? Maybe both…

I bring glad tidings of good news and great joy! I didn’t
die when I spoke to the students Thursday! I didn’t trip and fall on my face,
or lose track of my words… I just let the Holy Spirit do what He does best:
speak God’s love and grace in our lives.

I shared Jeremiah 24 with them. Most of you probably know
that story, but I will summarize it anyways. This is the time after Jehoiakim’s
son and officials and craftsmen had been sent into exile from Jerusalem by King
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Get all that? Alright. So God uses a story about two
baskets of figs to share with Jeremiah, the prophet, what would happen to those
that were remained in the land of Judah.

Two baskets… one
truth.

One basket had very good figs, ripe for eating. The other
basket had figs that were so poor that they couldn’t be eaten.  Like the good figs, God would watch over and
protect those that he had exiled. Jeremiah 24:7 says,

“I will give them a
heart to know me, that I am the Lord.

They will be my
people, and I will be their God,

for they will return
to me with all their heart.”

As for the poor figs, God says that he will make them an
offense to all the kingdoms of the earth.

When I spoke to the kids, I focused on the good figs and
what God wants to do for each of them. I shared a little bit about my testimony
getting here to Calcutta and how afraid I was. I told the students that
although I had given my life over to Christ at a very young age, I never really
lived like it, and God wanted to reclaim me.

I told them that when I gave my life to Him, he had already
prophesied Jeremiah 24:7 over my life. He said, “She will return to me.” And
I did. And He has been my strength. 1 Corinthians 1:8, “He will keep me strong
until the end.”

 I shared with the
students that God has made the same claims over their lives and He is waiting
very patiently for each one of them to turn to Him when they have been “exiled”
and don’t see a way out. He wants each of them to know “My power works best
in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9.

I shared with them that when they choose Jesus in their
sufferings and struggles, they will be able to say, “I am very happy now
because I have complete confidence in YOU.” 2 Corinthians 7:16.

God wants to make me, you, and each one of those students
who have chosen Jesus like the ripe fig that is so good to eat. And he is just
waiting for us to recognize that that happens when we have been exiled, or
abandoned, or when we are struggling because so often, that is when we reach
out to the Lord and are so humbled. God isn’t going to help those that don’t
think that they need help. That’s just the bottom line.

So that is what I shared with the kiddo’s. I really enjoyed
it, and I can’t wait for another opportunity to speak. August, the Indian guy
that works at ASHA and takes us around India, said that my face was “glowing
like the Holy Spirit when I talk.” in his broken English sort of way. I think
there might be a calling there.

In other news, I took my first bucket shower last night and
I did my first batch of laundry! I probably should have done both of those
things a week ago… at least… but I kept saying, “I’ll do it tomorrow.” And then
tomorrow came. We all know how that goes. Let me just say this… the water that
came off of my body and out of my clothes was BLACK. It was very possibly the
nastiest water you will ever see. I had to literally scrub myself down for like
twenty minutes. It was gross. But awesome. As for my laundry, my hand
eventually cramped up because I had to rinse and re-rinse my clothes like a
thousand times to make sure I had cleaned all the pollution out of them. It was
AWESOME.

Saturday, tomorrow, we are planning on going out to a
fellowship gathering/party in Calcutta with the pastor that leads Campus
Crusade here and a bunch of other people. I think they are having a special
gathering because of Valentines day. However, we are still trying to work out
logistics. Because we would be traveling into the city, we would have to get
two cars for the 11 of us, which Pastor informed us would be close to 2000
rupees per car ONE way. That is like 40 dollars per car one way. So we aren’t
100 percent sure if we are going or not.

SPEAKING of Valentines day, let’s not speak about Valentines
day. It happens to be my first Valentines day away from my boyfriend in 5
years, so yeah. I guess I could dwell on it, but I am going to choose to be
excited about our long-distance skype date Thursday night to celebrate “our
love”. HAHA. Sorry, that just sounded really cheese ball. For real though, I
love you Reece! He knows I love him.

Before I sign out for this blog, I want to share with you
how I have been doing since the last time I wrote, because that blog was kind
of a weird one. I was in that awkward “too comfortable but really not
comfortable at all” stage.

The other night, Reece shared a really good word with me
that I have been thinking about. He said that sometimes God wants us to rest in
what He has already taught us instead of teaching us something new. I know that
is pretty simple, but last week I felt desperate to feel God like I did the
first week that I was so broken, and when I wasn’t hearing Him because I
thought I was too comfortable, I didn’t even consider that maybe God just
wanted me to be at peace so that I could rest in what He had just taught me! So
cool.

So, restful I have been the past few days. It hasn’t all
been easy. I was sick one day again so I got really agitated and felt like I
couldn’t stand another day here in India, but let me tell you something, I have
some really incredible parents… and when I told them how I was feeling, they
reminded me that I was already doing this, and I have God’s power and strength
to continue to do it.

AND they reminded me
that there were 24 beautiful babies here that didn’t have a say in being
abandoned or sent off, and THEY were what really mattered.

So that was Wednesday, and after Wednesday, we went to the
school and I had the time of my life serving there, and today is Friday, and
although it is near the end of the week and I am tired, God has given me some
really good words, and he has revealed a gift that I never knew I had…
memorization! Today, as I am preparing myself to tutor the boys and as I have
spent time painting the girls nails and loving on them (through my exhaustion)
I have been reciting verses that God has literally planted and rooted my love
for Him in and it has given me this unbelievable strength.

I can’t express to you how much I am learning here. I am
learning to cherish every second I get with God in his Word. I am learning to
love the people in my life like I have never loved them before. I am learning
that I have been filled by Christ and the less there is of me, the more there
is of Him. I am learning that there are just some things in life that don’t
matter, and some things that really really do. I am learning patience. I am
learning that I am not to judge, because the Judge is standing at the door
(James 5:9)! I am learning that what I thought was sacrifice wasn’t actually
sacrifice, but the sacrifice I was making by the way I was living at home was
my real relationship with Christ. I am learning what it means to be a pure,
true, incredible, powerful, humble, Proverbs 31 woman through the Grace that
God gave us thousands of years ago to hold onto every day for eternity.

I really just want to end my blog by saying this… I really
really really really really really really really really love Jesus. That is
all.