A Lunch for a Life

Last Thursday when we were eating our amazing Indian dinner at the guest house where we are staying, I started thinking about the thousands of people around me that are lucky if they get one meal a day. I felt as though I was being convicted, convicted of eating too much. Why should I eat three meals a day as I watch people around me starving to death. I felt as though I was being called to give up one meal a day to someone else who needs it a whole lot more than I do. After all, what is mine, isn't really mine, it belongs to him, the one who gave it to me in the first place. And those begging on the streets are his children just as much as I am is daughter. I do not say this to bring glory to myself, trust me, I am not capable of obtaining this mindset. All glory goes to the only one worthy of all the glory, honor, and praise.

On Monday my team and I went to a restaurant on our lunch break. I had to tell my team about what I have been called to do, so that they could hold me accountable. So as they ate, I sat there drinking my water and looking outside the window at this little 7 or 8 year old boy begging for some food. After the meal, I got all the leftovers together and took it outside to him. We asked his name, we'll call him John. John didn't respond too much to what we were saying even though they were simple questions in Hindi. He wanted money and we told him we didn't have any to give him but that we had food for him. So we gave him food and walked in different directions. He kept looking back at us and smiling and when he saw us look at him he got a huge smile on his face and waved really big. I think he was surprised and excited just at the fact that we wanted to talk to him.

One Thursday, we ran into John again on our way to lunch, only this time he had a picture of Luxshmie (the god of prosperity and money) around his neck. As we sat down to lunch we talked about the situation and what to do. If we give him food, he will go and pray and give praise to Luxshmie. The team asked me what I was thinking as I sat there quietly. I was originally planning on giving my portion of the meal after they all ate, but I didn't want him to turn to praise Luxshmie because of it. So I told them, I wanted to take off his picture from around his neck and bring him inside to eat. Our friend Will who was eating with us asked me what I wanted to say to him, I said that I want to tell John that Someone loves him and can and will give him all that he will ever want and need, and that Luxshmie cannot, nor will he ever give him what he needs. Luxshmie doesn't know who he is, he doesn't love him or care about him, but Someone does and and will provide for him. But that he has to leave Luxshmie behind. So with a little encouragement, I went outside, and called him over to me. He looked at a guy on a motorcycle, then at me, back at the man, then at me again and then walked over to me. I invited him in, but motioned for him to leave Luxshmie at the door before he came in. He looked at the man on the motorcycle and after confirmation, continued to walk inside with me. We have to leave our idols and at the door in order to come in and enjoy the banquet prepared for us.

Once inside, Will gave John his lime soda and we tried to talk to him with what little Hindi we know. He said he didn't know how old he was, or if he had any family. He doesn't have any brothers or sisters that he knows of and he doesn't know his parents or grandparents. If you have ever seen the movie Slum Dog Millionaire, I dread that that might be his situation. Before we ate we talked to him*, then served John first, then ate. He had a lot of fun joking around with my teammates and making funny faces. He asked me in sign language, why I wasn't eating. I didn't know how to respond, so they explained to him that I am not eating so that he can have a lunch to eat. I could tell he understood and that it meant something to him, he started to tear up but hid it really fast. We talked to him again for John, gave John the left overs, then I walked him to the door. I told him that I loved him. He picked up Luxshmie, put it in his bag and walked away. The rest of the afternoon I spent a couple hours analyzing, processing, and crying. God is breaking my heart for these people more and more each day. But I am beginning to see that there is a light in this darkness, just like there is a smile on John's face and a sweet laugh from his heart. Every time I see a smile on the face of a child or hear the laughter in their voice, I see a glimpse of hope for the people of India. And every time the rain pours down (which is pretty much 50% of the time), I am reminded of the grace that rains down all over the nation.

My Heart is Broken

We have been in India for a little over a week and a half now and are in our second location. Quick update on the acid reflux: have not taken my medicine at all since the last post, had chick-fil-a at the airport (acid reflux was ok, but my stomach kinda flipped out), and I have been eating greasy, spicy, and fried foods everyday....and its been amazing! No pain! I am healed!!
Now about the trip...We started out getting accustomed to the culture. We now have our Indian attire that we wear everyday. It's difficult to fully express ourselves when we have to watch our language and when we talk to our daddy we can not close our eyes as we can in America. The atmosphere is much like Slum Dog Millionaire: children younger than one year old begging, rick-saw rides, buses with flashing lights, crazy music, and huge crowds, beggars of all ages everywhere, poverty every where you look, public squaties (their "toilets") cost money, trash filled streets, at least ten different nauseating smells each block, cows, goats, pigs, and water buffalo's roam the streets. The list goes on, but the worst part about it is the heartbreak that you feel every second for these people.

Last week we went to a train station to board for our 17 hour trip, each carrying about 75 pounds of luggage up two flights of stairs, across the train tracks, and then back down. The whole time men standing all over the place just watching you struggle this fight as sweat runs down your face like a water fall. On the train, I looked out the window just thinking and we passed by slums and towns and people out in the fields plowing with animals. As we passed a few people gathered around a fire on the side of the train tracks that night, I wondered....do they have a place to sleep, a home, or a shack? Why are they there? What are they doing? Do they know someone loves them? All I saw and felt was heartbreak, someone needs to tell them about this hope that I have, this awesome daddy that I know!

When we got to RR on our second day of working, I was put in a classroom of nine, three year olds from the slums and then the teacher left the room. They hardly know English and all I know in Hindi is hello and thank you. I watched them as they colored and could only look at them and think, these innocent girls will someday be sex workers and these sweet boys will someday be just like the men at the train station, heartless and cold, taking advantage of these girls.

Everywhere I go, every street I walk down, every person I see, I feel my heartbreak. I asked my daddy to make my heart break for what breaks his, but I didn't know my heart could break this much. There is so much hopelessness hear, so much pain. India is in desperate need of both hope, restoration, redemption, and love. And there is only one that can provide this for them. I ask him to use me and my team to bring a little bit of that light into this country of darkness. My daddy granted my first request and I trust he will grant my second as well.

Goodbye acid relux....Hello spicy food!

Hey everyone! So we are finishing up training camp and are leaving for the airport in the next hour! We have been together as a team for 4 days now and we have become unbelievably close. We started out traveling by Marta to the Atlanta Safe House and doing ministry on the streets of Atlanta on a Friday night, then bonded by spitting water in each others faces, amazing worship services, team building activities, cold showers outside at night, testimony sharing, and so much more. These past few days have been incredible and so much needed, the Lord has been preparing us and filling us with the Holy Spirit! We all have incredible visions for the women of India and cannot wait to see the Lord work through us to change the hearts of women in India.

During worship on Sunday night we learned and practice hearing God speak to us. It was incredible and incredibly hard. I still have a long way to go with that, but it was an incredible experience. My number one goal for the next two months is to listen to God, respond with obedience, and hold nothing back. I believe if God can teach me obedience, then He will work in unfathomable ways through me to reach the women of India in ways I cannot even imagine. Yesterday morning one of me teammates, Emily, showed a perfect example. During worship she heard God speaking to her saying that I would be healed of my acid reflux that night!!! Those of you who know me, know that is HUGE!!! So last night I laid down on a table and the entire team laid their hands on me as Emily prayed healing over me! We both have complete faith that God has healed me or at least is healing me!! So far I am feeling great, and today at the airport am going to try out some Chick-fil-a fried chicken for the first time in over a year! The faith and love of my team has blown me away and I cannot wait to be broken, loved, encouraged, built up, and grow with these wonderful sisters! The consuming fire of the Lord is among our team and is so ready to set the flames loose in India!

Life before India...

So it's been a while since I wrote on here. During the summer when I don't have much to do and don't have a schedule I become very unproductive. I went to the beach with my family a couple of weeks ago though and got a lot of reading and a lot of thinking done. My parents and I drove from the beach to Disney World to pick my sister up (she works there) and bring her back. On the way back, driving down the road, in the middle of know where, not near any other buildings, I saw this huge, tall building where the outside is all glass windows. As we got closer, I saw that the whole inside was empty and the bottom was finished either. There weren't even any floors or inside walls. It made me think about life and how we all try to make our lives look like everything is going great and perfect, but when people really get close and get to know you, they just find out that you are empty inside. This building was life with out Christ, worthless and empty.

Later on, when were back at the beach my dad and I built these sand castles. My dad built a bunch of little ones and I built one really big one! He kept adding a little bit to each of them, and I kept making mine bigger and better. Then I started thinking about it, no matter how many different things we try to excel in or how great and big we make our lives, they still crumble and fall. As I was building my big sand castle, it kept falling and collapsing and I had to start all over again. I realized that when "I" was building it, it kept crumbing and falling, and the same thing happens with my life. As long as I continue to build my life on sand, I will never reach as high as God has planned for my life. Only when I build my house out of Solid Rock will my house stand strong and reach as high as God has planned for my life. By the end of the day, waves come and knock the sand castle down to where it blends in with the flat ground, if I keep trying to build my life on my own out of sand, I will only continue to crumble and fall, I must allow God to build my house of Christ the Solid Rock in order to stand strong and tall for the life He has planned for me.


The beach trip was great, we had a lot of fun spending time together with all four of us because that doesn't happen to often. Catherine got to come home for a week too which was great! For the past few weeks I have just been catching up with different friends, spending time with family, and a lot of relaxing. With that relaxing I've become lazy with my goal of reading the Bible in one year, so I'm going to start all over today and do it right this time. Last time I wanted to start out writing down questions and new things I discover as I read it, and I didn't start that till later which messed up my schedule, so I'm starting that today. I have been spending a lot of time getting ready for India because I leave in 3 days to meet my team and then after 4 days of training we will be flying out on June 8th to India! I am just continuing to pray for our team unity and for what God will be doing in and through us. I would love for you to pray for me and my team. Pray that I would take full advantage of what God has for me for the next two months and that I don't pass up any opportunity to become more intimate with Christ. Pray that God will break my heart for these women and that I will learn what it truely means to be a women of Christ. Pray that I would be open to learning, growing, and being used as His hands and feet. This is going to be an incredible month...and I have no idea what exactly that means! Thank you!

Tears of the Saints

This morning I woke up much later than I had hoped and knew there was no way I was going to make my appointment, so I decided to just take my time getting ready. So I was on facebook and found this video posted by one of the girls on my India team. Take a minute to watch it, its so amazing! http://vimeo.com/2843450 After watching this video, I had a realization moment and knew that this summer was going to be intense! So I took some time to pray for the girls on my team and I just became so overwhelmed with God's love for me and His incredible grace that He pours out on me. This trip to India this summer is going to be amazing! And I pray that God uses us to reach thousands of these women, showing them the light and love of Christ. It got me thinking and questioning why God gave me such an incredible life and why He chose me to grow up knowing His name and His love. I want the children in the slums where we are going, to be able to grow up knowing His name. I want to reach the unreached, touch the untouchable, love the unlovable, and make His glorious name known. This is not only my prayer for the next to months, but this is the prayer for my life. God has an incredible summer planned and I cannot wait to see what happens!

Goodbye Junior Year

A lot has happened in the past three weeks. First off, I turned 21! YAY, except the fact that it was right in the midst of last tests and finals. But it was still great spending time with great sisters and friends on a long study break. I went through a long debate about drinking. I've never had a drink before, and of course I got asked a lot if I would. I debated, and I already knew I would not drink around people who didn't know how I felt about it. I don't think it is ok to get drunk (the Bible talks against it), I hate what drinking leads to, and while I may be fine to drink one drink, that may tell a friend struggling with alcohol that its ok for them to drink too since a "Christian" is drinking, which could cause them to stumble away from Christ. For me, it's not ok to cause a brother or sister or anyone for that matter to stumble, its just not worth it, so for now I have come to the decision not to drink. Then we had formal the next day...God has blessed me with some of the most incredible friends and strong brothers and sisters in Christ. I spent over half of formal in some awesome and sometimes deep conversation about walking with Christ! How awesome is that!

Finals went by slowly but surely and I managed to pull three all nighters in a row with many short naps during the day. Then just as finals came to an end, I called my mom to tell her I was done, to that she had some news for me, my grandad was in the hospital waiting to have a heart valve replacement and a triple bypass surgery! So needless to say, Ive spent much of this week in the hospital. But on the other hand, it has been great spending time with my parents and my aunt Melanie. Grandad is doing great for an 80 year old who just had heart surgery and he just moved out of ICU today! So now we can visit anytime during the day we want, which is great! We are also looking at rehab nursing homes so he can get back to his old self! Which I fully believe he will! Knowing him he will be out of rehab and back at home in 6 weeks and out doing yard work or whatever by the fall. We have to work hard to get him so slow down sometimes.

Also this week, I got to go eat lunch with one of my friends out it Gainesville and go to a store called Rehabs Rope. This summer I am going on a mission trip to Bangalore and Goa, India to work with women in the sex trade industry and their kids in the slums through an organization called Rehab's Rope. The store in Gainesville sells purses, jewelry, quilts, and other things made by these women. So it was really great and exciting to see that! Also, I have decided to read the Bible all the way through chronologically in a year! So I am starting that today, on May 1! I am very excited about it and cannot wait to learn about His word! But yeah, this is where I am in my life right now, and it's about time to go so I can read His word before I go to sleep!

First post!

So I wrote this blog two weeks ago because I was having an overwhelming day and I'm just now posting it because one of my amazing friends made my blog but wouldn't give me the password until finals were over! So here is my blog from a couple weeks ago:

I’m sitting here in my apartment today after a long and intense day. First of all, my sister in Christ, Lindsey is making my blog for me, but is not yet allowing me to blog, not until finals are over another two weeks. But I couldn’t resist, God has just been exploding my heart today and I just had to explode my heart a little bit myself. So…first was just class, then I went to my bible study with all my YL leader friends and we learned a lot about a couple, Mike and Cabell Sweeney. Shawn is the YL area director where I was a leader and Kathryn his wife has been pouring into me for the past two and half years and now Kathryn leads this bible study. Mike was Shawn’s YL leader who mentored him and was the man God used to bring Shawn to himself.Sweeney has been battling cancer and died just a week before Easter. Kathryn has kept us updated on the situation as the two were really close, we had prayed for them as a small group and learned a lot about Sweeney and his wife Cabell. Although I’ve never met either of them they both seem like two of the most amazing and influential people for a lot of people and their walks with Christ. Sweeney touched thousands of lives just by allowing God to move through him. Cabell has been writing a journal online for people to read about Sweeney and her feelings toward the situation (Mike’s cancer and death). I have never met a women as strong as her and able to trust in the Lord so much amidst her darkest moment. Instead, she even looks at it as one of her brighter moments in the fact that God allowed her to be a part of this! She admits her suffering but relies on Christ for strength. After that I had a conversation with a very close friend of mine. Only this friend is really hard to get much closer to because she doesn’t understand nor does she even care to understand my relationship with Christ and what He means to me and my life, the fact that He is my life. She believes in Him, but doesn’t realize there is a WHOLE lot more than that to God!! She doesn’t think it’s even important to go to church or bible study, or even talk about it for that matter, a little prayer once in a while is plenty. Then I went to my small group tonight, but instead we went to a bigger bible study which was incredible. They did it questions and answers style this night, and it was incredible. They talked about some incredible questions like, is it possible to lose salvation, how was salvation obtained before Christ came, and what do you tell someone who thinks that church isn’t important as a Christian, that it is in fact very important. These questions hit me hard! I have been struggling with the fact that some of my very close friends say they are Christians, but they don’t realize there is a difference between that and following Christ! I mean heck, Satan believes in God, but he doesn’t follow Him. As my mind runs through this very intense day of thoughts, MY LIFE HAS TO CHANGE! I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way He loves us! Oh how He loves us! It hit me today, that Sweeney and Cabell are no different from me other than the fact that they allow God to move through them and truly want to do with their lives whatever means it takes to bring God the most glory! I want my life to reflect God in a way that people look at my life and coming running to Christ. Yet recently it feels as if my life has done quite the opposite in many instances and I it makes me wonder if I am doing something majorly wrong. Sometimes I feel as though I’m not producing fruit in Christ, and I’m tired of standing still, I am so overwhelmed with emotions and just want to go out and do something amazing for His kingdom. But God is continuously telling me everyday “sit at His feet, drink the cup in His hand, lay against Him and breathe, and to feel His heart beat.” God has been doing a lot of growing in me this year and a lot of teaching. I’ve always tried to be a leader and God has taken me out of those positions so that He can teach me to rest in Him and to be intimate with Him. It has been incredible! And now, I stand at a point where I am so impatient, excited, and a little bit nervous to see what God has planned next in my life! All I know is that my life is going to make a change for His name sake. I want to be blessed by Him by being a part in bringing millions of people to Christ! God says to ask, and He will give the nations to you (Psalm 2)! That’s what makes me nervous yet excited, the fact that God has a HUGE plan, and I have no idea what that is, nor can I fathom it!