Everything we go through, must first pass through His hands. Everything. All of the pain and heartache in our lives, He allows it it happen. He knows when it is happening. He knows why it is happening. It is human to want to know why things happen. God is mysterious. His ways are not our ways. Nor His thoughts our thoughts. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we've done in our lives. All of the sin we've committed towards Him, yet HE still chooses to love us. He still wants to set us free. Will we then, in turn, choose to follow Him where He might lead us? Are we willing, as selfish and ignorant people at times, to love Him by choice? For if it were by choice, He would love still us. But it is not by choice. He is love. God is love. That is the beauty behind it all. We can't escape it. And He doesn't want us to, because He wants to get to know us. That's how extreme His love for us is. We belong to Him. He is our father and we are His beloved children. How wonderful this is. How amazing. How breath taking! Thank Him today, yeah?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
To Give Freely
I think we are called to practice a Jesus love, not a human love. A love motivated by faith and community. A love motivated by grace.
"Freely you have received, freely GIVE." - Matthew 10:8
The more we seek Him, the more we know Him, and know characteristics that make Him so wonderful. Promises and truths. One thing I know, He cares. I love discovering this new every day. Sometimes daily reminders are what it takes for me to remember! I love just thinking about HOW much He cares. And I've come to realize in these past few years that I cannot fathom it. That I cannot attempt to put it into words. And when I dwell on it, I can do nothing but smile. What I love the most about Him is that He shows His care through the small, simple things. Things like encouraging notes left by complete strangers. To think that there is a God in heaven who loves you enough to do things like that, even after giving the ultimate sacrifice of His son, is just unimaginable. How wonderful and majestic is the God we serve.
"Freely you have received, freely GIVE." - Matthew 10:8
The more we seek Him, the more we know Him, and know characteristics that make Him so wonderful. Promises and truths. One thing I know, He cares. I love discovering this new every day. Sometimes daily reminders are what it takes for me to remember! I love just thinking about HOW much He cares. And I've come to realize in these past few years that I cannot fathom it. That I cannot attempt to put it into words. And when I dwell on it, I can do nothing but smile. What I love the most about Him is that He shows His care through the small, simple things. Things like encouraging notes left by complete strangers. To think that there is a God in heaven who loves you enough to do things like that, even after giving the ultimate sacrifice of His son, is just unimaginable. How wonderful and majestic is the God we serve.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
My Beloved
My beloved,
What is it then, that you ask for, my child? What is it that you need? I will take care of you. I'm here for you always. Was it a bad day? Was it something someone said? Are you discouraged? Are you lonely? I am here! Right next to you! My precious masterpiece, I adore you! I have chosen you. I have set you apart. I long to stay close to you. I promise to hold you in the night. I promise to help you. I promise to lead you. I promise to cry with you. What is it that you are afraid of, my love? I promise to comfort you! I will protect you! Please trust me, as a father, as a friend, as a companion. You are my child, and I have given myself to you. I am devoted. I am excited to know you, to watch you grow, to see you blossom. Please take into account my words. Never forget them. Write them on your heart, for it is I that holds it. If only I could sweep you off your feet everyday! If only you would not doubt my love, my care, my devotion. I cherish you. I long to hold you close. I love spending time with you. In your favorite places! I love to just BE with you, no matter what we are doing. I delight in you, my love. My child, you are mine, always.
Love,
Your maker
What is it then, that you ask for, my child? What is it that you need? I will take care of you. I'm here for you always. Was it a bad day? Was it something someone said? Are you discouraged? Are you lonely? I am here! Right next to you! My precious masterpiece, I adore you! I have chosen you. I have set you apart. I long to stay close to you. I promise to hold you in the night. I promise to help you. I promise to lead you. I promise to cry with you. What is it that you are afraid of, my love? I promise to comfort you! I will protect you! Please trust me, as a father, as a friend, as a companion. You are my child, and I have given myself to you. I am devoted. I am excited to know you, to watch you grow, to see you blossom. Please take into account my words. Never forget them. Write them on your heart, for it is I that holds it. If only I could sweep you off your feet everyday! If only you would not doubt my love, my care, my devotion. I cherish you. I long to hold you close. I love spending time with you. In your favorite places! I love to just BE with you, no matter what we are doing. I delight in you, my love. My child, you are mine, always.
Love,
Your maker
Monday, October 11, 2010
Reminded
Today, I was encouraged; and reminded of so many truths and promises about Jesus, our Savior, our King. He knows me more than I know myself. And it is because of Him that I am the way I am, where I am. Today he reminded me of how much He is in love with me. And how much He really does know and care, despite what the world around me might say. Today I have been reminded.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Stotrum!
Hello again,
I forgot to say this in my last post. My favorite drink here is Maaza, which is mango juice. It's almost like a smoothie. Very thick and yummy! I drink a lot of it. :) It's a famous drink.
When Christians greet in India, they always say, 'Praise the Lord'. It's basically hello. I think it's awesome!
Last night, 5 of us went to a church service about 30 minutes away, and it was awesome! We sang "Here I am to worship" for them. Then some people shared their testimonies, and I gave a short message titled "Rest for the weary". About how Jesus is our rest and we don't have to worry. He will give us strength (Matthew 11:28-31).
Then we prayed for the people. We were able to pray for a girl who was demon possessed. We prayed for a while over her. We also want to visit her home this week, possibly Wednesday, to pray over it and to spend more time with her. Pray that God uses us and that she believes in her heart that she can be free of this dark spirit and generational curse.
Saturday night we also did a service at a youth gathering. That was really neat. We were able to share, encourage, pray for, and just hang out with people our age.
This week we will hopefully have information on the bhansala people group and find out where they live. We are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to give the mega-voices away.
Thanks for all of your continued prayers for safety and God's grace! He has protected us and has blessed the whole team in sooo many ways.
Stotrum! (praise the Lord in tamil)
Love,
Maria
I forgot to say this in my last post. My favorite drink here is Maaza, which is mango juice. It's almost like a smoothie. Very thick and yummy! I drink a lot of it. :) It's a famous drink.
When Christians greet in India, they always say, 'Praise the Lord'. It's basically hello. I think it's awesome!
Last night, 5 of us went to a church service about 30 minutes away, and it was awesome! We sang "Here I am to worship" for them. Then some people shared their testimonies, and I gave a short message titled "Rest for the weary". About how Jesus is our rest and we don't have to worry. He will give us strength (Matthew 11:28-31).
Then we prayed for the people. We were able to pray for a girl who was demon possessed. We prayed for a while over her. We also want to visit her home this week, possibly Wednesday, to pray over it and to spend more time with her. Pray that God uses us and that she believes in her heart that she can be free of this dark spirit and generational curse.
Saturday night we also did a service at a youth gathering. That was really neat. We were able to share, encourage, pray for, and just hang out with people our age.
This week we will hopefully have information on the bhansala people group and find out where they live. We are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to give the mega-voices away.
Thanks for all of your continued prayers for safety and God's grace! He has protected us and has blessed the whole team in sooo many ways.
Stotrum! (praise the Lord in tamil)
Love,
Maria
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Maaza, Dosa and Jesus
Hello!
I feel terrible that I haven't been writing. But we haven't had too many chances to get on the internet here in India. I've been trying to respond to all my emails too. :) So, I'm sorry!
But I am finally writing now!
I am having an amazing time here. I LOVE India. I love the people, the food, the culture, almost everything. Well, everything but the smells. The smells of India are most of the time overwhelming, if you know what I mean. :)
From the last post, which was like 4 1/2 weeks ago, we have done a lot, as you can imagine. After a few days in Chennai, we took a long van ride to another small village in Tamil Nadu. We stayed at the home of Pastor Vedha and his family. Here we met his oldest son, Suresh, and his wife Hope (from Michigan), and Blessing. Blessing is the little girl that Suresh and Hope are going to adopt. She was the orphan that they took in. We stayed with their family for a week. The rest of their family (aunts, uncles, cousins) stayed in a hut on the roof. It was a VERY cool house. We visited a few churches, spent time with the family, did some open air ministry, and met some of their neighbors. It was an amzing time of fellowship and getting to know India and the culture and food. :) We drank LOTS of hot lemon tea (SOOOO good) and LOTS of bananas. :) which i also love. indian bananas are so yummy. much sweeter than ours. :)
from here, we took another LONG van ride to a small town called Dharmapurri, which is further south. Here we stayed at a larger house, where another YWAM team from Chennai was staying. Here, we met Pastor Daniel, who was the pastor of the local church. And he led a lot of other ministries as well, and ran an orphanage. Here, almost every night we would go out into the villages (sometimes 30-45 minutes away) and do open air ministry. Basically, we would show up at these villages, introduce ourselves, perform one of our dramas, give a few testimonies, then share the gospel and invite people to accept Christ. It was so neat meeting people at these villages. At the end we always spent time praying for the people. Most of them did not speak English, but we had some friends/pastors who translated for us. At one particular village, I met an older man. His wife, daughter and son were believers, but he was not. He had been struggling with his faith. He was Hindu. And he was also an alcoholic. I prayed that Jesus would heal him of his addiction. Afterwards, he invited us into his home and asked us to pray for him and his family, and he told us he wanted to accept Christ. Stotrum! (Praise Jesus in tamil). It was awesome.
We also spent a LOT of time with the neighbor children. We taught them games, songs, handshakes, etc. They LOVED taking photos, and would always call me down by yelling, "Aunty Maria! One photo! Please one photo!" It was so cute. I also spent some time with a Christian family, praying for and encouraging them. I also met 21 year old woman named Razeena. She is Muslim, and the SWEETEST girl ever. Almost every day she wanted me to come over. She would feed me and we would talk and talk and laugh. She was married and had one little boy. He was so adorable. Her husband was very kind as well. She also took care of her father-in-law. They had a very small house. But were so content. I was really able to develop a relationship with her. And I can't wait to continue that through email/phone if possible. I miss her!
From Dharmapurri we traveled to a town called Ooty, nicknamed "Queen of the hills". It was beautiful! And MUCH cooler than Dharmapurri. We spent a few days here, then traveled back to Chennai for a few days. We stayed in an air conditioned hotel, which was very nice. :) From Chennai we took a 22 hour bus ride to Mumbai. We have been here since Saturday, and God has done SOOO much! We will be in Mumbai for another 2 weeks, where we plan on meeting the bhansala people soon, and giving them the megavoices we have in their language. I am looking forward to it! I will hopefully write more about our experiences so far in Mumbai, soon!
I miss home a lot, but I love India. :) I miss you all! Sorry it took me so long to write. I will try and write again soon!
Love,
Maria
I feel terrible that I haven't been writing. But we haven't had too many chances to get on the internet here in India. I've been trying to respond to all my emails too. :) So, I'm sorry!
But I am finally writing now!
I am having an amazing time here. I LOVE India. I love the people, the food, the culture, almost everything. Well, everything but the smells. The smells of India are most of the time overwhelming, if you know what I mean. :)
From the last post, which was like 4 1/2 weeks ago, we have done a lot, as you can imagine. After a few days in Chennai, we took a long van ride to another small village in Tamil Nadu. We stayed at the home of Pastor Vedha and his family. Here we met his oldest son, Suresh, and his wife Hope (from Michigan), and Blessing. Blessing is the little girl that Suresh and Hope are going to adopt. She was the orphan that they took in. We stayed with their family for a week. The rest of their family (aunts, uncles, cousins) stayed in a hut on the roof. It was a VERY cool house. We visited a few churches, spent time with the family, did some open air ministry, and met some of their neighbors. It was an amzing time of fellowship and getting to know India and the culture and food. :) We drank LOTS of hot lemon tea (SOOOO good) and LOTS of bananas. :) which i also love. indian bananas are so yummy. much sweeter than ours. :)
from here, we took another LONG van ride to a small town called Dharmapurri, which is further south. Here we stayed at a larger house, where another YWAM team from Chennai was staying. Here, we met Pastor Daniel, who was the pastor of the local church. And he led a lot of other ministries as well, and ran an orphanage. Here, almost every night we would go out into the villages (sometimes 30-45 minutes away) and do open air ministry. Basically, we would show up at these villages, introduce ourselves, perform one of our dramas, give a few testimonies, then share the gospel and invite people to accept Christ. It was so neat meeting people at these villages. At the end we always spent time praying for the people. Most of them did not speak English, but we had some friends/pastors who translated for us. At one particular village, I met an older man. His wife, daughter and son were believers, but he was not. He had been struggling with his faith. He was Hindu. And he was also an alcoholic. I prayed that Jesus would heal him of his addiction. Afterwards, he invited us into his home and asked us to pray for him and his family, and he told us he wanted to accept Christ. Stotrum! (Praise Jesus in tamil). It was awesome.
We also spent a LOT of time with the neighbor children. We taught them games, songs, handshakes, etc. They LOVED taking photos, and would always call me down by yelling, "Aunty Maria! One photo! Please one photo!" It was so cute. I also spent some time with a Christian family, praying for and encouraging them. I also met 21 year old woman named Razeena. She is Muslim, and the SWEETEST girl ever. Almost every day she wanted me to come over. She would feed me and we would talk and talk and laugh. She was married and had one little boy. He was so adorable. Her husband was very kind as well. She also took care of her father-in-law. They had a very small house. But were so content. I was really able to develop a relationship with her. And I can't wait to continue that through email/phone if possible. I miss her!
From Dharmapurri we traveled to a town called Ooty, nicknamed "Queen of the hills". It was beautiful! And MUCH cooler than Dharmapurri. We spent a few days here, then traveled back to Chennai for a few days. We stayed in an air conditioned hotel, which was very nice. :) From Chennai we took a 22 hour bus ride to Mumbai. We have been here since Saturday, and God has done SOOO much! We will be in Mumbai for another 2 weeks, where we plan on meeting the bhansala people soon, and giving them the megavoices we have in their language. I am looking forward to it! I will hopefully write more about our experiences so far in Mumbai, soon!
I miss home a lot, but I love India. :) I miss you all! Sorry it took me so long to write. I will try and write again soon!
Love,
Maria
Monday, April 12, 2010
Namaste!
Hey everyone!
We're here! We're at an internet cafe, and these computers are great. :) We arrived in Chennai yesterday around 4am. We met Danielle, Martin, Sarah and Vedha and his youngest son Danesh. We got to our hotel and slept into the afternoon.
We had a delicious lunch at the hotel, we relaxed a bit, then walked to the subway where it took us to a LARGE and VERY crowded shopping area. The streets were filled! We went into a store that had many floors, and we all shopped for sudis, the indian shirts the women wear, and scarves. I also bought a futbol jersey. :) It's for the soccer team here, Chennai Super Kings.
It is VERY hot here. And very sticky. 95 degrees. Feels like 105! I'm wearing a long skirt right now. Our hotel room isn't air conditioned, and this morning I woke up stuck to my bed sheets, soaking wet. I used a squatty for the first time in Qatar! It went well. And we've been using them in our hotel.
Vedha and Danesh are very kind, and they are leading us around places, getting us good rates. :) We are in a town called Tamil Nadu, where most of the people speak tamil, so I haven't been able to speak much Hindi.
My feet are swollen from the plane ride! It's crazy. I think it was from air pressure or something. A couple of us have very fat ankles, but hopefully the swelling will go down soon. My feet just feel really tight. The bug spray I bought is working really well, and I haven't gotten bit much.
We are getting a whole lot of staring. It's just not common to see white people in this part of India. The people here are so kind though. They always want us to sit if we are standing. And we are getting plenty of yummy food. :) We have also been buying 2 water bottles every day form the hotel. So that is good.
I think we still have a bit of jet lag, because we're all still really tired, and the heat doesn't help, haha. But we've been napping a lot. This morning we had a yummy breakfast called dosa, which is this potato curry in bread. very good!
Tonight we will take a 6 hour AIR CONDITIONED bus/van ride to Vedha and Hilda's home. We will stay there for a while, and visit their church on Sunday. We will perform a drama and some testimonies. It should be fun! Then, we'll go to Mumbai I suppose. I'll let you know. At Vedha's home, they have internet, so I can email more from there I think.
This town seems very safe. And the people are very kind. The streets are crazy. Honking 24/7. And walking here this morning, there were many young women with babies and little girls begging for food and money. It was so sad. I gave one women some crackers I saved from the plane. Another I gave my water bottle.
We exchanged some money yesterday to buy clothes, so we have rupees now. I bought a beautiful brown sudi.
Whenever you bow with your hands, the people here brighten up so much! I think it is very respectful. I love doing it. They could be frowning, and then you do that, and they smile. I think the head bobbing is awesome, and I'm sure it won't be long before we are doing it also. :)
The flights were great. We got ALL of our luggage! No problems, praise Jesus. And Qatar airways was awesome!!! It was so nice. It was a 13 hr. flight, but I hardly remember any of it! I slept for about 9-10 hours of it. :) And watched movies.
Everyone is doing great. And no one has gotten sick yet. There are lizards everywhere! I love the people of India because they live on the edge. They're not cautious about things. And the word 'stranger' does not exist. Everyone you meet is like family. It's like you've known each other for years. And I love India also because it is so random! We saw cows laying in the middle of the street this morning. And there are motor bikes everywhere!
I'm really excited to be here. Even though it's so stinkin hot, it's great. It's so colorful.
Pray that God will give us divine appointments this week. And that God will give us strength to get through these days!
I miss you all! I will write more soon! Have a great week! I'm doing great, God is providing, He is here, and I'm safe. :) I love you!!
Love,
Maria
We're here! We're at an internet cafe, and these computers are great. :) We arrived in Chennai yesterday around 4am. We met Danielle, Martin, Sarah and Vedha and his youngest son Danesh. We got to our hotel and slept into the afternoon.We had a delicious lunch at the hotel, we relaxed a bit, then walked to the subway where it took us to a LARGE and VERY crowded shopping area. The streets were filled! We went into a store that had many floors, and we all shopped for sudis, the indian shirts the women wear, and scarves. I also bought a futbol jersey. :) It's for the soccer team here, Chennai Super Kings.
It is VERY hot here. And very sticky. 95 degrees. Feels like 105! I'm wearing a long skirt right now. Our hotel room isn't air conditioned, and this morning I woke up stuck to my bed sheets, soaking wet. I used a squatty for the first time in Qatar! It went well. And we've been using them in our hotel.
Vedha and Danesh are very kind, and they are leading us around places, getting us good rates. :) We are in a town called Tamil Nadu, where most of the people speak tamil, so I haven't been able to speak much Hindi.
My feet are swollen from the plane ride! It's crazy. I think it was from air pressure or something. A couple of us have very fat ankles, but hopefully the swelling will go down soon. My feet just feel really tight. The bug spray I bought is working really well, and I haven't gotten bit much.
We are getting a whole lot of staring. It's just not common to see white people in this part of India. The people here are so kind though. They always want us to sit if we are standing. And we are getting plenty of yummy food. :) We have also been buying 2 water bottles every day form the hotel. So that is good.
I think we still have a bit of jet lag, because we're all still really tired, and the heat doesn't help, haha. But we've been napping a lot. This morning we had a yummy breakfast called dosa, which is this potato curry in bread. very good!
Tonight we will take a 6 hour AIR CONDITIONED bus/van ride to Vedha and Hilda's home. We will stay there for a while, and visit their church on Sunday. We will perform a drama and some testimonies. It should be fun! Then, we'll go to Mumbai I suppose. I'll let you know. At Vedha's home, they have internet, so I can email more from there I think.
This town seems very safe. And the people are very kind. The streets are crazy. Honking 24/7. And walking here this morning, there were many young women with babies and little girls begging for food and money. It was so sad. I gave one women some crackers I saved from the plane. Another I gave my water bottle.
We exchanged some money yesterday to buy clothes, so we have rupees now. I bought a beautiful brown sudi.
Whenever you bow with your hands, the people here brighten up so much! I think it is very respectful. I love doing it. They could be frowning, and then you do that, and they smile. I think the head bobbing is awesome, and I'm sure it won't be long before we are doing it also. :)
The flights were great. We got ALL of our luggage! No problems, praise Jesus. And Qatar airways was awesome!!! It was so nice. It was a 13 hr. flight, but I hardly remember any of it! I slept for about 9-10 hours of it. :) And watched movies.
Everyone is doing great. And no one has gotten sick yet. There are lizards everywhere! I love the people of India because they live on the edge. They're not cautious about things. And the word 'stranger' does not exist. Everyone you meet is like family. It's like you've known each other for years. And I love India also because it is so random! We saw cows laying in the middle of the street this morning. And there are motor bikes everywhere!
I'm really excited to be here. Even though it's so stinkin hot, it's great. It's so colorful.
Pray that God will give us divine appointments this week. And that God will give us strength to get through these days!
I miss you all! I will write more soon! Have a great week! I'm doing great, God is providing, He is here, and I'm safe. :) I love you!!
Love,
Maria
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