Why India?

I’m Leslie, and I am first and foremost a daughter of a God who truly loves me.  I love culture, food, art, people-watching, Samson (our 58lb puppy) and my husband (of course I love him most out of everything else I’ve listed here in this sentence, *smile*).  

So now that we’re beyond the formalities, let’s get to the meat of this post: so why India?

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I have a love relationship with different nations, their people, and their cultures. I’ve traveled to various places from short to extended periods of time, and what really fascinates me beyond the tourist attractions, architecture and food is the people of that nation. I am often reminded of what the Lord says to Hagar after she runs away from Sarai who mistreats her out of jealousy and spite for being able to conceive a child in Genesis 16: “…where have you come from, and where are you going?” What has shaped you to be the person you are today? What is God’s destiny over your life? Yes, while I believe that circumstances and one’s own decisions can contribute to shaping a person’s life, I also believe that it does not have to determine the fate of that individual. As our God spoke the heavens and earth into place, he also spoke destiny into every individual’s life the moment he/she was conceived and it’s our choice to walk into that in which we’ve been called.

We’ll be working with several orphanages and encouraging some of the churches in the region we will be going to. I desire to see and, in some small way, be a part of the destiny that God has called to the nation of India and her people. I’d love to see what God had in mind when he made her. In Hagar’s story, the Lord seeks Hagar out and makes a promise to her and her unborn son, despite the difficulties and suffering she’s had to endure in her life. In response, Hagar says to the Lord:  “You are the God who sees me, I have now seen the One who sees me.” My desire for these children is for them to encounter the God who sees them and calls them his beloved.

allison's bit :)

I have been going through quite the transition in my Christian faith! I grew up in a strong Christian household, served passionately at my former church, and never would've thought in a million years that I would drift away from God at any point in my life. But I did. I always heard about an exaggerated statistic that young believers stop attending church once they go off to college. Even though I found a new church and a new family of believers once I moved to Boston for school, that quickly came to an end my sophomore year. It was a season of my life where I questioned everything, especially my faith in God and Christianity as a religion. I have to admit, the times when I was distant from God were the times where I felt most alone in my life. My years in college tested my faith in the most extreme ways, especially after living in and experiencing a third-world country for 4 months. While living and working in South Africa, I couldn't believe how unfair life was. How could it be possible that just within 20 miles, there could be such a huge economic gap between the same children of God? I would literally drive from a beautiful modern apartment building to a run-down area called townships, which are very similar to slums that we will find in India. I would start to feel bad and want to help the people in the townships, but then I had a huge epiphany after spending a day in the townships. The people who lived in the townships and who I perceived to be "poor" were in fact, richer than anyone else I ever met in my life. They genuinely loved living their lives, no matter their circumstances, and they had some of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen! They taught me how to appreciate life and that what is written in the Bible about not being able to serve two masters is so true ("No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." -Matthew 6:24). 

Fast forward a few more years of questioning, testing of my faith, and doubting God. By the time I went on a winter retreat with Hanbit at the end of last year, my heart was really calloused, and my faith was at a bit of a standstill. I had no motivation to get to know God because I questioned if I even knew Him in the first place. But God is so good because He used the winter retreat to soften my heart and to woo me back to having Him as my first love. I met God on a personal level, I witnessed and experienced miraculous healings, God spoke to me directly through people with the gift of prophecy, and by the end of it, there was no denying that God was real and that He loved me unconditionally. 

Which brings me to why I'm going to India! As Jennie also mentioned in the previous entry, I just want to be obedient... because I know it will please Him. Originally, I wasn't even considering going to India when EJ announced it at church, but I felt a personal calling to it shortly after. After speaking to both EJ and my mom, I knew I just had to make a leap of faith, despite my worries of finances and inadequacy. There was even a moment at IHOP (International House of Prayer) when I was being prophesied over, that was a sure sign for me to go. The girl was saying that she saw an image of me holding the hands of orphans and widows and said that I have a heart for them. She gave me this verse: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless as this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27. And fittingly enough, it turns out orphans and women are who we want to minister to in India! 

I believe by being obedient to God's plans for me will not only bring Him more glory, but it will create more room in my heart to get to know Him more intimately. After attending short-term mission trips in high school, I have learned that insecurities will shatter in the second that God calls and needs us most because He is a never-ending source of strength and confidence. I'm excited to share the love of Christ to those that don't know Him yet, especially to the orphans. I hope they feel their worth and know that they are loved and cherished, fully adopted by Christ. And I'm so excited to see how God will use myself and the rest of my team members in our moments of weakness and insecurity because that is when He will be most glorified! 

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" -Jeremiah 29:11

So… Let’s see here…
WHY AM I GOING TO INDIA?
Traveling has always been a passion of mine.
Culture. Food. People. New exciting experiences.
But all of those things are really secondary…
I’m going because I know God wants me to go. Because… He has been nudging at my heart- giving me signs, and I’m tired of passing off all these signs as… mere coincidences.
This smart dude once told me that whether you believe it is coincidence, or a sign from God- either way it takes Faith. So, now I’ve decided to no longer believe in coincidences.
BAM. Mind-blown.

You see…  I’ve been asking the Lord for signs… like.. REAL! HUGE! CONCRETE! signs so that I cannot doubt that those signs are from Him… and Jeez louise. He is so faithful… SO faithful that it’s mind-boggling. BAM, again. How can such a perfect and amazing God love someone who is so broken and weak like me? Wowza… Life changing.
He has answered all of my prayers since I was a little girl, and it took me this long to realize how REAL He is.
Prayers that I prayed under my breath that were so self-centered, insignificant, and unworthy-
prayers that I whispered in bed while laying down that I thought no one heard were all answered in the most wonderful and flawless ways.

Up until this year, I have been so angry and bitter towards God because I felt that He didn’t care about me because He didn’t give me “stuff” I asked for or do things in the manner I wanted Him to follow through. I expected instant gratification results because that’s what I was accustomed to living in this fast-paced world. But now I’ve finally realized that His plans are not only bigger and greater, but much more meticulously planned out than my plans.
Everything in His timing is… perfect.
Summer of 2011, I got to travel around Europe for 10 weeks with new faces from all over the U.S. and Canada- and it.. was.. Incredible! That was when I heard of what’s going on in India from a dear Canadian friend that I met during my study abroad trip named Tracy. Tracy was in India for a month teaching English in 2010, and her stories were amazing. That’s when I knew that I just HAD to find some way to get there. I didn’t know it then, but God already gave me a piece of His heart then- to go and love on His children.
I wanted to just… play with the orphans, hug them, and love on them. (Just like what He wants to do with us- ALL people…)
Slowly but surely, God is revealing more and more of himself to me, and I just want to be obedient. I feel like I'm finally seeing the world as I was intended to through His eyes. I see His fingerprints here in his world, and I want to run after it. Chase it.
I don’t want to make Him sad anymore or break His heart like what I have been doing. For the first time I want to do something for His glory and stop asking for things because finally… I see that His Love truly is enough.

I want to obey.

I want to- WANT to obey.
Therefore, this trip to India will be another baby-step in my effort to become more obedient.

a bit of an intro

So God stepped beyond the cosmos and walked among us as one of creation in order that we may not only walk with Him again one day, as did Adam and Eve at the Genesis of creation, but today.  Jesus came to give us life today and here are bits of His kingdom witnessed through the eyes of our little community. Revelation 12:11a tells us that Satan is overcome by the blood of Jesus and the word of our testimony... so here are our testimonies as they are continuing to be written by the Lover who holds the pen of His beloved.