Things I’ve learned to appreciate all the more since being in India… running water (cold or hot) whenever I want it, electricity at the flip of a switch, cell phones, roads with traffic laws, bookstores, and washing machines. Though I’ve learned to appreciate them all the more, the truth is I’ve learned to live without them and realize they are comforts I’ve known and taken for granted.
The things I truly miss and I’m learning to adapt to is freedom of worship, freedom to share Christ without the fear of being asked to leave, being beaten, or some sort of social excommunication, and structure of teaching found in the churches I’ve been blessed to be a part of. I have spent hours speaking with a Christians from this area and other parts of India, listening to the cost they paid to follow Jesus. Some were excommunicated from their village, some from their family, others have been imprisoned, beaten, publically humiliated, forced to close their doors of business, and even leave behind all they have known so they could find safety to even learn more about this Jesus they have given their lives to. They smile when sharing their stories and I hear Paul saying “these light afflictions….”
It is true that in America on some level we suffer persecution, some social isolation from friends and/or family, and even at times have to leave what we’ve known in order to break free from all that keeps us from fully following Him. I was a senior in high school when I gave my life to Christ and it was probably my loneliest year in classes as I had to separate myself from the group of people I spent most of my time with because we were going in different directions. I wanted a life set a part, nothing hindering me from walking intimately with Jesus and living to the fullest the life He dreamed for me. My friends poked fun, I heard all the jokes, and even had people take bets how long I would ‘stay in church’ (the longest I got was six months). At times, though my family came to Christ the same day I did, they thought I was strange and I often felt misunderstood, but never did they tell me to follow Christ would cost me being their daughter. Never did I lose my job because I was open about my faith with coworkers or even customers. Never was I questioned in the middle of town and my Jesus mocked and I was asked to deny Him or suffer a beating. I’m learning the cost of the Gospel on a new level from these I now call my friends, co laborers, and brothers and sisters in the Christ.
I’m in a land often referred to as the “Heart of Darkness” because of cultic religions and more than half the year cut off from the rest of the world due to terrain and weather conditions. Buddhists and Muslims live in peace; Hindus and Buddhists live in peace; Muslims and Hindus have been in conflict for many years and their disputes make up much of India’s history; Christians fear if they are too open about their faith it will cost them everything. So even if they call themselves Christians, in public some choose to profess other religions so they are free from persecution. Though they believe they now walk in the truth, in reality they would rather live in safety than tell their neighbor what can set them free.
Here I am a dreamer, passionate, full of faith my God can and will do anything. I feel like Elijah when he stood before the prophets of Baal and I want the town and every village to see Jesus is alone the one true God. I’m in the land that Thomas traveled to after Jesus’ resurrection and he became a martyr in attempt to spread the Good News! I read the verse Isaiah 52:7 that states “How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace, and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” and I want to run throughout the Himalayas declaring the peace and salvation found in Jesus alone, that He is the Lord of Lords, King of Kings, the One True God who created them, loves them so that He gave His life as a sacrifice to pay a debt we could not in ourselves pay, so that we can spend ETERNITY with Him. Yet I need wisdom, God’s strategy in how to reach these people, in a way not that I will be spared from persecution, but I don’t want to endanger those I’m working with and living among who share my passion. I respect them and can’t possibly comprehend the price many of them have already paid and though I want them to be louder, the truth is I see my zeal needs their balance from experience.
I weep as I walk the streets surrounded by people who do not know, who the world labels as ‘peaceful’ but in reality lives in torment not knowing what happens when death comes, watching them go through pointless rituals believing each work will bring them closer to some sort of relief, and yet at times I feel I can learn from them about the simplicity of life and contentment with what I have instead of longing for what I think I am missing.
I need you, Jesus, to give me Your strategy to bring Light into their darkness, to bring Truth into their deceptive lies, Hope into their despair, Peace into their torment, and Boldness to replace their fear. I stand on Your promise from Isaiah 42:16, “And I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them, I will make darkness into light before them and rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do and I will not leave them undone.” Do it, Lord! Do it in this land! And if I can be a vessel used to carry it out, I yield myself to the process, and ask for You, Jesus, to lead me down the path that will bring glory to Your name and make Your love known.
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