Lessons Learned in India, Part 2.

6. Give thanks instead of request.
All throughout Pslams, the Bible claims that I have favor as a child of God, that my prayers are being heard, and that the Lord provides for His people. So why do I still so often ask and worry about the needs of my life? Specifically, I worry about paying for 3 more years of college. I know for a fact that this is what the Lord wants me to do in life, yet I doubt his provision for getting there. While in India, I learned an eye-opening lesson to just give thanks for the funds that the Lord will give in the future instead of continually asking for the money to be provided one day. We prayed thanksgiving over the $2 I had in my wallet and what the Lord would turn it into. I am choosing childlike faith.

7. Be thankful for the forgotten blessings.

Since returning to the states, never have I been more thankful for:

* Air conditioning

* The ability to drink any water I please without fear of illness or pick the quantity of food I'd like to eat

* A mattress and couches.

* The feelings of independence, safety, and confidence.

* Public urination, littering, and driving laws.

* The ability to talk to whomever I wanted and have them understand.

* Eavesdropping. 

* A shower head and hot water.

* Toilet paper and a flushing toilet.

8. My identity is purely a daughter of Christ.
I was a student. Now, I am a graduate. I will soon be a physical therapist. However, when the details of being a PT [or any other label I give myself] become mundane, frustrating, or desperate, I will still have an unceasing joy because I know that I am first and foremost a daughter of the most high King, whom will never become weary or mundane. Yes, PT is my calling, but Jesus died on the Cross for my sins and so that I may have the identity of God's little girl...and no other label matters because of that.


9. The Lord's heart for the poor.
It's hard to see He cares when you are looking into the faces of hundreds of hungry, empty souls on every street of India. It's hard to express this lesson because I didn't learn it from the streets. I learned from His Word, which becomes hauntingly real in the context of India. Just the few I've read: Lev. 13:22, Deut. 15:7-11, 1 Sam. 2:8, Job 5:15, Psalm 35:10, Psalm 109:6-16


10. Our God will overwhelming provide.
I can't count how many times I saw the Lord's provision in India. I learned that God will provide miracles of provision when we have two things: A faithful prayer and desperation. I need to learn to throw out my plan B, that I so often create, and just pray for God to provide, trusting He is a God of miracles.

11. Serving does not always equate expanding the Kingdom.
"New Age" individuals seemed to out number the quantity of "missionaries" serving in India. Doing good deeds is not what this trip or a believer's life should be about. Yes, serving is good, but the results of serving are temporary if the Lord is not working within the situation. Our goal in Calcutta was to show/tell others about Christ, thus impacting their eternal outcome, not just their earthly one.

12. How to be served.

Ironic. I went to India to "serve" and learned to be served. When I spent time with a specific homeless family, I was often handed chai that they bought with money they didn't have. I learned that by letting them serve me, without repayment, gave them dignity and honor when everyone else in India just ignores them. By being served, I expressed that they are a friend that has the ability to love me like anyone else, if given a chance. It was the given chance that mattered. The chance created community, intimacy, and love between us. Love that is far greater than any money I could have repaid to them for the chai.