If you haven't yet read Part I of this post (The Sound of Heaven Touching Earth), things will make a lot more sense if you go back and do that. Click on either of the links above. They're in pink. No rush, I'm learning patience.
Read it? Welcome back.
As I was saying, praising God and asking the Spirit to break out at the beginning of the trip gave Him the room to do exactly that.
But speaking to the villagers was not the magnificent part. In fact, that paled in comparison.
Praying with the villagers is what split my heart wide open.
At each village we had the humbling honor to pray for those who were in the church. It looked different each day (ex: in Hassanabad, it included our team leader naming three of the babies in that village!), but it was equally incredible at all four.
These beautiful people were so full of faith that they stood waiting to be prayed for. They wouldn't be passed up. In fact, for some of them, even as we were praying for others they would move our hands and place them on their own heads, ensuring they would not be left out of a blessing.
They were more afraid of not asking for prayer than asking.
Bold.
Think of the woman in the book of Mark who touched Jesus’ robe in the crowd of people. By any means necessary, she would receive a blessing.
If I could just touch His clothes.
If you’re reading this, you join me in having an advantage over the majority of the people in the world.
Just by using a computer or a mobile device to access the internet, you are among the richest.
By understanding the English language and being able to read it, you are among the most educated.
And by having both of those at the same time, there is a significant chance you are in a region where you can worship God freely, if you so choose.
One of the most gut-wrenching things I learned during this trip is that though some of the villages where the wells and churches were built truly had no access to clean water, some of the villages did. In fact, they had several wells. But when villagers converted to Christianity, they were relegated to the lowest caste system, thereby revoking any and all access to the village well.
The wells were there. In plain sight. For some villagers, they could even look out the windows of their huts and watch others use the well. Get water to bathe. To drink. To water their crops. To feed their families.
Think of the woman in the book of Mark who touched Jesus’ robe in the crowd of people. By any means necessary, she would receive a blessing.
“The woman had heard about Jesus,
so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes.
She said to herself,
‘If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well.’
As soon as she touched them,
her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was well.”
Mark 5:27-29 (CEV)
If I could just touch His clothes.
If you’re reading this, you join me in having an advantage over the majority of the people in the world.
Just by using a computer or a mobile device to access the internet, you are among the richest.
By understanding the English language and being able to read it, you are among the most educated.
And by having both of those at the same time, there is a significant chance you are in a region where you can worship God freely, if you so choose.
One of the most gut-wrenching things I learned during this trip is that though some of the villages where the wells and churches were built truly had no access to clean water, some of the villages did. In fact, they had several wells. But when villagers converted to Christianity, they were relegated to the lowest caste system, thereby revoking any and all access to the village well.
The wells were there. In plain sight. For some villagers, they could even look out the windows of their huts and watch others use the well. Get water to bathe. To drink. To water their crops. To feed their families.
But these Christians were rejected.
Yet knowing this, they still chose Jesus.
Yet knowing this, they still chose Jesus.
They recognize God’s omnipotence and His grace and mercy and know that these things, above all else, are all that matter in this life.
And when we arrived, those villagers faces were lit up. Their eyes were gleaming. The joy in their hearts unmatched. And their actions demonstrated that they believed if they could just touch us, as extensions of their Heavenly Father doing earthly work, they would be healed.
No other definition of faith I have found.
And when we arrived, those villagers faces were lit up. Their eyes were gleaming. The joy in their hearts unmatched. And their actions demonstrated that they believed if they could just touch us, as extensions of their Heavenly Father doing earthly work, they would be healed.
No other definition of faith I have found.
One thing I've learned, you can never be too prayed for.
I have some faithful pray-ers in my life that I can call at anytime and I know they will lift me up. There has also been plenty of times where I have received a call or text saying they were thinking about me and praying for me and I hadn't even told them what was going on that day.
In fact, several of my friends joined together at the whim of one of my Charlotte mamas to pray for me and my future husband for 40 solid days after I became single again.
Talk about blown away.
Not everything needs to be shared with everyone. Revelations we receive from God are for us and pertain to our personal journey with Him.
But God did reveal some things that I want to share, in the spirit of boldness.
I feel that God is calling me to the mission field in a more long-term aspect.
I don’t know what that looks like, and I don’t know the timeline, but I know that I heard an unmistakable voice and that is what He said.
The irony is that many people around me have seen this for a long time. My praying friend and her husband placed bets on whether or not I would return from India. She has been talking about my heart for missions for as long as I’ve known her and we jokingly (but maybe I was the only one laughing?) refer to a lot of my revelations as Kisses from Katie moments.
Then as I called my dear sweet Mama upon my arrival back in the States, she spoke words of confirmation over me about being a missionary before I could even open her mouth to tell her I don’t feel the United States will be my home for much longer.
There are a thousand questions swirling in my head now.
I have some faithful pray-ers in my life that I can call at anytime and I know they will lift me up. There has also been plenty of times where I have received a call or text saying they were thinking about me and praying for me and I hadn't even told them what was going on that day.
In fact, several of my friends joined together at the whim of one of my Charlotte mamas to pray for me and my future husband for 40 solid days after I became single again.
Talk about blown away.
Not everything needs to be shared with everyone. Revelations we receive from God are for us and pertain to our personal journey with Him.
But God did reveal some things that I want to share, in the spirit of boldness.
I feel that God is calling me to the mission field in a more long-term aspect.
I don’t know what that looks like, and I don’t know the timeline, but I know that I heard an unmistakable voice and that is what He said.
The irony is that many people around me have seen this for a long time. My praying friend and her husband placed bets on whether or not I would return from India. She has been talking about my heart for missions for as long as I’ve known her and we jokingly (but maybe I was the only one laughing?) refer to a lot of my revelations as Kisses from Katie moments.
Then as I called my dear sweet Mama upon my arrival back in the States, she spoke words of confirmation over me about being a missionary before I could even open her mouth to tell her I don’t feel the United States will be my home for much longer.
There are a thousand questions swirling in my head now.
Is this why I am single again? To have the freedom to pick up and go?
Is this something to be done with my spouse? Our family?
Where will I be sent?
Where will I be sent?
Will I be working with children, whom my heart yearns for every hour of the day (as if serving in children’s church and babysitting regularly aren’t a tell-tell)?
Or will I be working with teenage girls and young adult women, as that seems to be what opportunities God consistently presents me with on a speaking platform?
What about the audacious call on my life to write?
What I feel called to write and what I feel called to do are completely opposite.
Will they ever intersect or am I to do both with God’s strength, in God’s name, for God’s glory?
And then comes that pesky word again: preparation.
I may not have any idea what is coming next, but I know it’s coming.
And if I sit idly by, I'm going to miss chance after chance to join God and witness Him bringing Heaven to earth. He is giving free tickets to this journey, and I don't want anything to keep me from cashing mine in.
So if I don’t return phone calls, don’t take it personally. I’m in a season of preparation.
If I can’t hang out, it’s not you. It really is me.
If I seem closed off, I’m not closing you out. I’m letting God in.
I am actively preparing so that when I need to be openly prepared, I can release all control and let the Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders.
And you can never be too prayed for, so will you pray these "unsafe" prayers with me?
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