My heart is breaking...is yours? Perhaps I should share another story...picture this: a 7 year old girl living on the grounds of the large Howrah train station. Short black raggedy hair, a ripped dress that doesn't fit her petite malnourished size, with a layer of dirt on her beautiful tan skin. I'd like to imagine her getting a piggy back ride from daddy or her hair braided from mommy...but instead she's making a living by recycling empty bottles and selling her young body. Instead of painting her nails and playing with dolls, she's sniffing glue to find an escape from the daily reality. Her arms covered in both cuts from self-harm and teeth marks from the boys who pick on her at the station. I walk up to this little girl and greet her with a smile and a friendly "namustay" (hello in Bengali). She looks at the ground as if I'm not there. So I get down to her level and take her hand and try greeting her again. She looks at me but quickly glances away. Her eyes glazed over from getting high the night before. We continue holding hands and begin to walk through the train station. Not a word spoken from either of us as we held hands and shortly warmed up to one another with swinging our arms as our fingers clinched to one anthers. I asked her to come to life connection so we can be friends and I can give her clothes and a dress that fits. She lights up and expresses her desire to come. But only if the "uncle" ( man who controls a lot of the children at the station, much like in the movie "slum dog millionaire".) will let her free for the day to come. She says if she can make it, she will meet us there tomorrow. I get on the train to go back to life connection and as the wheels begin to roll on the tracks she jumps on the train to hug me and say "see you tomorrow!" one last time. She jumps off speedily and begins to run and follow the train as far and fast as she could-- holding her hand out to my window and mine out to her barely missing each others fingers as the train picked up speed and she was left in the distance. I watched for her the next day at the center. She never showed and I never saw her at the station again. I guess "uncle" had other plans for her. She might not be let off her work duties, so I say a silent desperate prayer for her. Imagine that. Do you have a young daughter, or little sisters? I have little sisters. Imagine them alone living life like this, the way no human was intended to. Especially a innocent child. It breaks my heart, but it's the ugly truth of what happens everyday. I might not have the power to set her free or take back what she's been through...but it's amazing what a change it can make in a child when you show you care and see them. That you believe they can have a future and that God has a special plan for each of them...even the orphaned kids getting high at Howrah. When I pray for them they cry. And when we tell them how God has a plan for their life, the tears begin to flow down their exhausted cheeks. Tears I am confident flow every night as they raise themselves with no family, home, or hope.
I'm certainly not num to what's happening in the world anymore. To the horrors of truth haunting me everyday walking the streets of India.
Yes--me telling you these heavy stories might not stop that little girl from getting sold or give her a family....but it will raise awareness for your prayer targets. And it should move you to intercede for this world, specifically these children at Howrah station and places similar.
It's 2am and I have ministry early in the a.m., but I have so much on my mind I must blog it out.
The world needs to know the truth. It's harsh, sad, and heartbreaking. But it's what I'm experiencing and seeing everyday. My thoughts are but wild puzzle pieces scattered on the ground.
This afternoon I went to a pastors house with 2 other people on my team to teach his wife some English worship songs. It turned out they were having a church service in their home later and asked us to stay and join. So we did.
It began with worship, played by a guy named Raju on the guitar and the pastor playing harmonica. By the second song the electricity went out, sending the spinning fan to a hault and the room to a pitch dark. But they kept on singing. The pastors wife pulled out an old lantern and lit it in the middle of the room radiating a small yellow light just enough to see the silhouettes of the beautiful Indian faces who came. (there were about 30 people crammed in this small room sitting Indian style, most knees overlapping.) After many songs of worship and cries of prayer, the pastor gave a sermon on love. Afterwards we had a time of fellowship and tea. The pastors wife gave us a plate of crackers to disperse among everyone. As we passed out the crackers, a trail of ants began to crawl up our arms. The crackers were covered in them, but it's all they had so we did our best to ignore it. The hospitality I have experienced in India is unbelievable. Some of these home have nothing--yet if they have a guest over they will give them their dinner just to serve them. you never leave a home without having at least a cup of chai tea and crackers. Always such a blessing! I want to take this character quality home with me.
>>>The information on this blog is a bit outdated, since I haven't had a chance to post in several weeks. But I just arrived back in Hawaii and found this saved as a draft on my blog. I'm not sure if I was planning on posting it when I had written it and had just needed to get some stuff out of my head. Now re-reading it, I thought it'd be good to let people read a taste of what was and still is in my mind with hopes that it'd give a deeper desire to pray for the nations and specific situations.
These are only a few stories from outreach out of countless. I cannot even process or retain all that has happened to me and what I've seen over the past three months. I leave for Texas tomorrow to finish the summer with my family and process with God all that has happened. I am so excited to spend my first week in Texas in all of 2012!! Yesterday was our YWAM DTS graduation ceremony and it was amazing yet so sad to say goodbye to the people who have laughed, cried, walked, grown, and traveled with me these past six months. I have surely gained some friendships from all over the world that will last forever.
A special thanks to ALL of you who have prayed for and supported me through this journey. I couldn't have done it without feeling and knowing the peace of your prayers. I plan to continue blogging because my journey with God is just beginning and I've actually come to enjoy posting my thoughts for anyone to read. haha.
Glory and honor to my faithful God for giving me the strength to persevere.
I made a fun movie for my team that has some memories of pictures, videos, testimonies, and songs from outreach, but I'm having trouble getting it to upload..I will work on getting it up this week!
