Full Heart, Fully Funded & a New Year

On our way to church this morning, 

I was quite honestly, exhausted & I saw the world around me as dull and mundane. Along the way, however, my PERSPECTIVE shifted.

We passed some slums, barefoot, half clothed children running about, holding hands, playing & waving at us as we passed.

People in their shops, everyone going about their everyday.

Women in their colorful sarees.

Trash all over the streets, the smells of cooking, burning trash, car exhaust, dirt & dust, the sewage in the ditches.

As we pulled up through the slums, passing the little cinder block and palm tree houses

I REALIZED 

have I gone to God? or have I just accepted this mindset of discontentment. I reached out, called out, I LIFTED UP MY EYES and asked for God to change my perspective, to let me see the beauty, and not allow this negativity to steal growth that He desires for me.

We then pulled up to a tiny church made of palm leaves amidst the crowded "neighborhood." At first, in the church, there were just 2 sweet old ladies in teal sarees, and they greeted us all with such joyful, beautiful, wrinkled smiles. We all sang together, 

“You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I WILL END YOUR CAPTIVITY, restore, gather & bring you home again to your own land.” -Jeremiah 29:10-14- Then everyone in the church got up one at a time and shared what the Lord has done in 2017 as we head into 2018.People shared, with tears in their eyes, burdens, sickness, malaria, diabetes, work problems, but despite the struggle, the challenges, and pain, THROUGH IT ALL, He is good, he provides and he heals.  I am so overwhelmingly thankful for all that happened in 2017, for growth, for light, for change & challenges, for the blessing of sharing hope & light with others, for my family at home and my family around the world. For Christmas in India, for all the little moments that come together, the good, the bad, the boring & beautiful all making 2017 the beautiful wonderful year that it was.also I AM FULLY FUNDED!!!! Over these past 15 months the LORD has wonderfully and miraculously provided! Words cannot thank you enough for all the ways you have helped me in this journey. You all are truly INCREDIBLE. And I wish you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

#theworldrace #worldrace #india #newyear #fullyfunded #growth #fullheart