(Closer by Steffany Frizzel)
God's been lavishly pouring His love on me, and I've come to a point here where I am experiencing His love in ways like never before. He loves us deeper than we can ever imagine. Who would have thought I'd be taught so much about love while doing missions in India in some of the darkest areas. Yet, here I am in Kolkata, India experiencing so much of the Fathers heart for me and His people. Step by step I can see more with His eyes and the way He views His people.
The people here that I've made relationships with are people that have changed my life in such beautiful ways. From the staff here at JIAC, my host family, or other staff and interns the Shaw's oversee, I am blessed by having them in my life. I am overjoyed by what I do and the fact that I am here to love on people in dark places. Such stories of God's redemption I've witnessed take place here. Christ works in our lives chasing after each one of us, all we have to do is walk into His presence and choose Him. He has all the plans, he knows what will happen from now on in through eternity. Much of what I see around me breaks my heart, but God shines His light in even those darkest of places and I am seeing revival take place.
I saw a lady in the brothels whose face was beat up badly, her sari was ripped and worn in so many places, she had garbage in her hair and was sitting in the alley crying out. I assumed she had just been beat up, because that is quite the common occurrence in the brothels. I'm standing next to this weeping lady, picking garbage out of her hair while she talks to one of our staff members. While talking to her, we found out she actually had done that to herself. She was extremely drunk and had been falling over left and right, throwing fits and letting herself get hurt. This broke my heart all the more, because it was not a case of someone else abusing her and treating her poorly; it was her doing this to herself because she thought so little of her life. She was abusing herself and hurting the people around her. She was believing the lies that people had been telling her in regards to who she is and what she is worth in this life. I was reminded of the women caught in adultery in John 8;1-11. All I could think of was how God showed her his unconditional love and how it was His powerful love that it caused her to change her ways, value herself and experience God's grace in HUGE ways.
While my story isn't like either of these women, God definitely spoke to me through it. He has been trying to show me more and more of His love and it is such an awesome experience to reach a deeper level of love with my Creator. So good.
It's His love that has caused me to cross oceans, He wants me to show His love to some of the poorest, most unloved people. Some of the greatest leaders and most beautiful jewels in the King's crown are in these brothel and slums, they just don't know it. God is pursuing them, and I'm so blessed to be able to play even a part in showing these people His love for them. A love that when they accept will take them on the greatest journey of their lives.
"37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. "
Romans 8:37-39
