Trials and blessings and the need for missions throughout...

Have you ever had a change in your life that at the moment was so hard and you didn't know why God was putting you through it? Only to look back and see the disaster that happened after you crossed through? To see the bottom fall out and know that God only put you through that trial because He was looking out for you. I am seeing that more and more in my life. How good God is and how everything that He does is for the good. Even the darkest of times have a bright path leading to happy times. Not to mention that those trials make us stronger and more aware of things around us that the devil tries to blind us with. I praise God for His wonderful mercy, awesome goodness and saving grace!

A few months back I asked you to pray for a lady that I work with that was doing mission work in India in the summer. She came to my classroom yesterday and brought a scrapbook/writeup of her journey. It was so touching!! She talked about how they bartered at local markets, tasted the local cuisine, and saw the slums that people lived in that in America would be considered abuse. They traveled to Ujjain, one of India's four holiest cities. There people waited for hours to offer sacrifices and try to find blessing and favor from false Gods. Man-made statues, animals, even old trees! There in that city was a river where people bathed, washed clothes, emptied the remains of cremated bodies, brushed their teeth, and dunk themselves as a way to obtain salvation and favor in the eyes of the gods. They even visited a temple where they held sacrifices of babies on each new moon! It would be and understatement at how devastated that city was for them.The Lord used this to break their hearts for the people of India and give them eyes to see them and love them well. The next day in Indore, they went out into the villages and their group was able to share the gospel with over 40 people! Eyes were fixed, people were curious and God's name was made high! The pictures were enough to make you weep in sorrow for these people. Dead animals lying in the streets, trash piled up everywhere, pictures of people digging in trash cans for food. We need to pray for this country and for the cities within. That God might destroy the idols of worship and draw the lost to Himself through the light He is shining. Pray for the missionaries who live there everyday. Pray for their safety and a heart that never grows acquainted with the darkness there but seek to uproot it.

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? Romans 10:14