Throughout our time in India, I experienced so much joy and community. The people we get to be with, they just invited us into their daily life and we would just spend hours on end together. We all became family so fast, and it was also cool to see our American host’s community specially because they were so tight knit and incredibly supportive of each other. They would meet every Sunday for house church, do worship, give a message, and do communion. It was so sweet to see how they could be each other’s support in a place where there are very few people that are anywhere near the same situation as them.
I learned a lot about the Lord’s love and what it looks like to truly surrender my heart to Him. And especially what it means for me to surrender the hearts of those I love to Him. Navigating the concept that God’s love is so much bigger than anything we can imagine, and He will cherish our hearts so well. And He will cherish my heart and those of the people I love better than I ever could. This became very present to me as I started feeling more homesick and missing my family, neighbors;), and friends. The Lord cherishes their hearts so well!
I was also convicted in what my concept of peace is, we did a Bible study with our American host and one of the lines was “Jesus’ honesty disrupts false peace.” And the Lord revealed to me what peace really looks like. The truths of His peace and how that can play out in my life, and what should look differently from what I thought in the past.
A couple cool testimonies: I met this one 9 year old Indian boy, he’s adopted by an American missionary family. He is deaf and is learning American Sign Language, and I got the opportunity to sign with him and it was so sweet. Such a cool thing to be able to enter into his world and communicate with him, when so often people on his life can’t do that. So that was really sweet to see how the Lord used my ASL class in high school for that interaction.
We also got to invite one of the people that lived in our apartment building into our “penthouse”. He was the housekeeper, so he came to clean our floors, but he ended up staying for lunch and hanging out with us for hours. We got to laugh with him, learn about his Hindu religion, he showed us his medals from his marathon, and he got my shoe (that I may or may not have dropped off the roof…). And then we did worship after lunch, and he chose to stay and listen! We got to share the love and hospitality of Jesus to Him.
There were so many little moments throughout our time that were simple, sweet, Jesus moments. The Lord definitely moved in our time here and blessed us with a great community.
I can’t wait to hear more about what you learned about true peace. I’m sure you could teach me! Thank you for posting…I’ve missed this!! Love you Payton 🌺
Hi Sweet Pea : ) Oh how we have missed ‘seeing’ you and hearing about God’s plan for you & your team. I’m so excited about the ‘true’ peace you found. We are so proud of you, Payton. Prayers continue for your team. xoxox
I love that you invited the housekeeper in for your meal and worship with him but mostly that you got to learn about him. What an amazing experience you are having.
Payton, what a joy to see your smile after so many weeks and hear about your days in India. Wow! You are a treasure to everyone who crosses your path, God just has so many plans for you. 🩷🩷🩷 continues prayers for safety!
Wow Payton! Such great stories – thx for sharing your heart! Have missed hearing from you! We love you!!
Hi Payton! So good to hear from you and glad your time in India was meaningful and positive in a variety of ways. It is exciting to hear how God is working in the lives of many and how your perspectives are being shaped by Him. So glad you were kept safe and always enjoy hearing from you! 🙂 Sending love and hugs. 🙂 Mrs. S