Here & There

2 Corinthians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

Within the Indian culture it is at times hard to tell if you are impacting or not, because of the respect they have for you. This may sound weird, but it is true. They will listen to you, take notes and thank you afterwards for your teaching, preaching or training. Indians have a strong inward respect for elders, and those that are in “authority.” It is changing, according to many, because of the secularization of Bangalore. Yes, the Western philosophy is wearing down the Indian culture that is seen in many areas.

The other day I finished teaching my class on Pastoral Counseling and one of the students came up to me and asked to talk for a minute. He wanted to thank me for my teaching because it helped answer a lot of questions he was struggling with as a believer. He was telling me that he was going to go to Africa as a missionary, and that his Visa did not get accepted, which he took as God saying no for now. God seemed to be telling him that he needed more education and then he found ACPL, and now he is attaining a Master’s in Missions degree that he will be able to use in the field.

This was a great blessing to hear that God is using me to impact the students and helping to strengthen their faith. God has also been blessing us in our witness to many in the U.S. as well. God has used our moving and following God to impact many and strengthen their faith. Because we lost Tobiah, there have been many opportunities to talk to people who are suffering because of the same situation. Our faith has been impacted deeply and people here and there have watched how God walked us through this time and used it to bless us and them.

In the short time that we have been in the mission field, we have been able to see many instances where God is using us not only here in India, but in the U.S. as well through the internet. God uses all the tools available for His glory if we only make use of them, and we are privileged to see this in our ministry here.

What Satan or this world might do to us that seems to be evil at the time, God will use in the end for His glory for those who love Him. And we sure love Him and have seen how He has used all our sufferings thus far for His purposes and for His glory, and that is all we can ask.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”