Month: August 2017

I recently attended a Women’s Meeting at our church. This meeting was all about empowering women to recognize their role in Kingdom work.

I usually don’t attend any meetings because I always need to stay at home to look after my daughter who is a special need child. But this time I decided to attend it. I really wanted, maybe needed to connect back to the women’s fellowship. And I am glad I did!

Our guest Speaker Dulcie Philip who is from Chennai, India was ministering to us.  She shared a message from Isaiah 54:1-2

A captive daughter of Zion

“Awake, awake, Zion,
 clothe yourself with strength!
Put on your garments of splendor,
    Jerusalem, the holy city.
The uncircumcised and defiled
    will not enter you again.
2 Shake off your dust;
    rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains on your neck,
    Daughter Zion, now a captive.”

She encouraged us to know our identity, freedom and worth in Christ. She challenged us to dare to step into our God-given destiny by rising up despite the circumstances, to recognize our calling, and function fully into it. She further shared her life experiences and how God helped her come out of her confinements and thrive into her God-given purpose.

As she was sharing the message, I felt as if it was for me. Her words began an awakening in my spirit. God purposed for me to attend the meeting to hear His word, His prompting and His encouragement for me to awake and arise from my bondages, to put on new garments of His strength, to receive His fresh anointing, a new perspective and a new beginning. I realised it was not the circumstances which made me captive; it was my mindset, my thinking, my imaginings and anticipations.

I pictured myself as a captive daughter of Zion who is chained with fears, disappointments, heartaches, uncertainties, doubts, people’s opinions about her, feelings of worthlessness and emptiness. God is asking me to break off the chains that are binding my soul and be free and be enthroned with His power which is in me.

God wants me to be ministered to before He uses me to minister to others.

He wants His truths to go deeper into my heart and get rooted in.

He wants me to grasp the true meaning of freedom….freedom in Him.

He wants me to awake from my imaginary world I built up over many years.

He wants me to arise to my new identity in Him.

He wants me to shackle off myself to flourish into my destiny.

Here’s a poem I have written almost six years ago and now I truly understand its real meaning

“I am chained, I am chained waiting to be free

Free to be myself, free to be just me

I am chained, I am chained waiting to be free….

The dreams of my heart were to touch others’ lives

Lives of the suffering, the broken and the lost

I wished to enlighten their lives with my life

To restore, to rescue, to save them for Christ

But I am chained, I am chained waiting to be free….

The vision of my life seems to be fading

The passion of my heart seems to be dying

Will anyone hear the cry of my heart?

Will anyone run to set me apart?

Will anyone unchain the dreams that are bound?

Will anyone heal the unmended wound?

In the midst of my anguish, in the midst of my pain

I heard a voice that lovingly says

“My daughter, my daughter

You are born to be free

You are called for a purpose to set others free

Your dreams will be unchained

If you delight in me

Your scars will be mended if you trust only in me

With new joy in your heart, you will rise like before

As you wait for the one, who cares for you more

He is your Father, the almighty God

One who promised to never leave your hand”

Yes, I will be unchained, I will be unchained

As I wait upon thee

Free to be myself, free to be just me.”

I want to encourage you today that the freedom you so long to have is only found in the Lord. He alone knows you, your chains, the weight you carry on your heart, the tears you shed in the dark, the dreams you are tending, the limitations you are bound in. He wants to set you free and want you to arise and be enthroned with His power. Will you listen to His voice?

In 2013, my husband and I, along with our 1 year old son went to work for a Tribal Children Project (Yuva Community Development Center) in Wayanad which is in the northen part of Kerala, India. It is run by a Christian organization named Yuva Social Movement http://www.yuvasocialmovement.org/ The NGO works among the tribal community in Wayanad especially for children who are affected by extreme poverty. The mission of this movement is to provide nutritious food, clothes, medical care and holistic education to the impoverished children in the tribal colonies which are situated in the tiger reserved forests.

We had an opportunity to administer the Project work for a period of time.

Meanwhile, my daughter, who was newly born, developed some serious health issues so we needed to move to another city for her treatment. It was so hard to say bye to the kids who loved us so much. But we didn’t have any other choice than to leave them during that time.

A beautiful incident I can’t forget:  They had a prayer activity named “Children in Prayer” every week. In this one hour activity, they would pray for their needs, for the Project’s needs, for their sponsors and for their families. One day they all gathered to pray for our daughter who was sick. One of the little girls around 10 years old prayed in her broken words for our baby Jennie.

“Dear Jesus, You can take my life but please heal our Jennie.”

It was the boldest prayer anyone could ever pray including me as a mother.

Her prayer brought tears in my eyes as she prayed with much weight on her heart for our daughter.

They indeed bestowed much love on us more than we could do for them. Their innocent talks, their pure faith in Jesus and their genuine love made a big difference in our lives.

Years passed by, we were settling in the new place, I was getting busy with the treatment of our daughter, and looking after my family and the memories of the  time I had with these kids began to fade away slowly.

When things were settling down for me, I was given the opportunity from the Director of the Organization to take up some responsibilities in the administration work of the Project last year.

I worked for a few months from home with the sponsorship works, but I couldn’t continue as I had to quit to better care for my kids.

But every time I thought about those kids, a thought struck me…I couldn’t help them despite knowing their situation. Having worked in the Project for two years I had witnessed what poverty was. I had seen closely the negative effects poverty has on the children, their family and the community; I had seen their daily challenges, the suffering they go through. I was given an opportunity to extend my helping hand towards them, to make a difference in their lives, to help them have a better life and a better future.

Children's houses

I had a choice to forget them, to think that there are many people to work for them, to just ensure the wellness of my own kids, making sure they get good food, education, they don’t have to go to bed with hungry stomachs, and they have all the facilities to live happily.

But this time I wanted to choose the these children. As gratitude to their love and prayers for us, I want to stand for them and for their happiness.

I may not be able to put an end to their situation alone, but I will bring them the hope of Jesus by contributing my time to the work which benefits their future.

I want to serve as the light of Christ into the darkness of their poverty.

I have a choice to make. To keep the lamp hidden or to let it be used for its purpose.

I have a choice to close my ears and eyes to their struggles or to help them come out of it.

I have a choice to love them by my words or love them by my actions.

I have a choice to react on the social issues or pre -act on them.

When I read news on child abuse, child labour, prostitution, death caused by malnutrition I have a choice to fold back my newspaper, pick up my empty cup of tea and go on with my daily chores thanking God that my kids and I are safe or I have a choice to make all efforts to extend my help for these poor little lives in whatever ways I can…whomever God wants to place in my life.

I have a choice to be the hands and feet of Jesus or to stop them from reaching out.

Life is short and I might not have another chance to make a difference in this hurting world but now when I have a choice, I will seize it.

You have a choice too!

To make a difference in the world, to enlighten someone’s life with yours, to act against the social issues of society, to contribute your time, your talents, your financial help, your prayers, a part of your life and to be the light of Christ to the suffering world.

As you read this blog post, I would like you to spend a minute praying for these  precious children of Wayanad, India, and for all the children in the world who are suffering under the crushing weight of poverty and injustice. Pray that they will be reached with God’s love and hope.

https://www.yuvasocialmovement.org/yuva-community-development-center

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