Well it has been several WEEKS since I have
written. Shameful. I have brainstormed many times over the
course of the past few weeks about what I could write: my experience with
cooking, stuff Indians DO, all about Hindi movies, September until now, and
many other topics. Give me a shout out
if you have an opinion about what you would like to hear about!
But after some consideration, I decided that I must
talk about the most important thing.
Have you ever been anywhere and then suddenly had a moment where your
past leading up to that one point become perfectly clear? Have you ever found yourself in a situation
that felt like you were meant to be there?
Like everything you thought that you were meant to do was merely just
getting you to this point? I have felt
like that more strongly this past month than any time in my life. I know God has always worked in my life to
guide me and use me. However, this past
month I have felt more used by God than I ever have before. I will try to do this story justice.
I made my way up to Delhi to visit my dear friend
Jill. She has three kids and her husband
had been in the States looking for a job.
I just wanted to visit her, see the sights, and get a little perspective
on my time in India. Just a few days
before I left, she called me to tell me that she had been sick for three weeks and
wanted to let me know in case I didn’t want to come anymore. “Whatever.
I am so still coming and I will take care of you. It sounds like the perfect time for me to
come!” So I went. We had pajama parties, lots of Mexican food,
and lots of heart to hearts.
By the end of the week, I was sad to tell Jill
goodbye because I didn’t know when I would see her again. But ultimately we had a super fun time and
she was feeling much better. Trip
success. Back to Mumbai for 3 or 4 days
of intense food poisoning/first time to be sick. Four days later, I got a text message. A terrible text message that made me feel
sick in a different way. Jill’s husband
had come back on Valentine’s Day to surprise her, but was very sick. She took him to the hospital in the middle of
the night because he was unresponsive.
My first thought: I have to go back now.
I talked with Tammy about it and we agreed that someone needed to
go. A few hours later we got the news
that Jill’s husband wasn’t going to make it.
It was just a matter of hours. Hours.
He passed away that night. Like that.
A man I never got to meet. A man
that I was excited to hunt for jobs for and that I had so many plans for. I was heartbroken. My sweet friend’s life would not be the
same. It wasn’t supposed to end up like
this. This wasn’t the dream.
The text that Jill sent me: “Thanks for taking care
of me so nicely. I feel like I am so
much better so I can take care of all this. Thanks for all your help.” But, I didn’t even know.
We flew to Delhi the next day, only five days after
I had come back from Delhi. The next ten
days were filled with explanations to little girls, hair stroking, songs,
prayers, and every possible (moral) coping mechanism. I did more things in that 10 day period that
I never thought I would do. It was
terrible and at the same time I loved it.
I was exhausted and drained, but God filled me. It was the most giving I have ever been and I
don’t say that to brag at all. It was
obviously not me doing anything, but it was God working in all of us.
And don’t you know that God arranged it all. I knew where to take the trash and how to
turn on the water pump because I had just been there. I knew what the kids like to eat because I
had just cooked for them. It was as if
God could have only brought me to India for the sole purpose of helping Jill
that month. If that was all God did, it
would have still been worth it to come.
I am so grateful, though, that He has done even more than that.
“For such a time as this…”
