My, it has been rather a long time since I last wrote! At the time of my last post I had just purchased a one-way ticket to India. I said that I would tell more later about why I was going to India. I also told people that I would try to post more regularly while in India. Well, I've been in India for a week now, so I suppose it is about time to make good on both promises. ;)
I really love telling people how God led me to India, and if you've seen me in the past several months, chances are high that I've already told you this story. Feel free to stop reading if you've heard this one:
I made my first trip to India in 2008 with my mom and our friend Liz. There were certainly things I enjoyed about that trip: the food was incredible, there were interesting things to see and do, and we had the opportunity to visit several close family friends and make new friends. But, I also got a heavy dose of culture shock. I was glad to return home, and mentally filed the trip under "Interesting Experiences I Don't Need to Repeat." I was fairly certain I would never go back.
Late in 2014 my parents started planning a young adults trip for the following summer. I was surprised to find myself drawn to the idea of going on this trip. I did not want to go, but every time they talked about it I felt like I needed to go. But, I had good excuses not to go! My biggest reason for not going was that I was on a time constraint to finish the requirements for my psychology license. I was unemployed and knew that I would need to be in a full-time job by the time of the trip in order to finish my required hours, and what employer would ever let me take off three weeks of work to go on a mission trip when I had only just started working there? Whenever I felt that nudge toward the trip, I would remind God of this, but I never had peace about not going.
One day I just couldn't get rid of the feeling that I should go on the mission trip. I prayed about it, and I told God once again that I couldn't go; but he spoke to my heart and told me something else. He told me that He wanted me to go, and that He was not going to call me to do something and not take care of the other details of my life. I knew I needed to be obedient, so I told my mom that I would go on the trip, wrote a deposit check and sent it to the church.
The day after I sent in my deposit check, I got an email from Bethany Christian Services asking me to interview for a family therapist position! When I went for the interview I told the supervisors that I had committed to this trip. Not only did they say that I would be allowed to go on the trip, but they were genuinely supportive and excited for me.
As the trip approached I sent out letters asking for prayer and support. I don't like to ask for money, so I didn't say much about it, but I was secretly very concerned that I wouldn't be able to raise all the money I needed for the trip. I didn't need to be worried. Within a few weeks all the money for my ticket and expenses came in, and more, so that I was able to transfer some of the funds to others on the trip.
There were several other requests I asked my partners to pray for, and God answered all of them beautifully.
I asked for prayer for guidance and wisdom in discerning if I was called to longer term missions in India. I remember feeling silly even writing that in the letter, because my heart was not at all open to the idea of living in India.
It didn't take long for God to change my heart. We spent the first week of our trip in Aizawl, Mizoram. The trip got off to a seemingly disastrous start for me: my legs were painfully swollen from traveling, I fell down a flight of cement stairs on the first day of VBS, and I was exhausted from jet-lag, which led to a cluster of seizures.
Despite these things, I found myself falling in love with Aizawl. I knew that there was a high suicide rate and lack of counsellors. I started to think that maybe I could come back and start a counseling ministry and train counsellors. My mind started going a million miles an hour with this, but then I stopped myself. I told myself “this is just mission trip high! You don’t really want to come live in India!” But the desire was still there. I prayed about it, and I told God that I would not mention this to any other person; if He wanted me in India, He would need to put it on someone else’s heart to invite me.
The next morning I walked down the street to our friends’ house for coffee. Before I could even sit down at the table, Hranga said to me, “Emily! When are you going to come live in Mizoram and train counsellors?”
You could have knocked me over with a feather.
I told him I needed to finish my licensing requirements, but that I would be free to come in one year. So, here I am. I have never been so certain of anything in my life. I am not entirely sure what the months to come will bring, but I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the Lord has led me here, and that He will use me.
There is no better place to be than in the middle of God’s will.
