Sunday 14 September 2008

Triple Whammy

Well actually we were hit by hit by several whammies
since I last posted on Sept 5th.

1. I lost my Internet connection that night and I complained and called up several officers, but to no avail.At last I managed to procure the cell phone number of the area officer or SDO.After that I kept calling him relentlessly.Pleading with him to get my Internet and phone restored.He gave me absent-minded assurances at first.

But I kept going. I was like the persistent widow in the parable of Jesus who kept on asking the judge to settle her case.When he got fed up with her begging he meted out justice to her.

When the SDO understood that I was not going to give him any peace he came to my house and for 3 days personally supervised the restoring of my connection as well as other neighbourhood connections.Very unusual for an official to do. It was a deep underground cable fault. I got my connection back on Friday evening. Persistence works.
Seek and keep on seeking

Knock and keep on knocking

Ask and keep on asking
In all areas of your life.

2. Mom got an abdominal infection and was quite unwell these past few days. Two days ago I called in our physician to see her inspite of her saying she would be OK. He prescribed a whole slew of medicines. She is better, praise God but still can 't eat much.

3. Last weekend there was a major theft in our church sanctuary.That just blew the wind out of our sails.
The thieves broke the window pane of a side door and stole
a) Our almost new Public Address system. It was very expensive and the pride of our church. Our pastor had raised money for it and his wife had contributed quite a large amount from her own savings.
b) Brass and silver metal flower vases I had given to the church.
c) A battery run generator(UPS) donated by a church member.
d) and a 100 pound block of iron used for construction purposes - very costly.
e) Some church crockery
f) Brass fittings from the toilet WC.
g) an old table fan.
We went to the police to report the matter but the policemen said they would arrest (manhandle) our church helpers.We did not want that ,for we know they are honest people and this is not their work, so we did not lodge a formal complaint. The thieves were from outside maybe someone who had worked on our construction team.
It a huge loss for our small struggling congregation and we don 't know how to recover our damages.

After this morning 's service one of our church ladies who gets Rs 500 ( $5 or 6) as her teachers pension contributed Rs 200 ($4) towards the P.A. system Fund. Its ridiculous no one can survive on Rs 500 a month, you can only last for 2 or 3 days, but God will bless her contribution.Thank you Aunty Indu.

The off-shoot of the theft is that we have to secure a part of our wall which the thieves easily scaled to enter our campus and also board up the doors and install new padlocks etc. Added expenses which we can hardly afford.
At the time we discovered the theft we were in much pain and shock, (an Indian) missionary friend of ours visited us.Julius and his family were away for a conference last December when they got a call from a neighbour telling them that their house had been ransacked by thieves.They are not rich people. All their clothes and valuables and household stuff was gone.Julius told us, he turned to his wife and said;" Manju now we are free, we are lite, we can serve the Lord better." This story really moved us so deeply.
The burdens have seemed so heavy lately that I was almost on the verge of depression but then I was reminded of 1 Cor 10;13 - my life verse.

I know you all will pray for us.I believe God will not allow trials which I cannot bear.If I keep this truth firmly embedded in my mind - depression and self-pity will keep at bay and I will find strength to do battle with the enemy of my body and soul.
Tomorrow I have to appear in court for our church court hearing.
You must have heard about the Delhi bombings. Those are the places we frequent when we visit Delhi.

14 Fertilize my soul:

Rebecca said...

My goodness Amrita, what a post for your 'comeback' to the blogging world. I hope that this onnection with the outside world will bring you joy and a lot of encouragement and that even though most of us can only imagine some of the struggles that you face - that we are praying for you and asking God to bring HIS solution. Not only for your church community, but also for you personally

Saija said...

when the trials are great - it seems the blessings are that much greater ...

i was just shaking my head as i read your post! ! ! ! it seems that the devil is going about as a roaring lion in your midst ... may Jesus power bring overtake all evil and bring a mighty witness there in your neighbourhood!

Sara said...

am praying for your all my sweet sister. and how you must frighten hell for satan to be so hard pressed against you.

Carol-Ann Allen said...

Ah yes ... the response,"now we are free, we are lite, we can serve the Lord better" sounds exactly as if were my father talking! that is the true spirit of faith and commitment!

Thanks for sharing these details, Amrita! As we take them to heart we will all be stronger in our little corner of the world this week!

Felisol said...

Dear Amrita,
Good hearing for you again, even though the news were rather tough.
I kind of did expect something to be wrong, since I have not heard from you for nine days.
You are heavy into trials, hope that your blessings will turn out to be of the same size. (big).
May God and his guardian angles stand by you and your church every day.
From Felisol

Sita said...

We in the west are lulled into a false sense of peace because we are not experiencing the blunt front-line attacks that you and many of our brothers and sisters in countries averse to Christianity are experiencing. It just seems like too much at times.

We need to unite to pray for each other. I always marvel at stories of missionaries who were prayed for and delivered or protected at the exact time that some saints halfway around the world had been interceding for them. May God raise up more intercessors for His kingdom. We never know when it will be our turn. We will never know what more these 'rascals' had planned but were prevented by the Almighty God.

"Almighty God, show Your power, your ability to restore one-hundred-fold what was lost. Strengthen those weakened by the string of events. Surround them and the church property and Amrita's house with an army of angels with flaming swords. Show Yourself mighty. What Satan meant for harm, to hamper Your work, turn to Your good, to aid in the advancement of Your kingdom and may all know that it is Your Handiwork. In the mighty Name of Jesus, at whose Name all knees will bow, I pray, Amen."

Donetta said...

I have kept abreast of the sufferings and persecutions of our dear brothers and sisters there In India.
Hold on and know that even in the challenge yes he will make a way. there is s level of wisdom in what the brother said. Now we are fat and fat makes for a danger of complacency. That is the picture here complacency.
I do hope Mother is well soon and that peace rest your mind of all of these things. I will pray I will also hold up your needs. We shall do our best to help forgive me the neglect of your needs. For I have abundance.

Curious Servant said...

Hi Sis.

I've missed you.

I would like to help in some way... not sure how (except prayer, and you have that).

Renae said...

Oh, I'm so sorry about all of this! I'm glad you got your internet connection back. I'll pray that the stolen things will be restored.

Sheryl said...

Wow I knew something must be wrong since I hadn't heard from you in so long. How terribly sad all that has happened. I would love to help in a tangible way. Is there somewhere that I could send money to help replace those things? Please let me know and I will do what I can. Of course, will continue to pray but at times like these we need to band together and do a bit more.

Love to you-
Sheryl

Julia Dutta said...

Hi Amrita,
So that was the whole story.I was wondering where you were.

Well, on Saturday, I had gone with friends to book flats for them in Faridabad. We returned to their house in CP, near Central Park, at 5pm exhausted. Sometime after that we heard one small sound of a bomb followed by a large one. The birds started flying around and we knew that there had been a blast. I was supposed to return home after dinner with their family, but could not. When I left at 5.30am next morning, there was smell of gunpowder in the air.

This is my first experience of being close to a bomb blast. Although when the Parliament shoot out happened in 2002, I watched it from the PRO's office where I was, from the window which overlooked the Parliament! God! What and all one experiences in Delhi!

God bless,
Julia

Michelle said...

Am praying in Ukraine for you and all Christians in India!

Amrita said...

Thank you my dear friends for your words of blessing. It means just a lot to us to have friends praying.
That 's right friends the devil like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But our God is the LION OF JUDAH.

Dear Curious Servant, thank you so much for your kind thought. You have so many of your own troubles and responsibilities. I have sent you an email.

Dear Sheryl,
Its so sweet of you to respond in this way. I will send you an email. Do you have your email address on your blog?

Hi Carol-Ann, it takes such faith and trust to respond to tragedy like that.

Hi Julia, I tried opening your page but got stuck.
You really had a narrow escape, you could have been right on the scene. i was worried about you.We have many friends and relatives in Delhi. Pray theu are all safe and those are the places we alsways go out to shop when we are in Delhi, its hard to imagine how they could have done this.
I am nervous that some crazy terrorist might use my email ID to send warning messages to the media or police as they have done!!!
Makes one feel insecure.Hope they catch this Qureshi guy.Take care Julia.

Thank you Michelle,I follow the Russia/Gorgia news on BBC. Pray you are safe too.

nvittal said...

Oh - That's very sad. Did they (police) make any progress? Hope you get your stuff back!