What am I choosing?

Bro J challenged us with this story which brought tears to my eyes.

While travelling on trains in India you will come across child sweepers cleaning railway coaches.They belong to impoverished backgrounds, many of them are orphans or run-aways.They come into the coaches and clean them and then stretch out their hands before passengers who grace them with a few pennies.Many times they are abused and thrown out.

On one of his journeys Bro. J was travelling in a train when a little boy sweeper about 8 years old came in and started cleaning the floor.The ticket checker saw him and gave him a vicious kick and told him to get out at the next stoppage otherwise he would get another beating.Bro. J who is taking care of 1500 orphans and polio stricken children stopped the official and asked him not to hit the child. the TC angrily retorted saying its because of do-gooders like him that these urchins get on the trains and if they steal from the passengers everybody gets into trouble.

The little boy fearfully went and sat in front of the train toilet . As the train slowed down for a rural station he prepared himself to alight. Bro J approached the child and said; Son, you don 't have to live this kind of life . I take care of many children.
Come with me and I will give you clean clothes, good food, education and you can live in a a nice house. The child looked at him with amazement, thought for a moment and replied; Uncle you are making such a fantastic offer. If I come with you my whole life will be changed and I will live comfortably. But how can I leave my family.My father was blinded in a factory in which he was working, my mother has tuberculosis and I have a one and a half year old brother. I am the only bread earner in my family. If I come with you who will look after my family. I cannot come. Bro J said he started trembling when he heard this from the mouth of an 8 year old boy.He dug into his pocket and gave him whatever money he had. The last he saw of the child was him smiling and waving the money he got, standing on the railway platform.

What choices do I make for my Heavenly Father as a Christian? Do I pray Lord send me and keep me in a safe, comfortable place where all my needs will be fulfilled and I don 't have to worry about anything..Or do I pray Lord send me to a needy place, I don 't need comfort, I need You. I want to die for You. Unless a grain of wheat dies it cannot bear fruit Jesus said. this was really soul-searching for me. I want to be in my comfort zone with everything shipshape.Am I willing to lay my life down for Jesus? Accept my trials, because God sends trials in our lives to make us holy and more like Him.

Since the past few days I 've been suffering from a seasonal vertigo problem.This morning it was quite severe - giddiness, nausea, headache etc. I lurched into the bathroom, but was unable to brush, went back to bed and lay for a while praying for healing and God had mercy . I was able to get up with less difficulty and prepared breakfast and bathed Aunt S. etc. I took medication which helped me.No house help still.

I kept listening to good old Gospel music - "I must Jesus all of my troubles" and that really gave me the strength to complete all my chores and get ready for the evening meeting.

Dr John who has left his medical work to serve the Lord wants us to have a lady from N America for 2 days in our home. ( Sat and Sun)She is studying Hindi in another city and we have met her twice at our monthly prayer meetings . She has a burden for India and encourages prayer groups.She has been to India on short visits over 20 times and knows a lot about our country.

She over 60 years old and a very simple person. But still I was hesitant to accommodate her as our house is very simple compared to the luxurious and beautiful homes people have in N America.

I tried to wriggled out of it saying I don 't have a servant. and there is Aunt S and my house is not up to the American standard etc, etc.But John wouldn 't take no for an answer. He said this sister has lived in very primitive conditions (good compliment to my house LOL). Actually my house is OK and my friends from Europe, Australia and America have been here. But they knew India, I guess this lady knows India too. But still I am nervous. And I 've got this vertigo prob. and no house help.Please pray very hard for me.The Bible says show hospitality towards strangers because in doing so you may be entertaining angels. I must obey that, no matter how uncomfortable I am.

I must practice what I am learning this week.

Please pray for us.

Psalm 98;1

Psalm 98;1 says O sing unto the Lord a new song for He has done marvelous things,His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory.

I like that chorus and is true in my life .Today was a peaceful day altho I worked really hard I was joyful in the Lord. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

The evening meeting was such a joy. Bro Augustine Jebakumar was the speaker.He is from South India but has been doing ministry in Bihar state since the past 35 years.Read about his ministry on the link I have posted.

He is a fiery speaker and laces his messages with a good deal of humor. He was a mechanical engineer but resigned from his job to serve the Lord. His native language is Tamil but he went to a Hindi speaking area.

There he has established 2000 congregations, set up schools, technical training centers and an orphanage for 1500 children.

He taught us a song he learnt from Ethiopian refugees in Yemen, translated in Hindi.And insisted that we do the Ethiopian dance -like action with it as it a weight reducing exercise!

His message was about who we are in Christ.

( A snake charmer displaying his wares in our garden)

When his son was about 2 years old , he was bitten by a snake.When they caught the snake and killed it a man walked by and said; Oh this is the snake which bit the boy, don 't worry no snake can ever harm him. And its true, now this young man can handle snakes with ease and he had killed many.Bro J was joking , he said when his son comes home from college , snakes start visiting their house.

One day Bro J returned home from one of his speaking engagements to find a little boy from his orphanage holding up a dead snake at the end of a stick.On being asked who killed it, the boy said he killed it. But another boy who was with him said; No Uncle, he did not kill it, your son killed it.

But the little fellow with the trophy was not to be shaken, he said;Big brother struck it on the head but his tail was still twitching and so I struck it and killed it.

Bro J said he got a spiritual lesson from there.Jesus crushed Satan 's head with His victory on the cross.But God has allowed Satan to remain on earth and twitch his tail so to speak.And it is the responsibility of us believers, the church to strike a blow at the twitching tail of Satan - sin in our lives and in the world and that 's how we will be overcomers.

I want to be an overcomer so I can receive my crown of life.

Sunday Blessings, Revival Meetings.

Friends I am no hero. I am a cracked egg. To pick up from my last day.I was unable to take Aunt Sybil to see the Chief Medical Officer as I could not get anyone to drive us. And the banks are on strike for 2 days.
My house-help is on sick leave since Saturday. I can cope with that, but Mom and Aunt Sybil can 't and things get complicated because of that. My Mom is hyper-vigilant towards Aunt S and nervous too and when I try to reassure her she gets very touchy and depressed.So its hard.I can cope with life, but just handling the mental states of the elderly is the hardest.
I did not go to church on Sunday, sent Mom. I stayed with Aunt S and gave her a bath. Cooked and cleaned while I listened to joyful worship songs sent by my friend Jackie of Mother 's Pride.
Thank you Jackie. You are a wonderful Mum and have a generous and tender heart. God bless you. I really enjoy the music, it makes me forget my blues and get up and dance.Jackie also sent me prayer books and cards which I treasure.

On Sunday evening I want to the Bible College for a revival meeting and will be going all through the week. There was great worship music and a message from a visitor from N. America. The Bible college sends its bus to pick me up, so praise God I don 't have to worry about the transport.

My helper, who is sick right now will be going on leave for 2 months. Cataract operation and a visit with her daughter. I can cope with that but Mom and Aunt S can 't. Anyway I got a replacement. She is charging much more and doing less work, but I have to accept it.She will not be taking care of Aunt S. I can do that . Its just that Auntie is emotionally dependant on the maid.And I am trying to prepare her for her absence.I am more worried about my mother. She has a very nervous temperament and feels very insecure even when everything is fine.Many times when I about to go out she warns me of gloomy things which might happen to me

Talk about encouragement!

Anyway trust in the Lord and Soldier On is my motto.Though it gets tarnished from time to time, and although I don 't have anything in common with Ophelia (right)

I feel I am floating in water. Since Saturday I took some sedatives which the doctor had prescribed for my BP problem. I was not taking them. But I thought it was time to take them. I feel better.

I 'll be OK, the highlight of this week are the Revival meetings and just getting out and seeing new faces.Glory Hallelujah!

My blogging and visiting will be slower friends.I love you all.

Some friends told me they are having trouble opening the comments window. I too am having trouble. it takes a while and sometimes duplicate comments are posted. I encounter hitches while editing and posting pictures. Maybe its the blogger snag.

The power source of my computer is faulty so I 've given it for repair.Another hole in my pocket.Wanted to buy a MP3 around $ 30 but will have to cancel that. Man shall not live by MP3s alone.

Last Friday we had a prayer meeting in our home. A young fellow spoke about keeping a fast unto the Lord. He was good. We prayed for each other and I served tea with sugar biscuits and Indian salty snacks.

Pray for us. The Lord has all of us in His Hands.

Consider it all joy...

Some days and seasons are just phew!! Fruit preservation times I should say (fruit of the Spirit that is).I will give you a list of flames under the cooking pot.
1 A few days ago my landline telephone stopped working. Two days back workmen came, had a look , said something to each other and went away.
2. My internet was jumpy and yesterday I lost it completely.This evening I went outside and fiddled with some loose telephone wires and now I have it back. But the fluctuating electricity affects it. Why are we slaves to technology. StoneAge dwellers were much happier.
3. This morning I got up at 4 am to discover there was not a drop of water in our overhead water tank.We don 't have have a 24 hr water supply. Our water comes for a few hours morning and evening, so we have to pump it into a storage tank.When the water supply started at 5 am I pumped it up but found it soon drained out.
Miss Sherlock Holmes found the garden tap was leaking. ..somebody had tampered with it. Got that fixed and re-pumped the H2O but again it drained out.This time Ms Holmes detective skills failed completely and because the elderly ladies of the household started showing signs of
illogical paranoia, her fruit of the Spirit tree started withering at an alarming rate.Anyway she revived herself with a large beaker of coffee and the Word of the Lord.
3. Today was the day to take my 86 yr. old Aunt Sybil to a govt. hospital to get a doctor to certify her thumb impression as she cannot sign on her bank papers ( she is suffering from dementia and failing eye-sight).Pastor S offered to help me.
While getting the papers in order I found one of them missing and flew into a panic, begging God to help me and He did After a good deal of freaking out I found it.
4. When our garden helper arrived, he found one of our water pipes was leaking, causing the tank to drain.He tried to fix it but could not.I called a plumber to replace the pipe later on.
5Our rest room water closet started acting funny , I twiddled with it and fixed it.
6. Since we don 't have a regular driver I hire a driver from our car garage. Today he sent a young man known to drive a little recklessly and I was forced to trust him with our lives - he did a decent job.
7. Pastor S met us at the hospital. Found out that the govt. declared today as an impromptu holiday in honor of some important person 's birthday, so everybody had to go home. As its so difficult to take Aunt S out , we tried to get in edgeways. Saw a senior doctor sitting in a very impressive office.He reminded us of the holiday and said only the Chief Medical Officer was authorised to issue the certificate. So tomorrow we 'll climb the mountain again.
8. Got home and Aunt S was all exhausted and drained out, she cannot cope with changes, just going out depleted her. She recovered after a lie down. Mom got very nervous in the meanwhile - I had to calm her down.
9. Late evening my cell phone locked itself first time in four and a half years. I could see the devil rolling with laughter. Actually I was laughing too - at him.
I need my cell phone because my landline is not working. I have to keep in touch with my younger sister Namrita whose husband is about to undergo laser surgery for a kidney stone.So I went off to the shop. There was a large crowd there. Two young men smiled and greeted me. First I started at them blankly because they appeared complete strangers.But I said to myself ; they are my nephew 's age so let me ask for their help.Miss Congeniality approached them with her problem and one of them fixed it in a jiffy. How God sends angels! Turned out that these boys work in a computer parts store I go to sometimes.
10. While we all were watching a Christian TV prog. in the evening the stir fry radish I was cooking got a little scorched as I was engrossed in the message.Doesn 't matter our dinner was flavored with The Message. LOL.
The day ended well after all the tears,fears and cheers, and I must say the Fruit of the Spirit Tree got attacked by locusts a couple of times.
The Bible says, "Consider it all joy,my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith profuces endurance"
James 1;2,3 (NASB)

Sunday Blessings, Concert

Really enjoyed the Yeshua Live Concert at the Christian University.I got a lift with my cousin sister and family in their brand new car.We first went to pick up their tickets from a professor 's house and our friends had bought expensive VIP passes for all of us.My ticket was unused, I could have given away.
It was wonderful to see the name of Jesus being glorified. Yeshua is a Christian rock band and they sing worship music too.The Vice Chancellor of the University gave the message and 1800 people made decisions to accept Christ. Rejoice in the Lord! The crowd was about 4000 strong.
Taking photos was not allowed but since I was in the VIP section I sneaked a few shots.After the concert we went to our friend 's house for coffee while the kids played their music.This relaxed evening was such a treat and joy to me.Getting away from my elder 's home. Being with people my own age and kids too.These occasions are so rare that they are like a mini holiday.
The last time I crossed the river was one and half

year ago. And this place is about 10 or 12 km away.

Today was my turn to read the scripture in Church. I read from uke 24;1-7. Its the account where the disappointed women encounter the two angels at Jesus ' empty tomb and they tell them;Don 't look for Him here , He is Risen.

We had a young preacher very fiery and enthusiastic.His name is Arul. His dad was far from the Lord when he fell seriously ill. His mom prayed day and night and the Lord healed him. After that he gave his life to the Lord and now they have established 5 churches in Delhi.

______________________

My Mom heard on a News channel that the American goverenment is giving away money to people to buy things as they are unable to buy them. And if kids miss school only 3 days a month they get $ 50. I don 't believe it. But if its true please tell me.I know about Social Security and un-employment insurance.

Picture It

My Valentine 's Day is extra special because
"For God so loVed the world
That He gAve
His onLy
begottEn
SoN
That whosoever
believeth In Him
should Not perish
but have Everlasting life." John 3"16 (Bible)
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And today I got a packet a joy from my Canadian friend Terry Anne. Its a photo enhancing program, so beautiful.She has printed our roses on the label. that makes it so special. How did you do it Terry Anne, you are a genius.All this makes me jump for joy.Thank you so much Terry Anne, a big hug to you. Please remember to pray for Terry 's parents Mom nsd Dad Golden.

I want to wish all my dear readers and friends God 's love and blessings on Valentine 's Day.
Since the past 2 days I 've been having electricity trouble. Today we hardly had any power supply and when it came back on, the voltage was so low that I could not turn my computer on. I was in tears.But now it seems to be OK. My blogging and commenting may get hampered by this obstacle. So please understand if I am unable to reply to your emails or comment on your blog.I am on the other side of the world banging my head on my computer.
I called up Mom in Minnesota and wished her Happy Valentine 's Day. I rang up my sister in New Brunswick and got a stranger 's answering machine both times...think I don 't have her correct number.
Thank you friends for telling me what the vegetable is. I made the zucchini or courgette and it turned out real. good. I fried it in soya oil with spring onions,tomatoes,little chopped up garlic, some chlli flakes and little tumeric powder and salt.Its really good. Thank you for all the delicious recepi ideas.

Identity Parade

Please can you tell me what the vegetable in the photo below is.I bought it yesterday and they told me it was a pumpkin in hindi. I think its a kind of squash.Am I right?

I also bought these thinking they were packaged cherries.Turned out to be cherry tomatoes. They are really nice.
Donetta, you wanted to see how the fried green peas look like.Well I snatched a picture from the internet.

Tonight I made clear vegetable soup and salami sandwiches for supper.Pork products are extremely expensive and we can afford them very seldom.It was a rare treat.

Sunday Blessings And Memories

Today is Sonia 's birthday. Called her and greeted her. They are having family over for dinner.Here she is with Abner during her Christmas visit. Namrita 's elder son Mishael son is 11 today. We will call him later on as he must be in school. This photo is 2 or 3 years old. (Below) Mishael and his brother Rayguel.

Tomorrow is Papa 's birhtday. he celebrated his last birthday with great enthusiasm. He loved having guests and supervised the cooking himself.Papa is in a place where no ever grows old. This is our comfort and joy even as we miss him a lot.

The Three Belles: Marjorie H, Marjorie B and Mama, school mates and friends.

The Lord is good to us and we had a good Sunday worship service after which we had a never ending stream of visitors. Mama 's friends Marge H and Marge B (from Canada) visited .

Aunt M H gave us information from 18/19 years ago which really shocked and stunned us and make me quite sick.A rich lady, Aunt MH 's relative had left our church quite a bit of money but someone got hold of it and never gave the church a penny. Both our visitors were very surprised too as all these years they had been thinking our church had benefitted from this legacy.This person died a very miserable man at age 81, he did not enjoy that money I can tell you.All this made me very depressed and still I praying its not true.

But the Lord sent more friends as angels to lift our souls up. Dr Paulson, his wife Dr Shirley and 3 kids visited and we had a cheerful time of fellowship with them.

Paulson installed my DVD writer and software saving me the service charges.On Saturday there is a huge Christian music concert at the Christian University. I had bought a ticket but had no transport. But Paulson and Shirley offered to take me along in their car , so praise God I can go.Their car is tiny but their heart is big.

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Yesterday was the city-wide prayer meeting in our church. That was another great time of worship , prayer and sharing ideas.

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Made fried fresh green peas for a tea-time snack. Make a paste of some onion, garlic and ginger. Heat oil in a pan, when hot tip in the paste. Saute for a while. Add the peas. Put in powdered turmeric,coriander pepper or chilli according to your taste.You can tip in some cummin powder too, and whatever spices you want or subtract what you don 't.You can garnish it with lemon juice , fried nuts (I didn 't) and fresh coriander leaves or cilantro.Easy and healthy! Have it with tomato ketch-up or whatever relish or even a dip. I just improvise.

Counting My blessings

Today I got a gift from my friend Natalie . Thank you Natalie. Music by Michael Card and Travis Corttrell. It is like manna from heaven.It means a lot to me as Christian music and books are difficult to obtain where I live.There is no proper Christian bookstore in my town.Listening to this lovely music will make my lent season more blessed.God bless you Natalie.-------------------------------------------------------------

Above : Simran and Milka

This afternoon Aunt P and her grand daughter Simran paid us a surprise visit. Simran likes to play with our pastor 's daughter, Milka (real name is Anukriti). We are happy for that as Simran can play in a good clean positive enviroment and receive affirmation and positive vibes from us. I wrote earlier how her parents are not working and depend on Aunt P 's meagre pension. They are not very pleasant people to have around and we are praying that they may come to the Lord.

As we ladies sat in the afternoon sun the kids played and Simran learnt some Sunday School song/dances from Milka.

I decided to make pancakes for tea as a special treat for Simran and Auntie.As I was making them Auntie called a rickshaw and got ready to leave. She is in her late 60s and getting senile before her age due to neglect and ill-treatment. I asked her to stay on for tea and let the rickshaw go as he would charge her extra for waiting. But she couldn 't make up her mind. There was some comotion which upset Aunt Sybil (dementia patient) and she got agitated which upset Mama and seeing all this I got pretty stressed out and lost my patience for a bit.

What was a happy peaceful afternoon clouded over.

Anyway the pancakes turned out good and I sent a plate to my Pastor and family too.There was one left and Simran asked if she could take it for her younger brother. I was so touched by her thought...the poor child didn 't want her brother to miss the treat. I packed it for her and some veggies and bananas and Maggi noodles.They live so far away and transport is expensive otherwise I would have had them everyday to teach good things to the kids and give them food etc.

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Later on 2 men from the cable operator came and fixed the sound in our receiver box. Seems the other guys did not do a proper job and that 's why my Mom had been watching soundless TV for the past one week. Her channel has sound now.What a relief.

And in a minute I 'm gonna watch the movie World Trade Centre starring Nicholas Cage on HBO which now has sound.

B.A.D.

I once hand painted a tee shirt with the letters B.A.D. on it which stood for Be A Disciple. Helped me to strike a conversation with people who agreed that it described me well LOL.

My dear friend of Mother 's Pride gave me the Mother 's Discipleship Award. Thank you Jackie. You know in my town there is a school named after your blog, its called Mother 's Pride School..And they have Mother 's Pride brand of Jams and other good stuff .Jackie is a very special person and Mum.
Now I am passing on this award to sixteen friends.
I giving this award to my friends for showing me the LOVE and LIFE of Christ through their daily lives.
Ruth
Felisol
Terry
Pat
Nancey
Sara
Carol-Ann
Jeanette
Donetta
Louise
Kimmie
Becky
Natalie
Sue
Susan Kelly Skitt
Mrs Mac

The rules to pass on this award are posted below
In the spirit of this award, the rules are simple. Winners of this award must pick five other "disciples" to pass it on to. As you pass it on, I just ask that you mention and provide links for(1)this post as the originator of the award ( Dan King of Management by God)(2) the person that awarded it to you, and then(3) name and sites of the five that you believe are fulfilling the role of a disciple of Christ.

Wind beneath my wings

About a year ago I started visiting John 's blog and so enjoyed reading his posts and other articles that I wanted to start my own journal of sorts.I consider myself to be a computer challenged person and I was very unsure how to do this. John from across the seven seas encouraged me and I took my first step on the moonscape.He is a wonderful author and journalist and historian.His work is flavored with humour, practical advice, spiritual inspiration and honesty.Do drop by his blog and website.

The cow jumped over the moon

While I was lost in the blogosphere last night, Sheeba (my doggie) set up a great racket barking away. Opon being let out she found a stray cow chomping up our veggies.

Earlier the gas delivery men had come to our Aunt Virginia 's house and left the common front gate open on their way out.Our cooking stove gas comes in metal cylinders and is delivered at home.

On finding the gate wide open Mrs Cow wandered right in and helped herself to quite a bit of free pasture.We are so glad Sheeba warned us otherwise Mrs C would have destroyed a whole lot more, I shudder to think what would have happened to our roses.Anyway we got rid of our bovine visitor with quite a bit of physical exercise.Our Sheeba protects us till the cows come (or go) home.

I gave Sheeba some cookies in apreciation.

I 've got quite a bit of the TV thing figured out. Stayed up till 0ne o 'clock in the morning. The electricity also failed in the middle so I had to work by the generator.

And when I tried to test my newly attained expertise the antena cable disconected itself from the digital receiver ( the men had not fixed it properly). I had a hard time putting that back as its very sensitive and one has to be very accurate.I thought I could do that with a small connector which I thought I had thrown away in the dust bin. So I plunged elbow deep into the bin trying to search for it. After a mad hatter 's search I found it in a safe place.

They say love 's labour is not lost. I 've got 90 percent of it figured out.

Still haven 't decided which language option to choose for the program settings. Think I 'll choose Turkish! LOL.

This evening I was watching a cookery program on one the new channels and saw a chef make Indonesian Gado Gado salad. I really liked it and since I had most of the ingredients (substituted some) I put it together and it turned out to be fairly edible (actually quite good). If you want to try it there 's a recipe HERE

___________________________

Today is Ash Wednesday, the begining of Lent.Although in our church we don 't follow the liturgical calendar very closely, we are mindful of the Holy Days.

Lent is the period to reflect on the passion and sacrifice of Jesus, without which we could never be cleansed from our sin.

The Bible says "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us".

TV Tango

Please try to imagine Whistler 's Mother watching a 1932 vintage TV (Most probably it was soundless at that time).I couldn 't get the two pictures together that is why I am appealing to your imagination.

In the evening 2 fellows from our cable guy showed up with a digital receiver recommending that we use it for an improved and wider TV coverage.Mum and I had a good sales-talk conversation with them.And knocked the drum from all sides to make sure it was not leaking.

I felt we were being coerced (read blackmailed) into buying a receiver in order to get a good reception.But, since the whole world is going digital, we said let 's jump into the well too.

Anyway the guys were in a hurry so they gave me some instructions and an instruction manual. Everything looked very easy. Problems surfaced just when they exited the front gate.

1. All our favorite channels are mixed up. We like to arrange numbers according to our preference...we 've lost that for the moment. I hope the manual will tell me how to re-arrange the channels.

2. Mom cannot work the new remote and showered me with her complaints (I 'm not a serious TV watcher) and when I tried to play it by ear , she kept reading out useless instructions from the book and gave a running commentary on my inept attempts at trying to fix the idiot box ( as we have named the TV in India).I pretended to be completely deaf, the only thing I could do in a situation like this.

3.Mom is reduced to lip reading the TV (that 's why I have posted the top two pictures). Her favorite channel Star One has no sound. All her soaps (which are actually meant for people between the ages of 15 and 35) are soundless and she is watching them anyway.I rang up the cable guy and he tells me there are problems in the control room.This is what I call soundless pleasure.For once the telly has lost its audio-cratic reign.

4. Now I have to read the manual for hours on end and try to figure out how to work the thing smoothly...which will result in brain drain.

Friends I invite you to do a post on how you were miffed by technology while I take my time trying to untangle the TV

Feb 4, 1992

Today is my younger sister Namrita 's 16th wedding anniversary.She was married in the Baptist Church of Tura , Meghalaya (in North East India).her husband 's town. When you marry someone from the Meghalaya state, the bride has to go the the groom 's town to marry.they are ethnically very different from us and it was like visiting a foreign country.Here she is getting ready to step out with her bridesmaid.

Namrita is a very beautiful person both inside amd outside. Her mane means 'Gentleness ' from Galatians 6 the fruit of the Spirit. Really suits her.
To borrow from Andrae Crouch 's song Through it All ...
She 's had many tears and sorrows
She had questions for tomorrow
There were times when she didn 't know right from wrong.
But in every situation
God gave blessed consolation
All her trials
Only came to make her strong
Through it all
She has learnt to trust in Jesus
She has learnt to trust in God
Through it all
She has learnt to depend upon His Word.

I have sung the song 'My Tribute-To God be the Glory ' at three weddings and above you can see me singing. I have a VHS video of the song which I can 't upload on the computer.

Above is our family photo outside the church.L-R Amrita, Sengrak (the groom), Namrita,my BIL Prem, sister Anjali, Mom and Dad and of course Ashish who is 21 years old now and will soon be working as a financial advisor in a bank.

How the years have flown by.Namrita and Senrak have two boys 11 and 7.I must get a recent photo of theirs.I want to post a video of Andrae Crouch singing My Tribute as a way of celebrating this day.

I called up Namrita and we chatted.For supper I made scotch eggs, with mashed potatoes and bread with cheese spread and dressing.

Listen to Andrae sing. Oooh I wish I could sing and play like this. He is one of my favorite singers.I love his song "Through it All " Made a deep impact on me as a new Christian.Hands up all you Andrae Crouch fans.

Sunday Blessings

Thank you dear friends for your comments on my last post.. '.I was hungry. ' We are living in a broken world marred by sin and deprivation.Romans 8:20-25 says the whole creation groans for redemption from the slavery or curse it was subjected under because of the "Fall".Only when our Redeemer comes again to create a New Heaven and Earth will we be set free. Untill then our souls will be pierced by the sufferings of our fellowmen and our own.

We had a good church service and communion.It was a cold morning and a chilly sharp wind wrapped itself around us.

Right after church church, a lady knocked at our door and asked Mom if she remembered her. My mother was taken aback as she couldn 't and we all stared at her as if she was ET.I find it quite disconcerting when people demand to be remembered and I can 't.They make you feel like a newly hatched moron or someone melting into Alzhiemers.

Anyway, she turned out to be someone my parents/family knew ages ago and we had lost touch with her.When she was a young wife and mother, her husband became an alchoholic.This prompted her to take a road which was not good for her and her family.She encountered many desperate situations as a result.Her children grew up and her husband died.

One day she was watching Joyce Meyers on television. Joyce was talking about the forgiveness of sin, and how she received God 's pardon.The Holy Spirit stirred this lady 's soul and she started weeping and saying Lord if you can forgive Joyce Meyers, you can forgive me too. She prayed the sinners prayer and received Jesus as her Saviour.

She had come to give her testimony and tell Mama that now she is a new creation.Praise God.
"When someone becomes a Christian he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same any more. A new life has begun"2 Corinthians 5;17 (The Living Bible)

I was hungry

I paint pictures of my country which feature the good, the bad and the ugly because we are living in a real world and reality hurts a lot.

Man dies of hunger and cold... We read stories like these nearly everyday and see TV reports about them.

The Hindustan Times newspaper reported on Jan 29th that a Muslim man named Majid died of hunger in a village close to our state capital.

He had been without a job since the past 3 years and was eeking out a living as a village barber.He and his wife Mehernissa have 10 children.I have to add here that poor, impovershed and uneducated people cannot make the connection between poverty and the number of children they bring into the world.

The government has a programme by which people living below the poverty line should get rations.But due to red tape and corruption it doesn 't get to them.

Majid 's family had been hungry for 4 days.Mehernissa went to a neighbour and asked her for some wheat flour.The neighbour gave her half a kilo (about one pound) of flour with which she made chapatis and gave to her family.Majid did not eat and asked his wife to give his share to his hungry children.At nightfall he covered his young ones with the only quilt they possesed and went and sat outside his hut.In the morning they found him dead.Neighbours pooled money for his funeral.

Now what is the widow to do with her children? After all this took place the government and NGOs came to their aid and gave them food and money.But the tragedy had already taken place.

The need is so great and our resources meagre but we try to do our tiny bit.Everyday we give away vegetables and other things to poor people we come into contact with. One just cannot turn away. In India nothing is wasted.Maintaining our vegetable garden is costly and I complain rather loudly but one of the reasons for having it is sharing the produce with others.

Jesus said; I was hungry and you gave me food.

I just had to share this story because it broke my heart.

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My parents have had a soft heart for the needy.We are not rich but God has supplied all our needs .A month back a friend told us something we never knew.

Years ago my parents were helping a young widow with 2 small girls get a high school education.This young woman came to visit us just before Christmas.Her daughters had been pestering her to buy bangles for them but she did not have any money .Before she left my parents gave her some cash and she was so joyful , she went to the bazar and got bangles and gifts for her girls.She shared this with the mutual friend who told us this story.She has a job and is a grandmother.

Although we Christians are earthen vessels, cracked in many places we have to let the light shine through the cracks.