" . . . take the free gift of the water of life."

"Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life"

-Revelation 22:17b, The Bible - NIV

Yesterday, we had the son of KP Yohannan come to our church as a guest speaker. His father was supposed to come, but had urgent business in India. KP Yohannan is the founder of Gospel For Asia.

It is a wonderful organization that reaches out to the Dalits, the "untouchables" of India and shares with them the good news of Jesus Christ. They equip missionaries in their own regions to share the gospel and they have schools for children to teach the Bible and feed them. MyLove and I just love what they do and what they are about.

Well, listening to his son, MyLove and I just had our hearts rekindled with the fire to reach those who have no hope. The desire in our hearts is one of the main things that brought MyLove and I together, and we have prayed throughout our marriage that the Lord would use us. We know that we must be willing to be used wherever we are, but our hearts have always loved different cultures and peoples and different languages.

MyLove felt led to Spain after graduating from seminary. When I was a little girl, I had the desire to go anywhere the Lord wanted to send me, especially remote tribes or China (because my dad had lovingly shared stories and books about Jim Elliot and Hudson Taylor when I was a child). Either way, we just want to go wherever the Lord leads.

So, last night, MyLove pulled out our new "10/40 Window" map, and showed the kids where India was, "introduced" them to our new missionary family and observed all we could in the picture. The kids were so interested and excited. The family has two boys and two girls, so the kids liked that. They didn't smile in the picture, so that was really throwing them for a loop. The only one smiling was the eldest boy who is a middle child.

MyLove was so sweet sharing all that was on his heart. He was excited and factual and had many things to share, but with the wee ones feeling the excitement and "meeting our new family," the questions from their imaginative minds were endless and quite random at times:

Martini: "Why are there countries that are named after food, because I heard you say Turkey and Greece!"
MyLove: "Good question." he says, with his nose flaring, trying not to laugh, but smiling. "These names are just coincidentally foods in our language."

Carmelita: (with hand raised, waiting her turn, then called on) "Why are there so many babies in my room?" We all started laughing.
MyLove: "You mean your baby dolls?"
Carmelita: "Yes."
MyLove: "I don't know. And I'm not sure how this fits in." And we all are laughing at this point, including Carmelita.

Ethan: "The Philippines is so far away. How did Mema get here?"
MyLove: "Mema flew here on an airplane."
Martini: "I wouldn't want to fly. I would just want to take a car or a bus."
MyLove: "You can't. You have to fly over the ocean to get there."

Martini: "Mommy, what was that chocolate movie we watched?"
Me: "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory?"
Martini: "Yes. Willy Wonka is like God."
Me: (Hmmmmm?!) I'm thinking . . .
Martini: "He gives out these free tickets to go to this wonderful place. Except God gives His free gift to go to heaven!"
Me & MyLove: "Awesome, Martini. That's right!"
Me: "Except, Willy Wonka only gave five people tickets. How many people did God give His free gift to?"
Ethan: "Everyone!"
MyLove: "That's right! It's like God has given everyone the free ticket in their mailbox and all they have to do is go out and get it. If they were to try to go to heaven without the ticket, they wouldn't be able to. They have to decide to go get it."
Me: "And Who is that ticket? What gift did God give us?"
Kids: "JESUS!"
MyLove: "Right. You just have to believe that Jesus is God's Son and that he came and died to take away your sins. And you decide to follow Him. When you do, you will live forever in heaven."

The kids then started talking about Lael in heaven and how we would all get to meet her and be with her in heaven one day.

So, after dinner, MyLove had us all go to the couch and hold hands and pray together. He prayed first and then each of the kids prayed what was on their hearts.

Ethan: Our new family in India, that they could have money and food to tell others about Jesus. That God would help the poor people to have money and food and that we could tell others about Jesus.

Martini: That Uncle Daniel would find a godly and beautiful wife

Carmelita: That Mema would stop smoking and find a nice house and isn't too much money

Giselle: She babbled and smiled and was as sweet as could be :-)

MyLove and Me: Guidance, direction, boldness, fearlessness, compassion and realization of what is eternally at stake for the lost, confirmation, what country, unity . . . And praising the Lord with all our hearts.

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Note: spoke with a wonderful lady at church after the service for quite some time. She believes that she and her husband and son will be moving back France in a year. Excited about what the Lord is doing in their lives and we share our desires. We exchange info so I can send her some old pics of her son and my son. She says she really wants our info because she sees how serious and desirous we are to do what the Lord has laid on our hearts. And then she comments that maybe the Lord will have us work together there in Spain/France one day.

Although this is what seems to be a passing comment, it was such an encouragement from the Lord to my spirit at how quickly the Lord works. We have talked many times about how in the Christian life, you wait and wait and pray and pray. But when the Lord moves, He moves quickly. All the while, He had just been preparing you. When He moves, you better be ready!