Generosity beyond our understanding.

Louise and I had our last day in the slum on Friday. We have been teaching English for the last four weeks and there have been some tough times when we felt very much out of our depth but also very rewarding times when we felt that God has used us to make a difference. We both believed God wanted us to spend some of our time here while we are away, we believed it was primarily to give something to the slum and to the work of Asha. As usual we left having learned something that we were not expecting, God has a way of doing that doesn't he?

First of all Louise and I have learned that really we do not pray enough. The stories you hear of people being healed, found and provided for are amazing. However when you put them in the context of them happening usually within 15mins to 2hrs of the woman praying in Jesus' name, it is something quite miraculous. Praying in Jesus' name is very significant as many of the women are Hindu/Sikh or Muslim and are used to praying to many god's. One of the kids asked me “What god do you pray too?” I responded “I only pray to God, there is only one God.” Her response “Ahh Christian, will you say a prayer?” So God allowed me to pray for a class of about 15 young girls over their future. To be honest I do not remember the content of the prayer, all I remember was that I prayed in Jesus' name,

Secondly we received what can only be described as a flood of gifts on our last day, mostly from the children, and some even turned up late because they were at the market buying them. I had so many bracelets on one wrist that there was no need to put sun cream on as there was hardly an inch of skin showing! We visited some of children in their homes in the afternoon, some live in homes so cramped they don't even have a bed. I managed to get a picture of Louise seeing one girls precious possession, a small family photo album. As she explained to Louise who each person was in the album the joy of someone taking an interest in her life and family was so evident. We have received much more from these children than we have given in terms of time but God has chosen to bless both us and the children.

Third, and last, we have been so encouraged by the way in which everyone rejoices in each others blessings. There is a Friday afternoon prayer meeting where there is worship, testimony and prayer. With every amazing story comes the cry of hallelujah even if someone is still waiting for answered prayer. We in the UK are so guilty of being selfish in our celebrations, especially Christians. How often do we not celebrate with someone because in someway we are a little bit jealous, saying to ourselves 'why doesn't God bless me?', I know I have. We need to talk more about answered prayer, or struggles with what we might perceive as unanswered prayer. We need to be more like a family and share more, and maybe we would love each other more because of it?