GOD CHOOSES, MAN OPPOSES

Caption: FINDING MOSES
Hymn: What a mighty God we serve
Reference: Exodus 21
Importance: Across to deliverance
Story: Modern Moses
Testimony: Roman Protestant
Yes, I want to see, feel and hear Christ in everything I see, feel and hear. I am now not looking for goals, responses, landmarks or to impress anybody, but I am sincerely seeking the Lord in everything I do. If you look at the beginning of every alphabet that goes in giving me a format of my writings and put them together and you will find CHRIST written in all capitals. God is good and His ways are not mysterious to me any more as a seeker but a revelation of His mighty plans unfolding. By now I am so convinced that when Moses and his people were graced by a cloud, the same God is still making modern day Moses and is still gracing us today.
From Darkness To Light:Ex 10:23
No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.
The Financial crack is just deepening, the economic meltdown is even reflecting in the begging bowl. The stock markets are down. Hallelulia, to those who are truly blessed and saved from the financial plagues and are looking for better business opportunities. The promises of the Lord has not changed for any one of us even today. Amidst all the Global crisis the Light is still recieved in homes unaffected by what's going on in the outside world. When many less fortunate may ask us just as they asked Moses, "What is his name?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." This was about two thousand years ago when the Lord called, "Moses, Moses", today the Lord is calling each one of us by our names, and is telling us, "I AM WHO I AM." And as I have promised to bring you out of misery to a land flowing with milk and honey.
When we left Gurgaon, we paid our last visit to Pastor Pappu Thilak and family. He prayed over us and I still crisply remember his last words to us that if he could only spend some more time with us, he would release us like a pair of doves, he prayed for us and then we left. We left with all our belongings in a truck and since we were not sure of safety of the belongings in the truck, we sat in the truck along with the driver.
While we slept through the entire over night journey, Pastor Thilak and his wife Liny were restless all through the night, they could not imagine us traveling the entire journey in a goods truck along with the kids. I and the kids were fast asleep; I thought my husband must have been awake to keep a watch on the driver, and since he was to begin his first day of work that day, I asked if he got a chance to take a nap. To my amazement he told me that he too was fast asleep and he had no clue if the driver was sleeping or not. The moment it was close to dawn we touched our destination, and we halted the truck, at that very moment we received a call from Liny asking us if we were safe. Believe you me that was one of the most pleasant journeys we ever had. If I really get a chance to meet that truck driver again to find out if he too was taking a nap along with us.
We kept in touch with Pastor and his family over the phone and via emails and every Friday we would plan to visit them in Gurgaon, but kept postponing as the journey back will be too tiring. After a few months of working we managed to buy a luxury car, and we wanted to drive back to Gurgaon to meet Pastor and his family, but another overnight journey, just even thinking of it we postpone it again.
In February, we got a call from PastorThilak that he was coming over along with his family and brother sometime in March. He requested if we could have the Prayer Meeting at out house and then they would attend Church and leave immediately. We were very excited and starting counting the days of his arrival, since event planning has still not left my system. I wanted to plan the best ever event I have ever done in my life. So I started designing cards, I researched the Bible for some impressive quotes, fine tuned my designing skills, whilst getting more creative with my abilities in wanting to make it look different and exciting since the Church we are attending needed an awakening.
We got to know that the Pastor of the Church Mr B T John had expired recently; his wife had gone abroad to be with her children and so the elders of the Church were now the care takers. Every meeting we had with the Church, we felt more burdened, some messages given by the elders were terribly misleading, some went way above the head. I remember telling one of elders is that we need to feel lighter after coming to church but he gracefully ignored my request. I could not discuss this heavy feeling with my husband who had just accepted Jesus Christ as his savior, but I tried my best to keep encouraging his efforts in at least visiting the Church and to ignore what he can’t accept and to work on his new found strength.
We informed all the elders about Pastor Thilak's arrival, and they were also overjoyed with his coming and they started asking me more about Pastor and his brother. Finally I called Liny and asked her which of the brothers is Pastor coming with and while she was telling me the story, I was shaking from within.
Pushpan Thilak is one of the eldest brothers of the Thilak family and he was also the first in the family, neighborhood, in the village and in the city to accept Jesus Christ. He is now living abroad with his wife who is Finnish, and his children are all grown up and he is also a gifted speaker invited by many Churches. Pushpan was baptized in the Church we are visiting by Mr B T John the founder member of the Church, and will be in India and one of his visits is to pay his respects.
Something within me was telling that this is God’s plan for me. When I studied the book of Exodus, it makes me think of Pastor Thilak as today's Moses, Pushpan as Aaron and of course we are His people. For me Gurgaon was my final choice, but we moved out from there. It was in Gurgaon that materialistically was the biggest hole in my pocket, but meeting Pastor Pappu spiritually fulfilling. The meeting with Pastor Pappu and family was not just accidental, miraculous. Our moving out was a part of Gods plan and not ours. Our plans to give Pastor Pappu and family a surprise visit, not so surprising never worked out. Finally this brother Pushpan whom out of the blue had been baptized from the same Church that we are visiting is just a yardstick away from my new house, will be soon visiting us. And last but not the least Pastor Pappu is the youngest of the Thilak family and was encouraged by Pushpan his elder brother into the faith have now finalized their plans to come over is not just coincidental.
This time I will be a witnessing the biggest event of my life as my husband has been contemplating his baptism versus Pushpan a man who was baptized almost half a century ago come face to face and Pastor Pappu who continues to endure in the Holy Spirit all under one roof. None of us have made these plans as it is not possible for each of us to come together at any given point of time.
My creativity is now captured in the form of invitational cards and inside it I added a few more pages of Pastor Pappu’s testimony. I have just realized that I am no great event planner, probably the worst planner but when the Almighty calls all things fall into place, for God is the greatest event planner. I dont have to worry any more if I am sequencely right or biblically correct, but I surely do know that I will be significantly right because I believe that the Lord helps me to speak and will teach me what to say. God is still sending modern day Moses and Aarons empowering them with His words to reach out to people like who are threatened by circumstancial plagues to a land flowing with milk and honey.
Praise be to our Lord for His love endures forever!!

A Woman After God’s Own Heart

The world will be celebrating International Woman’s Day 2009 and there are still a million women crying alone or still smiling with hidden hurt and pain. Domestic abuse is a reality which many women cannot fathom their feelings and begin living in guilt or perhaps blame themselves for the destiny they are facing.
My sister was 25 years when she married a professor. She herself was one of the most favorite teachers of her time. She had good looks, brains and the most eligible lady of the town. She was the first Girls Guide leader. She looked stunning on the day of her marriage, confidant yet shy, she surely that day broke many a hearts because she was good at refusing them which she did gracefully and tactfully. Her marriage to a Professor was the end of all that glamour and shine. She was a strong woman; she hid all the abuse she had being going through from the first night itself. She had three beautiful children who were all silent witnesses to the domestic crimes they were being nurtured into. I remember seeing her scars and when my parents questioned her about them, she would make up stories of being accidentally hurt. Being an excellent sportswoman, we all easily believed in her. Her fears came in the open when her children started to learn how to speak. My sister who had unblemished and glowing skin was all scarred and each scar had a different story to tell. She was being battered every night by her husband; most of the violence grew because of the silence she kept. She herself was her only consoler and she was under some strong Christian belief she grew up into, that God knows the best.
I was the youngest in my family of nine brothers and sisters; she was the eldest and the smartest of the lot. She had been more of a mother to me than an elder sister. She always took me along wherever she would go, and I’d follow her like a little lamb. I still remember her taking me for a ride, I was twelve then and her children were 3, 5 and 7 years. I asked her why is she going through so much pain, and her answer was that God was testing her. I felt terrified for that moment, does God want us to suffer and the answer from deep within came out loudly was NO. God does not want us to suffer; He does not want us to be in pain and to get all those weird thought from her head, that what is going on will be right in some time.
“Then what people will say if I leave my husband,” she asked. “Do they feel your pain, your hurt or are they helping you, so why do you want to listen to people anyway”. That day I still remember I on my own would never have the guts to talk like the way I was talking. And I told her that she must leave her husband’s house and she can take care of her children herself, and mom, dad and all the brothers and sisters would help only if she could leave her husband alone. That night she ran away from her husband’s house with two children and the eldest one she left behind, and she joined us at my parents place. Later her eldest son also ran away from his father’s house to live with his mother.
She started living her life all over again. We all contributed towards helping looking after the children and I loved my sister being back at home. She started working as a teacher again and her confidence levels grew as she saw her children growing up in a healthy and safe environment. When she moved out to live in her own house, I too left with her, I loved living with her and I still love to be her little lamb.
Her eldest son expired at a very young age of a heart attack, her beautiful daughter who grew up on borrowed clothes, shoes, books is now working as a hostess for an airline company and the little black sheep who was called, “Kalia” for his dark looks has now grown tall, dark and a very handsome Pilot. Her husband is living with his mother and when there is no one to abuse in the house except his mother. The poor old lady I heard was once pushed off the terrace and he has not been able to change even after so many years of separation, being a famous professor or even his retirement he continues being the same.
Many rounds at the Police Stations would treat her case as a family problem, so they could not do anything much but they did make a lot of fun of these situations. I know of many such woman thinking the cops will be of help and guard them only dig a deeper wound. Many woman victims end up getting more abused than ever and return back with the thought of that a known devil is better than an unknown devil. The nights are not dark any more but more evil. Where does the woman go? Few priests have denounced the facts that they are spiritual counselors end up splashing theirs lusts on the victimized woman. Now the woman has to deal with the so called holy man as well as her husband, father, relative or a close family friend. Woman can sometimes make it even worse than what the man has already made it but treat themselves to another gossip story to boast about. A psychiatrist can list his medical bills and make you a life time patient all for the cause of service to humanity. A marriage councilor is working on the Governmental Statistics for dysfunctional families.
When I went through the same trauma my sister went through, I had already prepared myself never to look for help from these quarters. I relied on my sister or brother for their help but my husband was too smart he almost got them believing in him. I remember singing in all the times when I was being tried by my husband, family and friends, “How Great Thou Art,” and in all the misery from being victimized to being the accused I would sing the song even more profoundly. Even in my darkest moments, I sang more loudly. I would ask the Lord to show me the way, just when I was going to give it all up, my children, my husband and everything, I got signs, messages, and symbols very clearly and boldly “Jesus is the way,” all through the journey to reconcile with my own family.
Today, we are living together, but the heavenly father did not leave us alone, He sent us angels in the form of Pastor Pappu Thilak and Liny his lovely wife to accept Christ as our Savior, and the day we accepted our family life to be led and guided more spiritually. In a very brief period, our families got closer to each other. We hardly got to know them we had to leave for another city and I was happy that the family was together but I had serious hidden fears. The fear of being alone again, my haunting memories, and a falling spirit. And I received another message, “The Lord is my shepherd.” This song kept coming into my head like a stuck record, another prayer meeting an elder was reading the same thing, “The Good Shepherd,” and I did still not understand the message. The other day I opened my mail box and I had an received an email titled, “The Shepherd,” these messages were getting stronger and stronger till I opened the Bible, read Psalm 23, it made me ponder on my own life and a confirmed message like as if He was not just consoling me but convincing me.
A psalm of David.
I asked the Lord for help, to be my guide and there is no better guide than He
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.
I asked the Lord to establish a place for me in my family,
And a place to be restful
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters,
When I was fighting a losing battle, He showed me ways that I could walk, the U-turn I took back home in His name made my paths clear.
3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I would reach home, my enemies will never spare me, help me to face the people that once made me suffer to cope with them and to give me strength. Lord in my weakness be with me.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, [a] I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
I have no strength to face any more turmoil, or hardships, or suffering, I have had more pain than what I could have, and I can’t take it any more. Lord free me from all the mental stress and agony and set my spirit free
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
When I asked the Lord, “How long I have suffered, will this happiness be short lived?” and as you will read in verse 6.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Surely, we have a truly great God and how great Thou art?