Home is where His heart is.

1 Peter 4:12  "Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Chr!st in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing His glory when it is revealed to all the world."

I'm going to expose my heart to you in this update.  Ever since we arrived in South Asia last July, I have been going through what I now know has been spiritual warfare.  I have struggled with a mixture of culture shock, identity loss (I used to help those in need and have a 8-4 job and schedule, mobile and able to drive myself anywhere I want to go, with friends and family nearby), changing roles (I have in the past year become: pregnant, a cross-cultural witness, an expat, an outsider, in need of help, a student, a housewife, unable to drive, with no family and very few friends within the culture), and the desire to obey the Lord whatever the cost (all the while falling short daily of His glory and being very aware of it).

I long to see veiled women hearing the Good News and to be His voice in their ears.  I long to be out of my home and building relationships with these women who emerge from their homes to meet their families' needs -- grocery gathering, running errands, attending significant family events.  I long to speak the language well enough to gain an audience with even the ones who fail to understand my limited language.  I long to counsel these abused and unwanted women who are told they have no value and are a burden to their families that there is a God who loves them, desires a personal relationship with them, and created them to be glorious.  I long to see them recognize Him and understand their value in His sight.

However, during hot season, it is very difficult to get out of the house.  The heat would put Emma's health at risk.  Also, it would be culturally inappropriate for me to hunt down these women in the street, especially with Emma in tow.  This would most definitely bring a scolding from the same women I hope to meet because they do not bring babies out of the house during the heat of the day.  I find myself with a small radius around our home, few veiled women live very close to us and the people in our complex are quite Western, busy and distant.  I feel weighed down by this longing.  The Enemy constantly lies to me saying that I am not a good follower and witness.

While praying about this, the Lord has shown me countless other moms of young children who feel the exact same way that I do all over the world.  He has shown me that we have the power of the Holy Spirit in us to be amazing prayer warriors and to pray without ceasing throughout the craziness of our days.  We can intercede not only for our own family and neighborhoods, but for the people that we may never meet in person.

It is my desire to spark passion for prayer in those of you who have ever asked, 'How does my life make any difference for the kingdom when lostness is so vast?'  There are great things that God only does in direct response to the prayers of His people (2 Chr. 7:14-16; 1 Cor. 6;19).  The greatest movements of His Spirit in the world have been preceded by the earnest prayers of His people.