Romans 12:1 has been the passage for the last two messages I have heard from JP with not only a challenging reminder, but also an encouraging one. Titled “Present Your Bodies…” it reminded me that talk is cheap, and what we demonstrate in our behaviors is most telling. What an encouragement this gave when so often I have felt so lost for words because of the language barrier! The few phrases I know in Hindi just cannot communicate the depth of love and truth I want to share, but praise to Him who can and is able to use even me in my weakness. Let me not get in the way in my unbelief and selfishness!
Another example of how understanding language has been both a barrier and a blessing came a few weeks back. It was just after I had e-mailed you all with my frustration to understand His purpose and struggling to feel at home here. I returned to the community and one of the staff who just moved in after I arrived-Richa, the house-keeper and cook here- was feeling a little overwhelmed. She was expressing to me how she wanted to tell me, but could not because of the language. Richa cannot write or read Hindi or English, and speaks about as much English as I do Hindi, and yet she is the person I have connected with the most here in the community. She has been through so much for someone so young, and I can see she has a tender heart.
She used a word- “bogue” – which I had not heard before and could not find in my small dictionary. A few days later she was again trying to express herself, and another staff member looked up this word for us in a bigger Hindi-English dictionary that translated it as “over-worked.” What I was able to understand is that it was more than just being over-worked and stressed that she was feeling, but feeling the heavy weight of frustration with too much expectation from certain people. Oh how I could relate to this feeling in that moment and understand what she was struggling with.
In her broken English she proceeded to explain to me why and how she felt this “bogue,” and her tears were so refreshing after the countless times I had tried to express the reason for my tears. It seemed that since I had been able to express my frustration and tears to her in the past, she was able to openly share with me. By His grace, I was able to be the listener she needed, and then to pr over her for the weight to be lifted, and for His easy yoke to be placed on her, that He would strengthen her for the work she has. She expressed to me the next day that she was doing much better and we both praised Him together for helping us face each new day! What a gift this was and I hope is just one more seed planted in her heart.
It has been such a gift for us to have each other and be not only an encouragement to one another but also an example of relationships crossing the boundaries of language and culture. I am just amazed at how He is at work in this friendship and am asking He will continue the work long after I leave this place. Please do keep her in your thoughts as you lift us up.
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