I thought I’d dive into a little India culture by watching “Slumdog Millionaire” and cooking up some Indian food. Christin and I had some samples of Spinach Channa, Vegetable Korma & Bangkok Beans over rice. It probably doesn’t look very tasty in the picture, but it was good. I’m looking forward to eating lots of curry next week – I need to start preparing my stomach for it.
Christin and I hung out with our friends Corinne and Eric today. Corinne cooked up some awesome curry shrimp and we enjoyed some fellowship. Corinne brought up an interesting topic of conversation on being called to missions and those who say they don’t feel led to go on a mission. I think there are at times a misconception in the church on what the word missions means. Most people think missions is being called to Africa or some other country. If we call ourselves Christians, aren’t we all called to live missionally? I think God calls us to be missional everywhere we go – our work places, the grocery store, our homes, etc (not just overseas). It was a great discussion. After dinner, we had a prayer session about this upcoming trip to India. We prayed for the team going there and for the people of India to come to know Christ. It was an awesome time of praising God for how much He has blessed us.
Christin shared with me her devotion the next morning that related to our conversation. I love how God provides at the right time. His timing is always perfect.
Called of God – Oswald Chambers
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” Isaiah 6:8
God did not address the call to Isaiah; Isaiah overheard God saying, “Who will go for us?” The call of God is not for the special few, it is for everyone. Whether or not I hear God’s call depends upon the state of my ears; and what I hear depends upon my disposition. “Many are called but few are chosen” that is, few prove themselves the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with god through Jesus Christ whereby their disposition has been altered and their ears unstopped, and they hear the still small voice questioning all the time, “Who will go for us?” It is not a question of God singling out a man and saying, “Now you go.” God did not lay a strong compulsion on Isaiah; Isaiah was in the presence of God and he overheard the call, and realized that there was nothing else for him but to say, in conscious freedom, “Here am I, send me.” Get out of your mind the idea of expecting God to come with compulsions and pleadings. When our Lord called His disciples there was no irresistible compulsion from outside. The quiet passionate insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men with every power wide awake. If we let the Spirit of God bring us face to face with God, we too shall hear something akin to what Isaiah heard, the still small voice of God; and in perfect freedom will say, “Here am I; send me.”
Living a life that Matters 
I love how God confirms his word in ways like that. He did that for me about a year and a half ago. Summer of 2009 right b4 James left, he and I had a counseling session in his office, this was when my seizures were starting to get bad, right b4 I had to stop working and driving. It’s funny I went in to talk to him about 1 thing and we talked about something totally different. I had just told him that I had moved back home that day. I told him that not only my mother, but my sister, her two children and my bro were living in this 3 bedroom house. He basically said, Lauri, I know you, you care for your family and so because you are there they will call on and you will put them first. This is going to cause you stress and make your seizures worse. He told me, I needed to get out of the house asap. The very next day in the AZ Republic was an article about how caretakers usually become ill and some even die before the ones they are caring for, because the stress of taking care of others, is hurting their health. I immediately sent him a text, and he replied something like..”WOW!! Talk about timing, God is in the house!”…..I love seeing God move like that!
Lauri B.