I have a story. India has a story. This is how the two stories colided.
Ever since I can remeber I have had not only a sense of adventure but a passion to travel. I have been beyond blessed to have traveld as much as I have at my young age. When I was younger I wanted to go to India, but to be honest it was because I was in love with bangle bracelets and thought I could get some pretty awesome bracelets in India. Other than that, India has always been on my radar, but never an extreme passion or desire. This changed in the past year. Now I am sure what it was about India, but it just became somewhere of intrest. I felt like I had to go, but had other things going on in my life. In the past year through various occasions and people I have met, India came up quite frequently. I remember sitting on the lake in Maine with a good friend watching the sunrise and he said something to me that penetrated my soul and never left. He said, 'Kelsey do what makes you happy, I just want you to be happy'. As I sat there in silence I pondered what made me happy, truly happy. Honestly all I could think of at the time was going to live in the slums of India, with the outcast, down trodden, disease stricken people. The thought of just picking up and moving to India was a great idea in theory but of course there were many obsiticles in the way. It was not until one morning sitting in my bed, when my interest turned into a passion and desire.
There I sat in my warm feather bed and I had a revelation. I suddenly had an interest in other religions. Not as in trying or expiermenting in other religions, but wanted to expierence what it was as an outsider, for someone completly new. I felt this would help me better relate to people just begining to expierence the church and God for the first time. I wanted to go to various religious orginizations and see how I was welcomed and compare that to the Christian church. Therefore I jumped on Google of course, and began to research. I started finding various religious gatherings in my area as well as researching the top 5 religions in the world.
As I began to learn even just the basics of these religions, my heart was captivated. It dawned on me. Why would I stay in a country and culture where the name of Jesus Christ is on every street corner. I know this is generalizing, but I feel every American has the opportunity to hear of the great works of Jesus Christ. So why, why would I stay here? These people know, these people have heard, and they made their choice. I remember as clear as day sitting there in my bed, and looking out my window thinking, I have to go. I just HAVE to go. I must go and tell these people. They don't know. Many have never heard. How is that fair? How could I stay here, when I know first hand that God is working through many of his believes through out the states to continually bring people back to Him. This is great and all, and I commend these people, but I feel it in my soul. I need to go.
So there began my journey to India.
As I began to do research on India, the culture and the Hindu religion my world began to expand. Learning about these other religions will not only help me connect and communicate with others but it will give me a greater appreciation for what my God and Savior has done for me. Yes, I know in his freedom I will live, but how can I truly know how free I am until I see what bondage these other cultures have to their gods and rituals. How can I know how truley gracious and soverign my God is until I see and understand the weight and guilt many others carry within their religions.
I grew up going to church. Granteed it has been a process, but through the thick and thin God has always been there to carry my burdens for me and I have never had to go through anything alone. How can I truly appericiate this, when it is all I have known? Like I said I MUST go. I must go and see first hand, the absolute bondage these people are living in, so I can offer them the key to freedom and hope.
These were his instructions to them: " The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields. --Luke 10:2
Yeah, it is a bit crazy to quit a job that I love. It pays more than enough, and I genuinely love my co-workers and the donors. So yes, it's seems extreme to quit a job that I went to school for 5 years to get and have been at for about 4 months. But really, I became a nurse to heal and care. To heal and care for the body, heart and soul. I have been given the most perfect platform to travel anywhere in world. Nursing is universal and will always be needed. So here I go traveling and adventuring into the word I dreamed of the past five years. Off to finally be the nurse I wanted to be. Although there is much to be left behind, I know there is much more to be gained. Leaving it all behind I know, life and life abundantly is awaiting. Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God".--Luke 9:62
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