My Very Life's Breath - Thoughts from India #1

I'm still very much processing all that happened while we were in India.  Two weeks at home have been enough to get my physical self back to normal, but I pray there will never be the same "normal" as before for my spiritual self.  I can't thank God enough for this opportunity to see part of the world that many never see - and most of all to see a little of how He is at work there.

The Indian believers we encountered were encouraging, humbling, and convicting to my heart.  I have no experience as a Jesus follower in America what it means to be in the minority, but these believers do.  Most everyone in their country worships idols.  There are shrines everywhere - statutes - special places set aside to honor these so-called gods.  Seeing a cross is such an oddity that it immediately catches your attention.  Maybe that contributes to their attitude towards prayer.  It is their very life's breath.  You can see it on their faces, in their posture, in their hearts when it's time to pray in a believer's meeting:

No just going through the motions here.  Many places I'd see people kneel and quietly pray to themselves along with the group prayer, swaying and keening as they begged God for their needs.  Tears would stream down their faces.  Hands would be raised.  Knees would grow weary on hard cement floors.  Yet the need for prayer was obviously greater than the need for personal comfort.  No one seemed concerned about how they looked to those around them as they petitioned their Lord.

I want that kind of prayer.  Fervent, as if my very life's next breath depended on it.  For truly it does.

Psalm 34:5-7
Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.  This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.