Forgot to say (oops)

I neglected to mention that while we were in the South Island we bumped into some friends of ours who have a church back in India. It was the church where we went a year and a half ago. We did not know them well and to be honest I had felt a bit intimidated by them because they had been in India for the past 18 years and I was sure they had had many people telling them that they had been called to India and would think we were just one of the many who would last a little while before running back home. We had come to know their 19 year old daughter and she had become a real friend after she moved back to New Zealand to study music for a year or two. She is very dear to me now.

It was the best thing to bump into them. We were able to have a BBQ with them and get to know them as friends on a social level. We did not mention our feelings towards India to them at this point in time.

They are now back in India and we were able to have them to our home before they headed back and told them all that had happened. They were really good at encouraging us to go with what God was calling us to. It was such perfect timing that they were here when God was so clearly calling us to India.

What now?

So the question was "What should we do now?"


I began doing a few practical things so that when it comes time to go we are not needing to get too much paper work sorted.

I took the kids down to the local pharmacy to get passport photos taken. With five kids needing passports I knew this would take a while to get sorted. We had a guy called Ross living with us at the time and currently still is as I write this blog. It was so good to have some extra hands to keep all in order. Trying to get a six month old not to smile at the camera was quite a task. He also wanted to grab the camera, it obviously looked yummy to him.

After getting the photos taken we bumped into Zoe who was bought up in India. It was so neat to see her after we had made our first practical step towards India.

South Island trip

After being back from India for over a year we just got stuck into what we were doing here in New Zealand. We own our own business that has been doing really well and has just been an incredible provision. We basically got handed it on a plate and it has grown to a point where we can now give out some sub contracting to some friends. The hours are great and allows David to be around home more than most Dads would and financially it has provided exactly what we needed.

The pull to India had remained strong during this time but I did manage to control my enthusiasm. It was hard not to talk about India all the time but I knew that people would get pretty bored with me if that was the only focus in my life.

We put our energy into life at home, our community and church. It was important that we gave our energy to what we could do now but I would still do research on India in my spare time.

We did a South Island trip around New Zealand with our caravan during the Christmas break. By this time we had another baby who was 5 months old. This brings us to a total of six kids now.

We had a wonderful time as a family. It's a time I will always cherish.

On our way back from our trip I felt God say to me ( in an innner voice sort of way)
" You've been standing still, the trumpet's blown, time to move on, lets go."
I said to David, " I think God just spoke to me."
He said, " What did he say?"
I smiled and said, " I'm not going to tell you because I think we are going to get confirmation of it. I 'll write it down and show you when confirmation comes".

A couple of days later we were back home and down at our church. There was a lady by the name of Val who has a prophetic gifting there. She is now a member of our church but at that stage I didn't know her from a bar of soap and she didn't know us. Our leadership has known of her and allowed her to come and share her gifting with us. She called David and I up. Here is the script word for word of what she said:

" Prophetic word 25/01/09 Val
I see ministry all over you. Do you have a desire for ministry because I see ministry, I see ministry and you’ve been in a quiet zone and you’ve been hidden things in your heart like Mary and you’ve pondered upon these things and you’ve prayed through and there’s some certain things. I don’t know if you have a desire to plant a church but I see you planting a church ( what’ s the nervous) but I see you planting a church but it’s in a foreign land and I see a different skin colour and I see the spirit of God and God is going to roll you up in a ball of fire and he’s going to hurl you into a foreign land and God’s saying that you’ve been going through preparation (because God has been) and you the type of people that look at your heart attitude, you check your motive, you make sure your motive is pure. You’re not the types to push yourselves forward because you have been servants in the house of God. And the Lord is saying “ well done, you have been faithful in the house of God and I just hear, I hear very powerfully the word India. The spirit of God is saying that within 3 years God is going to thrust you forward into India and you are going to plant a church there, says God. The Lord says he wants to confirm it this morning. He wants to confirm it this morning because he has seen your hearts and he has seen your passion and I really believe God is going to cause you to take a team of a couple of people and plant a church and God is saying that within one year that church is going to grow and mushroom. The Spirit of God this morning is releasing upon you the Breaker anointing because you going into a literal war zone in India but the spirit of God says the new anointing, the fresh anointing upon you is going to break and destroy what the enemy has planted in that nation, says God. And you gonna walk the dusty roads, you gonna walk the dirty roads of India too. and you gonna evangelise and God’s gonna give you a fresh anointing to work with business people as well. God’s gonna raise up three business people that are gonna financially support you there cause there’s a lot of wealth in there areas and God says finances are gonna come into your ministry and into your vision but God is saying as you have served the vision in the house of God there comes a time when people are going to serve the vision in you. The Lord says my hand is upon your children. The Lord says one of your children is a little bit rebellious and sometimes you have a problem with this child and God is saying yes yes I see the young one. God is saying he is breaking and destroying those roots of rebellion that’s come through the blood line and he’s bringing him into the lineage, Is it a little boy, yes I see a little boy. God is bringing him into the lineage of Jesus and God is destroying the rebellion and the Lord says he’s going to make him submissive. God’s going to give you an anointing. My sister, you need a medal for what, you need a medal and God has given you an anointing of strength and of power to carry what you carry but the Lord says daughter I am changing your name to Sarah. The Lord says, you have given birth to many children but you are going to give birth to many spiritual sons and daughters in the kingdom of God. Many, many sons and daughters, many, many. God’s opening up a teaching well my brother, Gods opening up a teaching well and you are going to teach Gods word with clarity and with revelation and distinction but you’ve got a heart of David, you’ve got a real heart of David. You’re a man of compassion, of sensitivity. You’ve got a real heart of compassion and Gods gonna bring that compassion to the fore and people are going to be compelled to you. Like a moth is drawn to the light. The Lord says get ready. Within three years I am thrusting you forth in power, says God, I’m thrusting you forth with a new authority, says God. The fire of God is burning in you says God. The nation of India, get ready says God, cause God’s about to thrust you forward with fire. Like Jerimiah, the fire of God is shut up in your bones says the Lord. Well done good and faithful servants."

So there came our confirmation, I was so blown away. We were emotionally blown away with Gods timing and his clear direction. There was nothing new in what she said but it was an absolute confirmation of how we had been feeling and it also gave a us a time frame.
I could keep going on and on at this point but I will stop here and carry on later in another post. So much has happened and continues to happen to show us God's clear direction.

A few shots of Delhi

"Chill the hell out"

So here we are back from our trip and I am amping. I am ready to sell up and ship out. I was online looking for housing and cheap airfares, jobs for David. It was hard to contain my excitement. The next step was to tell the family and chat with the leaders at church and get their input.

One day David came home and I am discussing all sorts of ways we could do things. I didn't think I was over the top but I must have been because David looked at me and quite bluntly told me to "chill the hell out". It did kind of ground me again and I tried to put the breaks on my enthusiasm but it was really hard.

The next blunt news that helped tone me down was that while we were away in India my brothers marriage had come to a crisis. He had found someone else and left his wife and kids. I was devastated, I found it so hard to accept that my own brother could do such a thing. My poor Mum really struggled and for many months we could not talk without her crying. Family is so important to us and Mum felt like she had lost a son. David and I decided it was not a good time to tell her that we were going to up and leave for India. We did however talk to my Dad and told him how we were feeling. He was great and supportive but also thought it was not good to tell my Mum just yet until we had something a bit more definite.

We spoke with some of the leaders at our church and I was not really sure what sort of response we would get. Some very good questions were asked and some of the answers we had to give made me realise that our move to India would not be as quick as I had hoped.
We were asked if we felt we had completed everything here that God wanted us to do and to be honest, we had to say no. It made us realise that the call was stronger but the timing was still questionable. The leadership said they were not saying don't go but they were saying wait and they would continue to pray for us. I would be lying if I didn't say that I have felt frustrated and impatient and I did question at times if the leadership had it right, but to now be in a place where we see God leading so clearly I am glad we waited. I am learning more and more to let God's timing take priority, I say learning beacause I can still try and jump the gun. It can be a bit of an inward battle.

12 years later

After our initial tantelising trip to India 14 years ago and after India got deep under our skin, we have always had the feeling we would one day end up living there.

About a year and a half ago we had the opportunity to return. I was so excited as I was always having dreams I was back there and then wake up disappointed. A lot had happened between our first trip and this next one. We had gone on to have 5 wonderful children. Our eldest daughter, whom I was pregnant with 14 years ago, we named Daya. It is a Hindi name meaning Love and Kindness. I think I was sick on every form of public transport possible due to morning sickness. Not once did I get any form of Delhi belly though.

So there we were ready to head back to India for 3 weeks. We took Daya with us and my parents looked after the other kids. It was the longest we had ever left them. The longest had been only a couple of days. They were amazing though and we were able to skype them. Wow! technology has bought the world so much closer.

We went to a church conference in delhi. It was a great conference although I was crook as a dog for a few days. Talk about dignity going out the door. There is nothing quite like having a bathoom with nothing more than a thin wall and a grating up high to share the effects of an upset stomach with. Never mind though I got over it.

The conference definately made us feel that we needed to be there in India on a more permanent level. We still had nothing specific about where in India or what we would do in India but we knew that our drawing to this country was getting stronger.

After the conference our friends who had travelled with us invited us down to Southern India to Bagalore (Benglaru) to meet their family. I didn't even find out much about the city before going as I had felt it was just a little add on to the trip.

As soon as I stepped out of the plane and before I had seen the city, I had an overwhelming sense of "coming home". I remember thinking it was odd because I had never been there. It turned out that David and Daya had felt the same. A couple of days later I was walking up the street with my friend Vinu and I told her how I had felt. She smiled with little chuckle and said that they had felt God had told them to bring us there. So, in a nutshell, that is where we will be heading unless God says otherwise.

Never to own a house!

Before David and I were married, he made it quite clear that he did not want to own a house. He had a problem with being in debt and said the only way he would buy a house would be if God told him to.

Well to cut a long story short. After we had been married for almost a year and after we had decided we would go to India on our trip. He came to me one day and said "God told me to buy a house." What sort of timing was that! We had money ready to buy our tickets and now David was saying we needed to use it on a deposit on a house. It all seemed crazy but exciting all at the same time. We found a house quite quickly and then had to rely on God for a our finances to come through for our trip. The money all came to us through various means and we never had to worry.

We lived in the house for three months before going to India and then rented it out while we were away. We moved in with my parents for a while before we left. To make things even more exciting, I discovered I was pregnant 2 weeks before we went and I was feeling pretty sick. We did not want my parents to know because they would worry while we were gone. It was hard to keep the vomiting quiet but somehow we managed.

I am now going to jump beyond our trip to when we arrived back home. We had been gone for 3 months and while we were gone the house market sky rocketed and our house gain $70,000 while we were away. We have since seen God's huge provision through Our house. David went to teachers training college and we sold the house, paid off his student debt and bought a cheaper house. We were then able to borrow against the equity in that house and get a larger house as a our family grew. We then sold our rental property and are still in the same house that the rental property helped us to get. It is now 15 years later and we can already see God about to use this current house to get us to India, I'll keep you posted as things unfold before us.

Coincidence?

Where to begin? I guess I'll start right from the very first time that India was eluded to, without us even knowing it.

Let's step back 17 years ago. I was 21 years old and had moved back in with my parents. My boyfriend at the time had moved to a different city and was about an hour away by plane. I really felt that he was the one for me for life but he was very non committal. I felt like my heart was dangling on a string and I began asking God what I should do. Was it worth waiting around for him or should I move on? My heart wanted to wait but another part of me was saying it was a waste of time.

I lay on my bed one afternoon and began talking with God and asking him, in a very conversational manner, about what I should do. Although I was not sleeping and did not have my eyes shut, I saw a picture of us seated together on an airplane. I looked out the window and saw a huge flag. The picture of the flag impressed on me so much that I decided I had better go to the library and see if it actually existed. I found a book of flags and sifted through it until my jaw dropped and I found the flag I had seen. It was the flag of Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia. It wasn't just a country flag but a flag within the country. I was so excited because I really felt God was saying to hang around, wait and be patient as he has plans for us together, maybe in Malaysia?



I decided to tell David what had happened and was careful not to make it into a "God has told me we are to get married" ( it is how I felt though). I told him about the vision I had seen and described the flag to him. To my amazement, he had been visiting some new found friends and had noticed a flag on the wall. (I think it was on the wall). He asked where the flag was from and found that she was from Selangor, Malaysia. He new exactly what the flag looked like when I began describing it and had seen it the exact same day that I had the vision. Coincidence?

To jump ahead now, we were married a few months later in 1994. What a great guy he is too. Well worth the wait.

After we had been married for almost a year, we were both sitting in church and an announcement was made that there was going to be some guys going to Bangladesh and India. If anyone wanted to join the team then come along. My heart started pounding with huge thumps, the type of thumps that make you very aware of your heart in an almost uncomfortable way. The first stirrings of India had began.

As we drove home we began to discuss the announcement. I can't remember which of us said first but it appeared that we had both had the same heart pounding reaction. We decided then and there that we would go. For me it was more of a curiosity of a new culture than anything, a bit of an adventure at this stage.

Because we were going as a team, someone else arranged all the tickets for us and we just gave them the money. When we were handed our tickets, I remember opening our little folder of tickets with great excitement but I was not prepared for what I saw. Our first port of call on our way to India: Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malaysia. No one can tell me that any of this was a coincidence.

The Yatra Begins

So begins our Journey (Yatra) to India. To a country of colour, diversity, energy and so much more.
This shall be a journal of memories, experiences and the greatness of a God who guides us in the smallest of details.