ANGEL
She
appeared suddenly without any sound, and placed flowers in my hair, smiled and
went to sit somewhere in the audience. The next night again she came and
grinning, gave a whole hand full of jasmine flowers to me. I kept smelling them
as I had to listen to complaining harsh words when the meeting was finished that
night.
I allowed the fragrance to overpower the pain his words caused. I focused on heaven and the important task of sharing the gentle love of Jesus with the audience.
I
took the Jasmin and Rose flowers to bed with me placing them about the pillow.
Jenny did the same on the floor where she slept. We pretended we were resting in
a garden of flowers in heaven. WOW! It is a very relaxing thought to
imagine ones self in heaven. The fragrance of the flowers helped my
imagination.
Isaiah says we will be like a watered garden when we share with the poor. It seemed this promise was fulfilled daily as we were covered with strings of flowers by so many loving hands. Angel was the first one to do this. For several nights she alone brought the fragrance of heaven and pinned it to us.
If thou clothe the naked and bring the poor that are cast out to thy house and deal thy bread to the hungry, "then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily." Doing good is an excellent remedy for disease. Those who engage in the work are invited to call upon God, and He has pledged Himself to answer them. Their soul shall be satisfied in drought, and they shall be like a watered garden, whose waters fail not. Isaiah. 58:8-11.{AH 446.3}
Provin,
our helper, also gave me a green flower that looked like some kind of orchid. It
was called a Somopongee. It had a fragrance that added to the jasmin and soon I
was asleep wishing for heaven's meadows accompanied by all those we were seeking
to share the gospel with.
Each
night I noticed that God had prepared flowers and sent them to show there was
interest in the meetings. It was difficult to put the hat on with the robes so I
finally just left it off. The promises of God flooded my heart. I kept my eyes
of faith from turning to the right or to the left. I had to keep my eyes
on Jesus.
Ephesians
5 says to keep the focus real positive. Paul says, "be filled with the Spirit;
5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
"
This
little "Angel" helped to keep our focus on the task at hand no
matter how tired we felt. She was like heaven's whispers of joy and kindness.
Her sweet smile kept me looking at Jesus instead of my trials.
One day she invited us to her home at 4pm. She checked several times to make sure. It was our promise and our plan to do that. All day we looked forward to it. We did not know that at the same time Provin promised the people across the street that we would be to their house at the same time. They were standing there watching so we went there planning on 15 minutes only. They sent one out on a cycle to get grapes and watermelon and demanded we wait or they would be offended. We waited and prayed for their home and family. Then little Angel (Somya) peered around the corner and began to cry. Her tears made our hearts break.
The look on her face full of disappointment broke our hearts. She did not know that we love the same no matter how nice or poor the home is. To us the jewels, rubies, and gold are the people. She had grandpa there waiting at her home that she had brought to clinic. It seemed she never forgave us. We went later to her home and again the next day but she did not love us as much and later did not come again with her flowers. I wanted to speak Telegu so I could explain it all to her little heart of love. She lived only a few houses from Chituma, a dear precious friend of mine. In heaven these language barriers will not be there to hurt and offend those we love.
How
I wanted her to know how much she meant to me. I wish I could tell her how
pleasant were the fragrances around my pillow each night.
When we awakened, often our faces were in the flowers. I wished I could tell her
that it was because of her that I had courage and kept my eyes on Jesus during
our disappointments. Adult missionaries don't share their pain with little ones
but God uses the little sweet smiles and kind attentions to give courage to keep
on doing what God has sent them to do. I pray that God will help her understand.
The time of evening when we had to work the hardest, we had all these invitations to homes. It made it such a frantic scramble to get set up and finish power point lessons and practice. We tried to do both for we saw how much it meant to them if we went to their homes. We sure love this little angel (Somya) and her whole family.
One night we had no translator when it was time to begin. The children set up
everything, including the screen. We started in faith praying, for we did not
wish to disappoint any one who came to meeting. Angel came as usual to show her
kindness. I asked if she could read from the Telegu Bible into the microphone
and keep up with the MATHEW DVD that was going in English. She prayed and we
moved on in faith. God showed me that He can use little children to keep the
work going. He used little 12 year old "Angel" as I nicknamed
her, in many different ways. That evening the translator was 30 minutes late and
God again had provided in a way that was a surprise to us. She did very well
with the Lord's help. She was there for us when we became very sick but
that is another story.
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Sweet loving hands making these flowers strands for our hair:
First they pluck the buds from their bushes and take their matching thread and perform an art that looks like crocheting with their fingers while they sit cross legged on the ground or on a cot.
