a year ago today....

Tonight, we had some students from UW over who went to India this past summer on one of UPC's deputation trips. As I listened to some of their stories, it brought back some memories from my time there as well and it reminded me of how experiences like this bring such perspective.

"These experiences can shake us up and scramble our tidy worldviews. We might suppress the images from our minds and go on with our lives with no change.  Or we might allow our souls to be stirred at the very core, and our thinking and our lives cannot remain the same." -Skip Li 

It seemed fitting that we had this India gathering at our house tonight as today is my friend Hephzibah Thota's birthday in India (pictured on the far left below). A year ago today, I was there with her to celebrate her special day and it was such an honor.

In honor of Hephzibah's birthday, I wanted to post the reflection I wrote last year on October 9th from India about embracing our identity as a daughter of the King.... 

October 9, 2012

Daughters of the King

You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand,

a royal diadem in the hand of your God. Isaiah 62:3

When I started the program in Kenya in 1995, I named it "Children of the Kingdom" after a very significant experience that I had when I was in college. At a retreat, the speaker was a man named Ron Ritchie, and in many ways, he looked like how I picture Moses. At one point, I was walking up to the large group meeting and he was sitting outside. He stopped me and said very simply, "Did you know that you are a daughter of the King?" I was a bit taken aback by the question because I had not spoken to him on the retreat, and yet he was asking me this direct and profound question. I remember saying "yes" to which he responded, "You need to remember to walk like one..."  He did not know me at all so it was not an admonishment. It was a challenge and an exhortation to remember who I belonged to. It was a beautiful way to redefine identity and reclaim this in areas where I may have been looking to other things for that identity.  

I have always loved children's stories about kings and princesses.  And in this Grand Story of which God has invited us to be a part, we are that princess (or prince) for whom he came into the world to rescue. I am His daughter who is learning to run to Him and to love him more as I learn more about his heart for me and for this world.  

When I came to India, I brought some princess crowns that Anna let me bring from her costume box. I have used them in each church when I have spoken to children to remind them that they are children of the King. They are His precious treasure, and though these people are Dalits (at the very bottom of the caste system here), this is their true identity.  They are precious children of God whom He loves so deeply. 

I have been incredibly humbled by my time here as I have been treated like a queen through the hospitality that is unrivaled here. The Thota family has made so many sacrifices for us to be here. Ratnakar made a schedule of events for us where we got to meet so many people, hear so many stories, and go to so many different places. One village we went to (the one that was 147 km away that we now joke is only 2 km since that is what people kept telling us when we asked for directions), fasted for three days on our behalf and prayed for us for our time here. Ratnakar's family rearranged their whole house (even borrowing beds and buying sheets for us to use for the week even though we had told them we were happy to sleep on the floor when we were arranging details over email about our trip) so that we could stay in one of the rooms. (We found out that it took 3 days for them to do this to get it situated the way they wanted it to be when we got here.) They have lavished us with amazing food (several different kinds of curry dishes at each meal, new tastes and traditions to try each day).  They have gone above and beyond in honoring us beyond anything we could have imagined.  The attention to detail (getting things for us that they knew Americans would use that they did not need-- like bottled water and toilet paper) has been amazing. We have been served tea in the mornings when we wake up. We have been lavished with love at every opportunity. 

One morning, Saroja brought in a few cotton Indian tops and leggings that she had picked out for us. The amazing thing is that she picked out perfect ones for each of us and our tastes. (We joked that she is a fabulous "personal shopper.")Two days ago, Saroja and Ratnakar took the three of us into town and asked us to pick out a special dress. (They were going to get us a sari, but they thought it might be too hard for us to fix when we got home! :) The dresses they got us are absolutely beautiful. I tried it on and really did feel like a princess. They would not let us pay for them but insisted that this was their gift to us. 

Yesterday was Hephzibah's 25th birthday. We came to breakfast in our beautiful clothes they had given us and celebrated in the morning with cake and a wonderful breakfast. Her sister (Mrudula who has Down's Syndrome) gave us a gift of sharing some of her dancing with us before Amy left. We joined her in a dance after a while and it was one of the most fun and special parts of our time here. There was lots of laughter from all around because let's face it, we don't have any rhythm when compared to our Indian sisters. :) It was a special time for us to share in the dance as daughters of the King together. 

We had a time with their family before Amy left yesterday, and we were able to express some of our gratitude. I began to cry as I tried to thank them for treating us like queens and for giving up of themselves so much for this time.  This verse is one that I read to the family: "We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3  

Rejoicing over the gift of being a daughter of the King and for the way God has poured out his love through this family. 

  

My two favorite quotes below about being a daughter of the King:

On May 28, 1972, the Duke of Windsor, the uncrowned King Edward VIII, died in Paris.  The same evening, a television program rehearsed the main events of his life.  Extracts of earlier films were shown, in which he answered questions about his upbringing, brief reign and abdication.  Recalling his boyhood as Prince of Wales, he said, “My father (King George V) was a strict disciplinarian. Sometimes when I had done something wrong, he would admonish me by saying, “My dear boy, you must always remember who you are.”  It is my conviction that our Heavenly Father says the same to us everyday: “My dear child, you must always remember who you are.”

THERE was once a little princess who—

"But Mr. Author, why do you always write about princesses?" 

"Because every little girl is a princess." 

"You will make them vain if you tell them that." 

"Not if they understand what I mean." 

"Then what do you mean?" 

"What do you mean by a princess?" 

"The daughter of a king." 

"Very well, then every little girl is a princess, and there would be no need to say anything about it, except that she is always in danger of forgetting her rank, and behaving as if she had grown out of the mud. I have seen little princesses behave like children of thieves and lying beggars, and that is why they need to be told they are princesses. -George MacDonald