Back Next Week

Truthfully, I'm swamped with all kinds of things this week--getting ready for Thanksgiving, teaching, running boys, running boys, running boys...

I love ya'll. I really do, but I don't have the umph to write tonight and then I'm off to family time.

I couldn't miss the chance to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, though. Join me in taking time to give thanks for all the God-given gifts we've received this year. Bask in His presence and love on your family.

Enjoy, and I'll see you next Monday with a Christmas giveaway!

Little Miss Sunshine Strikes Out

I wasn't afraid. Our team had watched videos, read books about culture shock and been briefed by missionaries. All travel is extreme adventure to me, and I was ready to hit Calcutta. One of my friends that was going along was struggling with fear of the unknown-- but not me!

I wasn't struggling with fear... until I was. After over 24 hours of travel, we landed in the Calcutta airport at 2:00 am. My friends watched my face turn white with strain as I alone was grilled by a customs officer. We weren't officially there as missionaries but as tourists, and we had been told over and over not to reveal our connections lest they be sent home from the field.

Finally, the interrogation was over, and I was allowed to begin my "vacation" in Calcutta. Our group walked out of the airport only to be surrounded by a pressing crowd of beggars and men pleading to carry our luggage. Desperate women with babies on their hips held out bony hands to us.

As we drove through the city, I watched machine-gun-armed policemen patrolling, feral dogs sniffing at mounds of garbage and cows wandering slowly along the streets. To my untrained eyes, the buildings looked like something in a war zone. They looked like bombed out shells. (I later learned that many of these had been under construction for years.)

Fear began to seep into my soul. About that time, I looked up to see a huge billboard that declared, "Calcutta: City of Joy". I hate to admit, but this was the first crazy thought that went through my head, "This is no job for Suzy Sunshine." You see, in all my preparations, I had harbored a hidden belief that my cheery personality would change Calcutta. I would blow in, smile at everyone I saw, tell all in sight about Jesus in the perkiest tone of voice you've ever heard, and all would be well.

I'm exaggerating a little of course. But my first thought at seeing a billboard that declared something that seemed so contradictory to my surroundings revealed my flawed belief about my role for a week in Calcutta.

Suzy Sunshine couldn't make a dent, but God... God can speak to hearts in bondage to poverty, fear and idolatry. God can heal the sick on the street. God can care for the orphans. God can turn Calcutta into the City of Joy. He is big enough.

Slowly as the week went on, my fear was replaced by faith, and I'll share a few more stories about that in upcoming posts.

In light of yesterday's post, though, this was a good story for me to retell. Suzy Sunshine (aka Amy Carroll) can't do a thing about the evil that surrounds me right here in America, but God...
Thank you, God!

Thank you also to several of you who gave me a picture of Shaniya being held in the arms of Jesus. This bloggy world is a wonderful place where I hope you receive the kind of encouragement from me that I receive from you. Love you all!

Not Today

Usually I commit to myself to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I commit to having a lesson from Calcutta tomorrow morning. This morning I just can't. I'm way beyond sad.

Last night I watched the news as our news anchor announced that Shaniya's little body had been found. She's a beautiful little girl who disappeared from her Fayettville home last week, and there has been a search for her ever since. They found her yesterday thrown away like a piece of trash on the side of the road. Her mother has been arrested on charges of selling Shaniya for sex. She was five years old.

This morning I opened my email and read my friend Melissa's devotion about her sexual abuse at the hands of a neighbor.

I want to honor Melissa by saying first that her devotion wasn't really about the abuse. It's about the power of Jesus to heal and bring forgiveness. It's an incredibly powerful piece from an amazing woman who I love and respect. Melissa goes on to share honestly on her blog about the effects on her life.

And it completely breaks my heart.

And I feel overwhelmingly sad and angry about living in a world where such evil exists. I feel broken for every little girl (and boy) who is suffering at the hands of an adult today, and I grieve for every little-girl-heart walking around in a woman's body who hasn't gotten past the pain inflicted on them as a child.

So I can't tell my Little Miss Sunshine story today. But I'll tell it tomorrow. Because no matter how overwhelmed by the evil of the world I am today, I serve a Savior who is bigger and who grieves over the world's evil even more deeply than I can imagine.

Don't Miss It!

If you haven't already signed up for the giveaway at the She Reads blog, don't miss out! They are giving away not only the newest novel pick for Winter but also an iPod nano.

The "Little" Stuff

I often share the story from today’s Encouragement for Today devotion when I speak. During the last conference that I led, several women approached me separately with the same insight from this story. It was one that I actually hadn’t pondered very deeply.

They said, “I’ve always thought of an ‘idol’ as something really big in my life. Your story made me realize that even little things (like HGTV and “Southern Living” which fueled my remodeling obsession!) can take God’s rightful place as Number One.”

Wow! It’s true, isn’t it? It makes me think of Song of Solomon 2:15, “Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyard, our vineyards that are in bloom.” Sometimes it’s the “little foxes” that are the most deceptive.

It’s spending more time in the mirror than on our knees.

It’s consulting all our friends first and Jesus last.

It’s counting on our checking account for security.

It’s finding our significance in being a wife or a mother or in our job.

(I had to add one from an email I've already gotten this morning.) It's finding time to check our email or Facebook but no significant time to spend reading the Bible and praying. Ouch!

I remember being in the heart of Calcutta near the temple of Cali, the goddess after whom Calcutta is named. She is the goddess of death and destruction. You can just imagine how much fear is involved in the worship of this goddess.

The area was lined with booths filled with flowers, grains and other items being sold to those heading to the temple to leave an offering. I have never been surrounded by such poverty, filth and human misery. It was an area that included the city’s red light district—a place filled with women with the deadest eyes I had ever seen. The spiritual oppression was tangible.

I wanted to stand there and shout, “Do you see? How can you not see? Do you see what Cali has earned for you—fear, poverty, death, misery! True destruction. Turn to Jesus. He is kind and gentle of heart. He loves you and longs for you to turn to Him.”

But do we see? Do we see what our own idols have done to us? They have bought something so much less than what we were created for. We are created for relationship with Jesus, the One and Only.

Let’s beware of the idols, the little foxes, that come to kill, steal and destroy.

(Next week I'll be posting more lessons learned in Calcutta. I've enjoyed your visit today, and I'd love for you to come back!)