my mind is drawing such a blank right now....

(20 minutes later)

hmmm. so here's a question off the top of my head. how many times a day do you pray? and for what do you pray for and why? do you pray for good health and prosperity?! or do you pray that some day you can give up your life for Christ?

.....hmmm....i guess that's more than one question. but it stands on the same context.
prayer. prayer is awesome!!! what kind of a God would allow His creation to pray to Him to the point where He actually listens. we're just chuncks of dirt and clay and mud formed from the earth running around doing stupid stuff. or at leaste that's....some way of seeing it. but God does listen, and He wants to glorify Himself through us...so answering prayers is one of His ways of doing that.

ok. that was a thought that just formed from the ground.

i was reading today, from the VOM magazine that i get once a month...(VOM is Voice of the Martyrs.) and it was discussing the Christian workers in India!!!! (my passion. :)

many amazing stories in this one magazine...and if you want to read them sometime, alls you have to do is ask...but for now i will just tell you one of the stories! now for those of you who don't have a basic understanding of Indian culture...bear with me or ask me later...

the story is about three youngue women who were Tonsured for Christ!
there church leader was dragged out of his house, with his mother, and beaten because he, in a two yeay period, converted 30 Hindu's to Christianity. his name is Subas (probably not his real name). the mob then proceeded to take him to prison. the police sided with the mob and ordered him to be beaten them put into prison, and once that was done they were to go and find all the male christians in the same village and beat them up and bring them to prison (this local police action is actually against the lasw in India). while the police and the mob were 10 miles away...and approaching...word got to the christians and the wives begged there husbands to flee to a nearby village 50 miles away, which they did. when the mob got there and found the men had fled they dragged out 9 christian woman and took them to the village center where 900 villiage hindu's gathered to see what was going to happen. one of the woman, Dolly, was sitting beside and grasping the hand of two of her friends, one of which she had led to Christ 5 years earlier. the nine woman made a plan that if they were asked a question, the woman who was being asked, would squeeze the hands she was holding and those that were squeezed would begin praying for the right answer from God. each woman boldly testified about her faith. they were told that they and there families would be banished from there village if they didn't re-convert to Hinduism. they then refused saying they would prefer living elsewear than to become Hindu's again. "Who is leading you to act in such a defiant way? who is your guru?" one elder asked. they all answered in unison "Jesus is our Guru"
because the woman were so steadfast in there refusing to convert, the elders ordered that there heads be shaved. this is a huge act of humiliation and is known as "tonsuring". it's considered a shamefull act and is usually reserved for woman who have commited adultry or prostitution. the heads of two of the woman were cut badly in the process. some of them began to cry. when dolly saw this she said that they shouldn't cry but rejoice that they were counted worthy of suffering for Christ! she then began to laugh...and soon all the woman were laughing while there hair was being cut off. this was puzzling for everyone watching and many in the crowd felt ashamed and departed from the proceedings. afterwatds the woman gathered in a house to pray, and the radical Hindu's decided to burn the house down and say "it was suicide". the woman though had escaped and crawled for a mile in the darkness through a rice field to a church van parked at the end that picked them up and reunited them to there husbands.
tonsuring is illegal in india but those responsible were not arrested, but were given a warning. and the girls were banished from there village. dolly and her friends are now living with a christian family but are still being persecuted. they cannot get jobs or use the village wells, and they also can't walk on some public pathways. 6 months later, there pastor was released after ministering to 120 prisoners!!! (i thought that was AWESOME!!:)

But that's that story! i loved it and it was enspiring. there determination to serve Christ even though they're being humiliated and hurt. scary times....if you don't have Christ on your side.