Thank You!

I'm so blown away. In just the past couple of days, we've raised more than what we need to get Ramu's testing underway. Hopefully the money will be in the hands of Baptist Church Hyderabad by early next week, and the wheels can begin to turn. I'm overwhelmed by the generosity of so many. I've had two different people tell me that God had led them to set aside some money to give to something, but they just didn't know what it was until they heard Ramu's story. They both said they instantly knew this was it.

When I went back and read what I had initially written about Ramu, I was reminded that the day I met him JD told me that he believed that Ramu was going to be healed one day. At that time, it hadn't even occurred to me to try and do anything to make this possible. I wrote, "Why was I born into the vast wealth of America and these little ones were born into such poverty and their choices are so limited? What do I do with this?"

How amazing that God would have given me at least one answer to this question. Perhaps I was born into America so that one day I would come to India and meet a little boy named Ramu and be able to bring some of the resources of my great nation to his aid. I'm so grateful that my friend Dana jumped on this so quickly and kind of shocked me out of my grief over his situation into action. What a lesson that sometimes God just asks us to pray for others, and sometimes he wants us to act on their behalf.

I truly believe that Ramu is on his way to restored sight. But I still hope with all my heart that you will join me in praying for him. First, pray that he is a candidate for surgery, and that in the three years since his last scans there hasn't been any injury to the optical nerve that would hurt his chances. Second, pray that through this journey, God will be glorified in a mighty way. I pray that the people of that sweet village would not see his healing as a miracle from America, but from the great Healer, and that many more of those precious gypsies would come to believe in the power of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Wouldn't that be worth way more than we could possibly raise?

My dream is to return to India next year and be able to visit that church again. I want to be able to look in Ramu's eyes and see the love of Christ radiating back at me in place of the complete fear and desperation I saw last month. Oh, please join me in praying for that miracle.

JD told me that day that Ramu has the voice of an angel, and that whenever he hears him sing he is brought to tears. I can't wait to hear him for myself one day.