Stories that last

One of our staff who is HIV positive shared her story at the Church Member Training on Saturday.

When she talked about her husband dying she cried. It was the first time we have seen tears in her eyes - but there was a tremendous atmosphere of love in the room. She also shared how she had been started on anti-retroviral therapy - and had been very afraid to do so because of the many people she has seen suffering terribly from side-effects. She is so grateful that she has not only not had side effects - but that her CD4 count has gone up from 180 to 340 in just under 6 months! We are proud of her and know that God is doing His work in and through her.

One of the desires that we have at Jeevan Sahara is for God to unleash people with HIV to minister. Not only to receive physical and emotional and relational healing - but to also minister to others. Others with HIV as well as other circles of needy and broken people (place yourself in one of these - we all fit in at least one circle of brokeness).

We are heartened that God does not wait till we become perfect before using us.

The last 2 weeks have seen us joined by an HIV positive brother from the interior of Maharasthra. He has been sent by a church group as he has a great vision for reaching out to his community - as well as those with HIV. It has been wonderful to help train him up in basic home-care - and to see person after person touched when our brother tells them his story. God is using the weak to confound the wisdom of our very out-of-kilter world.

In the same week when with much fan-fare and razzmatazz the new India Professional League for cricketers announced absolutely mind-boggling pay packages for 44 days of work - we have been touched by two people with HIV who will never see their names and faces bandied about as eye-candy in the press. But what they do for God will be recorded for eternity. Yesterday's paper is already being stored to be sold to the old-paper-man. What is written on it is leaching out of my short-term memory. But what is done for the Kingdom will last - forever. Malachi 3.16.