Progress

Just bought the plane ticket. Departing July 26th to London, arriving in Edinburgh on the 1st of Aug, and returning on the 12th of Aug.

(exhaling)

Pastor Jack graciously emailed Pastor Dan of CC Edinburgh to introduce me and see if a family could host me. I am praying to hear back with a favorable answer soon. My hope is to be able to encourage and serve his congregation with their outreach efforts, if opportunity arises.

Blessings, Shruti

Prayer Request...

Dear Family in Christ,

I am often in awe of the time and affections you give me, especially knowing just how much they can be pulled at from different directions. Friendships are blessings no sinner deserves; they are one of the greatest evidence for me of God’s grace.

Instructions…
May 13^th, evening:
Go to Edinburgh for a few weeks in the summer.
Long silence.
But God, there isn’t a Shoreline trip happening that I know of. No one’s going.
Long silence.
I don’t want to go by myself.
Go where I tell you to be.
Long silence.
God, I really don’t want to go by myself.
You’re not. I am with you.
Long silence.
Ok.

****
Sitting on a swing the following week.
Father, what am I to do in Edinburgh?
Silence.
The sunset was spectacular. Some hours later, I headed home.

****
A few days later, on the same swing:
God, what is Your will for me in Edinburgh? What will bless You?
Walk around the city everyday and pray for its inhabitants. Talk when I prompt you to talk.

Preparing Me…
“Seek first the kingdom of God, and all else will be given to you.” Matt 6:33

1 in 2 people in Scotland are not Christian. 1 in 3 claim no religion at all.
Six years ago, I had traveled over to Scotland. Imagining it to be as wild as Ireland, I, an immature two-year old Christian, was sorely disappointed as I road tripped around the nation. Besides a few castles in ruin, this nation offered me nothing more than the California scenery and vibes I was aching to escape. The craggy hillsides, the simple, rustic people: they resembled none of the exoticness that my flesh sought in my cravings for adventure. Thus, I was puzzled during the trip, and for years afterward, as an inexplicable desire to embrace and love on the Scottish people came upon me at various times. I wouldn’t realize until later that this anomaly was the stirring of the Holy Spirit giving me cravings for spiritual desires such that my flesh had no comprehension of.

My heart has been on an odyssey since the day Christ entered it and willingly locked Himself in. He’s the only One capable of hugging us from the inside out – wrapping His arms around our spirit and telling it over and over again, ‘Being with you is the hope set before Me. You are honored and precious in my sight. I called you by name, you are Mine. I long to be gracious to you. Every day I desire to show you compassion. You are a sweet fragrance to Me. I sing over you! My delight is in you, My beloved!” (See Heb 12:2, Isa 43:4, Isa 43:1, Isa 30:18, 2^nd Cor 2:14, Zep 3:17, Isa 62:4, respectively)

I’ve come to realize in the last year that Jesus’ preparation of my heart isn’t about loving the Scottish people in particular. God has been teaching me to love….. people. Doing so in Scotland this summer is the circumstance and command He has given me. The lost are lost no matter where we are and God’s heart is wretched for reconciliation no matter who they are. Why is this lesson so crucial to me? For years when I had been seeking His will with questions like, ‘Should I become a missionary doctor? Is it Your will that I become a Christian fiction writer? Should I become a full-time missionary? Where?’ I had really just been fooling myself. These questions didn’t really concern the Spirit but my circumstance, and tended to make me walk in front of Him. The questions that concern the Spirit are, “God? Am I doing now what You would want me to do no matter where I am, and no matter what ministry I am in? How else can I bless you today? Lord, please, will you show me Your presence?” These questions keep me walking beside Him.

Our God has been teaching me not to confuse the zoe life with the bios life. The greatest adventure we get to go on is the LORD Jesus fleshing our hearts of stone. No adventures full of new sights, exciting tasks – whatever – compares to Him renewing our mind, to its growing vigor and capacity to understand His love for us and the love for others because of the bonds He steadfastly tears. His ‘calling’ for each of us is this: “Love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” Matt 22:37 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1st Th 5:16-18. That’s it. Our calling is abiding in Jesus, out of which flows the deeds that express our faith and trust in Him. So whether you’re like me evangelizing in Scotland, like those starting a church in London, a single parent raising her kids to serve others before themselves, a couple adopting an orphan, or a family opening their home to the homeless, we’re all missionaries called to the field which are the lost and believers around us.

If this is hard for you to read, trust me, this is hard for me to write. Every day I have to recapture my thoughts for Christ. Every day I have to make the effort to discern the zoe from the bios, choose it, and then not look back. Come, let’s walk together in pursuing contentment in God’s presence alone. Please reach out to me as I would love to come alongside to pray over and encourage you.

Spiritual Needs…
“Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence. If I say, ‘My foot slips,’ Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up. In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.” Psalm 94:17-18

I can tell you this much when I step out onto the streets of Edinburgh: In less than 7 minutes, I’ll be distracted. In about half an hour, I’ll feel awkward. Within an hour, loneliness will gnaw at me. In a few, I’ll ache from fatigue. By mid-day, it will hit me that I have 11 more days of this ahead.

Beloved family, I greatly desire your prayers. I am walking into a major test. This mission trip is as much for my heart as a series of divine appointments for the lost to hear the Gospel. I want to trust that the LORD in me will conquer my flesh’s cries of loneliness, fatigue, awkwardness, physical fear, and self-condemnation that I know will come. I want to remain at all times under the torrent of His grace, His presence, His singing over me. While He has given me a sobering view of the trip, He has also told me that He longs to show Himself faithful and strong! He is my Shepherd, I am His lamb. He is my Husband, I am His bride. He is my God, I am His delight. And His blessings aren’t just sufficient, they are abundant! Perhaps He will call others to evangelize with me. Or if He doesn’t, perhaps at about the time I cry out to Him in spiritual fatigue, He’ll lead me to someone reading their Bible at the park who will end up ministering to me. All I know is when we cast ourselves onto the LORD, He gifts us in amazing, unbelievable ways.

Please pray that

· I will be faithful to His faithfulness.

· I will remember I already have victory in Christ.

· I will remember that the trip is already successful in the LORD’s eyes, because all He requires is my obedience to go.

Financial Needs...
To bless me and love on me with your generosity, I ask this: please donate to the LORD’s work through Tobi Chauvet, whom the LORD has planted as a full-time missionary in the UK. She is an immense blessing to so many in the Body and is in need of financial support. Go to www.shepsstaff.org, missionary # 1016.

Yes, I do have needs of my own to carry out this choice of obedience, but all week, God impressed upon me an unshakable image: how struck Jesus was by the widow’s offering noted in Mark 12. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” Jesus was blessed. He saw through her deed her faith and trust in Him alone. Our God longs to show Himself strong and trustworthy to us as the Provider of our blessings so we can freely pour blessings onto others. In fact, this is the one area He actually encourages us to test Him in (He is so merciful and gracious!) as He says in Malachi 3:10, “Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put Me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”

I want my heart to be like the widow’s. I want to trust that when I seek first Christ’s heart, all else follows. Perhaps I’ll find a pbj sandwich at the foot of my bed, covering my need for lunch that day. Or a perplexed Scotsman will come up to me, saying, “I haven’t the foggiest, but I think I’m to give you 20£,” to which I could say, “I know why! Jesus. Please, give me two minutes of your time…” It’s liberating to have no hand in the blessings God wants to orchestrate for us! Of course my flesh says it’s scary. But the Spirit reminds me of God’s track record: Heaven parted to feed Peter, water sprang from dirt to quench Hagar, a pillar of fire comforted Israel, and so on. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Rom 8:31

In parting, know with full assurance that you are loved and treasured by our God in Christ Jesus!

Abundant blessings,

Shruti

To come alongside with this specific trip and receive updates, I’d love for you to contact me.
shruti.maniar@gmail.com, 206-595-5351, 343 Lilac Dr. Los Osos, CA 93402, Facebook: Shruti Maniar