{"id":597,"date":"2015-02-01T01:13:56","date_gmt":"2015-02-01T01:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=597"},"modified":"2015-02-01T01:13:56","modified_gmt":"2015-02-01T01:13:56","slug":"india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html","title":{"rendered":"India"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tomorrow, I leave for \u00a010 days in India. I have never been to that part of the world so am looking forward to it greatly. We are going up near the Bhutan border&#8230;way north in the tea growing capital &#8211; but the weather will be very pleasant &#8211; in the 50s and 70s. I am hoping to get a glimpse of the Himalayas while there.<\/p>\n<p>I hope I have packed the right clothes, medicines and gifts! I am allowed two suitcases &#8211; neither can weigh over 50 lbs. They don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>India has always seemed so exotic &#8211; because it is! It is so far away and has such delicious foods &#8211; I happen to love curry. However, rice does not like me. And I cannot drink the tea if it has caffeine. I hope they will not be offended.<\/p>\n<p>I am to speak at least 4 &#8211; 5 times to a very large crowd &#8211; they tell me 30,000 or so. I cannot imagine. I have never spoken to that many people at one time but I know for me, I have to prepare as much for 30 as I do for 30,000. The culture is very different. I have had an Indian friend &#8220;vet&#8221; my messages so nothing will be misinterrpreted. I will have a translator. Hopefully, he or she will improve the messages.<\/p>\n<p>We plan to visit Mother Teresa&#8217;s Sisters of Charity and hope to have the privilege of speaking at The Carey Memorial Church in Calcutta. William Carey, called the &#8220;father of modern missions&#8221; took the Gospel to India in 1893 and had a hand in the modernization of India. He served India until his death.<\/p>\n<p>Because of my mother&#8217;s parents, I have missionary blood! So I am always thrilled to see what God is doing elsewhere in the world and want to be used in a small way. I always come home with a renewed burden to do more.<\/p>\n<p>Please pray for us &#8211; I am taking a friend with me. The trip has been organized by Advancing Native Missions of Charlottesville. A marvelous organization dedicated to finding and \u00a0supporting indigenous missionaries\u00a0around the world.\u00a0As of March, I will serve on their Board. I have never been involved with a group that prays, loves, serves in such a humble, Christ-like way. It is a joy just to be around them. The leadership is incredible &#8211; special folks who live out the idea of &#8220;servant leadership&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>This trip is taking me way outside my comfort zone! Far away from home and friends and family. But it is also an exciting new adventure and I will be depending on God in every way!<\/p>\n<p>I am not sure I&#8217;ll have Internet connection&#8230;if I do I shall post news and photos &#8211; otherwise I will do it when I get \u00a0back!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tomorrow, I leave for \u00a010 days in India. I have never been to that part of the world so am looking forward to it greatly. We are going up near the Bhutan border&#8230;way north in the tea growing capital &#8211; but the weather will be very pleasant &#8211; in the 50s and 70s. I am&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foreign-travel","category-personal-thoughts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>India - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tomorrow, I leave for \u00a010 days in India. I have never been to that part of the world so am looking forward to it greatly. We are going up near the Bhutan border&#8230;way north in the tea growing capital &#8211; but the weather will be very pleasant &#8211; in the 50s and 70s. I am&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-01T01:13:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"India - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"India - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","og_description":"Tomorrow, I leave for \u00a010 days in India. I have never been to that part of the world so am looking forward to it greatly. We are going up near the Bhutan border&#8230;way north in the tea growing capital &#8211; but the weather will be very pleasant &#8211; in the 50s and 70s. I am&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html","og_site_name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","article_published_time":"2015-02-01T01:13:56+00:00","author":"Ruth Graham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html","name":"India - Safe Place with Ruth Graham","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-02-01T01:13:56+00:00","dateModified":"2015-02-01T01:13:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/india.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"India"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/","name":"Safe Place with Ruth Graham","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Ruth Graham","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/#\/schema\/person\/76d20e190c3b83823997a9f422b86975","name":"Ruth Graham","description":"\u201cTransparent\u201d is the word most people use to describe Ruth Graham. No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Her life Bible verse is John 1:16.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ruthgrahamministries.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/author\/rgraham"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/466"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":599,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}