{"id":601,"date":"2015-02-15T23:36:32","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T23:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=601"},"modified":"2015-02-15T23:36:32","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T23:36:32","slug":"appeasing-the-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2015\/02\/appeasing-the-gods.html","title":{"rendered":"Appeasing the gods."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I arrived back in the US Wednesday afternoon after traveling almost 20 hours from\u00a0India &#8211; literally half way around the world. It was \u00a0a marvelous, fascinating, exhausting trip. A host of wonderful memories of sights and sounds.<\/p>\n<p>Last Sunday as we drove to the tent (a temporary, bamboo structure covered with cloths of many colors) where the convention was held we saw people beginning to gather. The tent was set up in dry rice paddy fields &#8211; very flat except for the dried mud berms that separate the paddies &#8211; like high speed bumps. It had a real festival atmosphere. There was excitement in the air.<\/p>\n<p>The ladies dress in such beautiful colors! But they were gathering from every corner &#8211; East, West, North and South &#8211; they told me 40,000. A beautiful sight. It reminded me of the verse in Luke, &#8220;And He will send His angels and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.&#8221; They were gathering. With that many people you would expect it to be noisy and raucous. It wasn&#8217;t &#8211; it was quiet, orderly and peaceful. They sat on the ground quietly, patiently, packed in tightly &#8211; maybe sardines would give you a clearer picture!<\/p>\n<p>The convention is their annual event &#8211; each church builds its own tent for sleeping and eating and fellowship times. It was a city of tents &#8211; I would loved to have seen it from the air. I was amazed.<\/p>\n<p>In brief, I came away from India with a profound sense of gratitude for all Jesus has done for me. I do not have to appease my God. He loves me and sacrificed His only Son so that I might be free from the bondage of \u00a0sin and have a personal, intimate relationship with Him. He loved me. I need not live in fear.<\/p>\n<p>What a profound message for the dear people of India.<\/p>\n<p>As it would happen as I got on the plane in DC to go to India my iPhone gave me this message, &#8220;your phone has been disabled&#8221;. Great. No camera! But my assistant had hers so when she is ready she&#8217;ll forward them on to me and I will post them for you all.<\/p>\n<p>Great joy to see the Himalayas from the Bhutan border. Magnificent. And what I saw were just the foothills!<\/p>\n<p>We serve a magnificent God Who loves us and has provided the way for salvation. No sacrificing to Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, Durga, Mahadeva&#8230;etc. \u00a0Over 6000 gods. We serve the one true God who paid it all for us. Hallelujah!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I arrived back in the US Wednesday afternoon after traveling almost 20 hours from\u00a0India &#8211; literally half way around the world. It was \u00a0a marvelous, fascinating, exhausting trip. A host of wonderful memories of sights and sounds. Last Sunday as we drove to the tent (a temporary, bamboo structure covered with cloths of many colors)&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,40,70,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-god","category-gratitude","category-india","category-personal-thoughts"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Appeasing the gods. - 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\/appeasing-the-gods.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Appeasing the gods. - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I arrived back in the US Wednesday afternoon after traveling almost 20 hours from\u00a0India &#8211; literally half way around the world. 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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. 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