India Reflections...

Missing India -

The "dream team" meets Indian hospitalty!

Time with my "Indian" son!

Why Wouldn't He? Sharing it with my best friends!

A Front row seat to watching God move!

Aren't they Adorable??

Check out what my darling children made for me to take to India for the kiddos there -

They have been hand sewing these stuffed animals for a couple of months.  Each one of them a hand-made, hand designed masterpiece.

It was a JOY to give them to the Indian children at our VBS program and watch how they recognized the animal.

I do love my sweet children's generous hearts!  It's amazing what creativity and some felt squares can do...

The Quilt... Part 2

Do you want to hear how it all started...

Here's the talk I planned to give.  Which, more or less, I did deliver to a room of 300 Indian women - except, I left my notes behind, and let the Holy Spirit speak instead of myself....

Namaste!  My name is Renita Bentz.  I am so very blessed to get to be with you today.  This is my second trip to India.  I came with my son Sam.  I have been married for 20 years to a wonderful man, his name is Matt.  I have 8 children total – 4 boys and 4 girls – ranging in age from 18 to 6 years old. I pray that I will get to bring them all to India some day, do you think we can fit in an Auto?  ;-)

I am going to be speaking to you today about the Fabric of a Woman’s Life.  As you arrived, each of you were given a piece of fabric.  These fabrics are pieces from this quilt that I made, especially for the women here today.  Each piece is a token that you can keep to remind yourself of today.  You see, God is really a master quilter and we become his beautiful quilted creation of different colors with a pattern and a design that makes us a comforter to others. 

I think making a quilt is a lot like a woman’s life. We start with a fresh whole piece that is beautiful and colorful, we get cut  apart in life and put back together again, bit by bit all carefully in the pattern of a master designer - God.  Amazingly, this whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  The finished quilt, like a women’s life, tells a beautiful story.

A quilt has several parts.  First, are the individual blocks.  These are cut from a piece of whole cloth, but broken into smaller pieces.  These pieces are then carefully sewn together and connected to make the design of the master.  Every single piece forms an important part of the design, remove even a single one, and the design is left incomplete.  This is just like us – God has chosen each one of us for his design – not a single unwanted color or pattern is included in his plan.   Psalm 33:11 tells us “the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations”.  

 We are surrounded by others with different colors, or talents and gifts.  Sometimes, we don’t understand how our one life can fit into the pattern – but it does.  The quilter must keep following the pattern, sometimes repeating the same steps over and over again, until the pattern is complete.  Motherhood can sometimes feel like a long string of repeating, unimportant tasks that you do over and over, with no recognition.  I want you to know God is creating a beautiful design for your family, and you are an important part in it. Ephesians 3:11 – “He has made all things beautiful in his time, he has set eternity in the hearts of men.”

Next comes the batting.  This is the middle layer of a quilt that gives it the warmth and makes it a comfort to others. God gives us this wrap of protection of his Spirit as a way of protecting us from the dangers of our temptations and battles.  A quilt without a batting is not able to give comfort to those it covers.  We need God’s spirit inside of us. Our trials and temptations can be used by God to become the batting in another’s quilt, as we are given comfort, we can comfort others. “God who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corithians 1:4  Before I came to India the last time, I found out that I had cancer.  God’s spirit brought me comfort through the difficult days of treatment.  I was able to use that very comfort to pass comfort on to other patients at the cancer clinic. 

 The last layer is the backing.  If you look only at the backing, you only see part of the picture.  It is not impressive on its own, seemingly random with strings and stitches.  This is a lot like our life here on earth, it doesn’t always make sense, we don’t see God’s pattern.   One day, we will see our quilt of life from heaven’s perspective, and every single stitch and color will make perfect sense.  We will see how the lights - the colors of the blessings in our life, and darks – the hardships and difficult days, contrasted to all came together and make a beautiful design.  But, the backing is a vital part of the quilt, it creates a foundation that holds the quilt together.  In my life, I see how the blessings of my family and friends helped create a foundation of support as I went through my cancer treatment.  We need to provide the backing to our sisters in Christ by giving them support and encouragement. 

Then, the quilter uses tiny stitches to hold all three layers together.  These insignificant stitches by themselves become attractive and practical as they are lined up together stich after stitch.  As God’s stitches in the quilt of life – we are able to accomplish more for his glory by linking together with our fellow Christians and creating much more that we could individually accomplish.  As I was fighting cancer, God lined up many dear friends that supported my family – with meals, helping to take care of my children and encouraging and praying for me.    

The binding takes all the rough edges of the quilt and keeps them from fraying.  Prayer is the binding that we need to keep our quilt all together.  Matthew 18:18-20 tells us  "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them."  My dear Christian friends and family surrounded me in prayers for my healing.  God listened and responded to the healing we asked for and I have been cancer free for the last two years. 

At last, the quilter puts a label on her creation.  Quilts are often a way that we women connect our pasts and our futures, a marker of remembrance.  Psalm 78 reads –“That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born who should arise and declare them to their children”.  I have made quilts for each of my children as a way of covering them with my prayers.  Isaiah 49:16 says “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands..”  God has put his own name on us, and we are to remember what God has done in our lives and to teach this to our children.

Every quilt tells its own story.  This particular quilt was created with love by my 12 year old daughter, myself and a very dear friend especially for you.  Individually, we could not have completed this alone.  We needed each other’s unique gifts and talents to be able to bring this gift to you.    

The colors we choose from Exodus 35:35  to remind you of the tabernacle.  “…in blue, in purple, in scarlet and fine linen”.   The blue represents the law, the 10 commandments carved in stone.  The Israelites wore blue tassels to remind them of the law. The purple is a symbol of royalty – the priests wore it, and spread a purple cloth across the altar for sacrifice. The red represents Christ’s blood and sacrifice for us. The cross, once a symbol of execution has become our symbol of the power of Jesus over sin.  I love how the colors of blue and red – the law and Jesus’ blood, combine to make the color of royalty, purple.  The color white represents our righteousness through Jesus.  

So this quilt tells the story of Jesus, the righteous one (white), who kept the law (blue), to become the perfect sacrifice (red) through his suffering on the cross.  He shed his blood (red) to redeem his people from their sins and make them righteous (white).  He makes us a holy priesthood for him (purple) to bring him glory forever and ever. 

 

 

The Quilt... the beginning

This is going to be a couple of posts to tell the entire story.  But, here's the beginning:

My son and I had the amazing privilege of returning to India this August.  We were part of a multi-state team doing ministry in Chennai, India.

One of my roles on the team was as a speaker for the Women's Conference at the church we served at.  My topic, handpicked by God, was "The Fabric of a Woman's Life".  Basically, comparing our lives to a quilt.

My team leader "suggested" that it would be nice to leave a handmade quilt there as a marker of our time together.

Oh my... have I told you how insane this summer has already been??  On top of my already crazy life, I've been struggling through Hashimoto's (finally finding out what was causing that complete exhaustion!)  I thought,  "I've got nothing to give..."

But GOD - he shows up in HIS power when we are finally at the end of our own.   He gave me a picture of the colors this quilt should be.  Then,  my dear friend Pinterest, gave me a vague idea of a design.

 
I actually had to do all the math (many of you are truly seeing God's hand now!) and created the design and pattern from a picture.

My sweet 12 year old daughter and I took off to the quilt store.  As soon as we walked in, we saw the perfect colors.  We bought the fabric in the morning, came home, and working together finished the entire 300 piece quilt top in the afternoon.

 

 

 

 

It was a project way beyond ourselves...but, God managed to use our hands to sew a beautiful marker of his love.

Another dear friend - a master quilter, gladly offered to machine quilt it on the long arm machine and created the perfect quilt label.   The end result was a collection of each of our gifts - plus the hand of God. It much more than we dreamed!

I'll tell you more about the story of the quilt and the ministry of it in a future post.  Stay tuned!

Thank You!

 

We are just days away from leaving for India, and I wanted to say THANK YOU!!

 

 

We'd treasure all your prayers for our team and trip, and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

 

 



Ready to Look GOOD?!

You can help Sam & I get to India this summer, and look good doing it. You won't want to miss these limited edition t-shirts!  Thank you for showing us your support...  we'd love to see some selfies of you in your new shirt :-)

Here's the details - you can order online by clicking on the links,  shipped directly to you.  (unless you are a MN peep - then, you can save shipping cost and pick it up)


All orders must be placed by 12:00pm on May 19th - Orders are scheduled to ship on May 29th

Shipping is $7.95 per order.

(If you are local to the Lakeville, MN area, save shipping costs by selecting "club pickup" as your shipping method during checkout. Your order will be available for pickup at Hosanna Lutheran Church from 6:30-8:00 on June 4th. )

Note: All Easy Tees'y products are sold as Pre-Orders. Orders will NOT ship out immediately.

• from $20.00

Women's Soft Style T-Shirt - Simply Love - House of Hope

• from $24.00

  Women's Moisture Wicking T-Shirt - Simply Love - House of Hope
• $20.00

  Girls T-Shirt - Simply Love - House of Hope
• from $20.00

  Men's Soft Style T-Shirt - House of Hope
• from $24.00

  Men's Moisture Wicking T-Shirt - House of Hope
• $20.00

  Boys T-Shirt - House of Hope

We need YOU!

Click on the image - and you can find out how!

India on my Mind - Part 2

Did you miss my intro post...  read it here.


We did it, we actually traveled 27 hours to the other side of the world, and we were in India.

India is an overload to your senses.  It's bright, crowded, noisy, smelly, hot and completely wonderful! I know that not all of you would agree...  but, I fell in love at first sight!

Our first task was to go shopping... we needed Indian apparel.  We wore the - "Salwar Kameez".  A tunic like top, with drawstring baggy pants.  I'm telling you, Indians are on the right track - comfortable clothing that is pretty too!!  So many colors, fabrics and designs to pick from.  It was an experience in itself, picking out our outfits.    Imagine Black Friday - everyday!   I got 4 new outfits for around $60, what a deal.  
 

We actually had to cross the street to meet back up with our van. It was a bit like a "Frogger" game... Here, I tell my children to carefully look both ways before crossing. In India - we had to look for an opening and run for it! I was terrified, but excited.

People, people, people - everywhere! Animals too... Motorcycles and Auto rickshaws are the main vehicles, but there are many trucks and buses too. All shoulder to shoulder, no lanes. Rule of the road - "largest vehicle has the right away". Hey, with my big van, maybe I could drive in India?!

 
Here we are in our new outfits. Sam did the typical male thing... the men went to one store, picked out one shirt and were done. The ladies of the group took a little longer... :-) But, he chose well, I think India looks good on him!

Aren't we colorful?

Stay tuned...more to come!

India on My Mind - The Adventure Begins

I can't seem to get my mind off India!  I know I left parts of my heart there,  and I guess, my mind too.

We have had a whirlwind of activity since we returned, and I'm only now getting a moment to begin sharing this amazing journey with you.


Let's start with the beginning (for this post...more to follow)

I'd like to introduce you to the spark that lit this fire for India in me... My sixteen year old son Sam.

He had a vivid dream when he was only 5 years old, that God was calling him to be a missionary to India.  He's never questioned that,  always responded to the "What do you want to be when you grow up question?" with   "A missionary to India." 

I don't know about how many 16 years you know, but I haven't met many that are so confident of God calling them to India.

When our church mentioned they were planning a mission trip to India - we went.  If you want to read more about that experience - check out this post.

After months of preparation,  including spiritual gift testing, ministry bios, cross-cultural preparation and team building - we were ready!

Oh, by the way - did I mention that I happened to find out I had breast cancer during this time?  Satan was not happy about our plan to go, and tried his best to derail God's plan.  (maybe another post about that fight will be coming soon...) 

But, God's plan won out!  We successfully raised our support in a matter of weeks,  helped support the team financially with a huge Consignment Sale (read about that here!) and kicked cancer's behind!

We were off to INDIA.... 

The morning we left, the team, our families and several friends came to pray us off...  This is one of my favorite pictures - my husband praying a blessing over Sam and I as we are about to leave.  (sniff, sniff - still get a choked up.)

We tend to travel in a crowd.  Wonder who was taking care of the crew while I was gone?

Grandma came from MN (a cross cultural mission trip of her own)


Here are some of the most amazing WORLD CHANGERS - aka... Sam's friends!


Here we go - watch out world - we have passports and visas and we plan to use them! 


One of Sam's greatest fears about this trip wasn't the food, wasn't the being so far away in a completely new culture, wasn't even being seen with his mother!  It was flying.  He was truly scared stiff at the thought of getting on a plane.  I was so proud of him,  not only did he face his fear and overcome it, but he was an accomplished world traveler by the time we got off the 27 hours of travel to India.

India 2013 - NLC Team

About to embark on a life-changing adventure.

 

 



WE MADE IT!!   Our first picture in India!  A realization of a dream is happening...  my son has set foot on Indian soil - I'm not sure that either of us will ever be the same.

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more "India on My Mind", as our trip unfolds.