Melody’s Story - Rejoicing Over Generosity

Melody was born in Texas and moved to North Carolina in 1998 when she was four years old. She is a graduate of Regent University in Virginia Beach. She worships at Hope Community Church in Raleigh and she works at Mead & Hunt Engineering Firm in downtown Raleigh. Melody has been to India multiple times through Global Hope India. She currently lives in Holly Springs, North Carolina. Despite going through some struggles while she was growing up, she enjoyed her childhood and is blessed to have supportive parents who made sure that Melody and her siblings grew up hearing about Jesus. She grew up going to church and knowing that there was a God, but she did not really know Jesus. When she was in high school, she became more confused about what she believed and where she stood with her faith. She started becoming a heavy partier and a people pleaser. 

By the end of her high school years, she started realizing that she had an emptiness inside her that needed to be filled. One weekend while she was driving, she heard this song called “Forever Rain” on the radio. It's a really simple song about somebody who is running to God's arms and it really resonated with Melody. She started crying out to God for the first time in her life and telling Him, “God, if you're real, whoever you are, please reveal yourself to me. I don't know who you are, but I want to know the real God.” And from there, He started showing up in little ways and although it was not obvious at that time,  Melody could feel a strong pull on her heart to read the Bible. About a year later when she was going through a rough patch, she became desperate and went to the Hope Community Church to find Jesus. During the worship, she started recognizing the melody of “Forever Rain” and it started to overwhelm her. It started to bring back the memory and it was the same song that was playing on the radio when she asked God to reveal Himself to her. She started worshiping, crying out, and from that day on, she has never experienced that kind of depression and thoughts about harming herself. God had rescued Melody that day. 

Melody has a friend who went to India and came back with a glow in her eyes. This made her want to go to India to share the gospel and she was presented with the opportunity through Hope Community Church. She shares some fond memories from her trip to India such as doing fun activities with kids from the orphanage and sharing the gospel with a local village. They wanted the gospel to be known through loving them. It was really just looking into their eyes, loving them, giving them resources, their time, and praying for them. Many of them might not even know Jesus but they are going to ask for prayer and this is a wonderful opportunity to be able to speak the light of Christ. She remembers an instance where they went to a well's dedication and saw an elderly lady who was so desperately happy for the clean water that she started bathing in it. It was amazing for Melody to see the rejoicing that goes on over generosity that it just melted her heart. This water project became an incredible witness of Christ in action because it's the Christian Church really lovingly caring and giving the clean water to the village freely and unconditionally. 

Melody’s life has been truly changed through missions. She realized that there were things that she has been taking for granted. She believes that God has opened her eyes to see everything that she has and to be grateful for them. The missions also taught her to appreciate another culture for it opens a lot of doors and definitely opens her heart. Spending time with the people in India made her realize that their needs are real and recognizing that made her also understand why it is important for her to act when there is a time of crisis. 

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Global Hope India: For over 20 years we have been watching God radically transform thousands of Americans & Indian Nationals through missions. We’ve taken nearly 1,000 Americans on short-term mission trips to India. We work with 12 long-term indigenous church planting partners located in North, South, East, & West mainland India as well as Northeast India. We empower the Church in India to make Christ known through leadership, child, & village development projects. Global Hope India is a federally recognized 501(c)3 nonprofit organization located in Morrisville, North Carolina. All gifts are tax-deductible. More about GHI.More about Missions Changed My Life Podcast.

Meet Pastor Kevin: Pastor Kevin is Founder and Executive Director of Global Hope India and your host for Missions Changed My Life Podcast. He’s a poor kid from rural North Carolina, but get this… He just returned from his 50th trip to India in 20 years. If he doesn’t yet hold the Guinness Book of World Records for the most trips to India then he’s got to be close. He’s flown over a million miles to 27 different countries. He’s taken nearly 1,000 people on mission trips to India. Global Hope India has seen thousands of Indian Nationals and Americans radically transformed by God through missions. The miracle continues! More about Pastor Kevin.

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