Dear English-speaking brothers and sisters,
Since October we have only written one blog update on "Testimonials from the Streets", so now we want to report a little more.
After moving
"Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain." - Psalm 127: 1
The first few weeks of October we were of course very busy with setting up our apartment: assembling furniture, emptying boxes, fixing little things, etc. God really gave us a wonderful apartment in which all of our furniture fits exactly into its place down to the centimeter/inch. We bought a sturdy, oak, second hand bunk bed for the children, for which Amos even now often thanks Jesus in his bedtime prayer. We felt very at home here even from the first week, because we were so quickly taken into our local fellowship body.
School and children
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, only fools despise wisdom and instruction." - Proverbs 1,7
Junia‘s school schedule alternates weekly between mornings starting at 7.45 a.m. and afternoons at 2.00 p.m., with five, five, four, two and three subjects each day. Her favorite subjects are English, art, general studies and music. Croatian and mathematics are probably a little too easy for her after working with Luna for a year at home so she is often bored. Junia is happy to see her friends every day, seven of whom she invited home to her birthday party. That was a very nice afternoon and helped Junia to get over the loss of her friends in Germany. But she also made new friends to play with in our fellowship. After three days of home schooling with online assignments, Junia now has three and a half weeks off - Croatia has decided to add a vacation week.
Both Junia and Amos are usually a great joy to us. He enjoys playing alone, listening to children stories or going out with one of us, when the big sister is in school. Amos rides his "Puky" balance bike a lot, while Junia has been riding her second, bigger bicycle since her birthday. (Additionally, we are all kept in shape by the 80 steps up to our apartment). She draws and paints a lot and the two of them also play together well, except of course when they argue or have difficulty obeying ;-). While this tempts us to be annoyed with them, of course, it really gives us opportunities to illustrate to them Jesus' grace and how God wants us to live. Bible verses that we read, proclaim and/or memorize together at the table also help us with that (for example we recently memorized the "house order" from Colossians 3:18-21, with movements for the children).
The "DNA" process of our fellowship
"The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." - 2 Timothy 2,2
Since September we have been going through a "DNA process" as a house fellowship, in which we consciously refresh central principles from the Bible and confirm them as the standard for all of us in order to be prepared for the time when God wants to send us a bigger harvest and we will be divided into several fellowships. The ten points of the "DNA" are not all-encompassing, but rather describe the working method that God has put on our hearts (and that we see Jesus in):
- The vision of a discipleship making movement
(making new disciples who make disciples again, and so on) - The Gospel
- Rebirth
- The process of discipleship
- Church life
- The role of the Holy Spirit
- Leadership
- Evangelism
- Multiplication
- Sending workers out
When we meet on Wednesday evenings, we first have someone share the gospel ("from creation to salvation") for exercise, and then one of these points or a sub-point is taught from the Bible. In our meetings on Saturday evening, the Bible text or topic is not preset, and the focus is not only on a teaching but also on testimonies and prayer requests, praise, prayer, worship and fellowship. This usually takes from 6 p.m. to around 10 p.m., but it can also take longer.
Slow growth outwardly and inwardly
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." - Matthew 28: 19-20a
We are excited to see and find out how God is guiding us as a fellowship. Outwardly, all of us have open doors for spreading the gospel here and there, and some new contacts are in the process of being born again. But that doesn't always mean that they come to our meetings, because their job, partners or other circumstances can sometimes prevent that. But that's not bad at all, because Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples, not to invite and make disciples. We take this process of discipleship very seriously. Many of us go to someone for weekly discipleship training, including fellowship, Bible study, prayer and practice. This usually starts before the baptism and continues afterwards until the person has grown up spiritually to the point where he/she makes disciples himself, or grows out of the baby milk stage, can eat solid food and keep growing themselves. Our prayer is that this will develop into a "discipleship movement" with many small communities through which God will be glorified and many people be saved.
At the same time, we are also growing inwardly. By that I mean that we in the "core group" have to learn from the Word of God and from one another, which is not always easy. Only last week there was a spiritual breakthrough for a couple who had already been in the community three years ago but then stayed away because of marital problems and a lack of willingness to learn. Now we are praying for a complete renewal of this family and, God willing, Luna and I will be used in that process through weekly meetings. This is one of many precious Christmas presents and miracles this year.
What our everyday life has looked like so far
"Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17
Perhaps some of you are wondering: „What do you with your time every day?“ I (Harry) have asked God this question many times recently. "Lord, we're here now. What do you want us to do?" For my taste, things could develop a little faster!
Sure, I have enough to do with studying and practising Croatian. I am able now to carry a simple conversation in most places, and understand between 30% and 60% of what others say. I also was privileged to give teachings for the fellowship several times, including parts of the "DNA process". In addition, for six or seven weeks we went to the streets twice a week to pray and share the Gospel with people, which we have already reported about. Sometimes, I can help others practically, like the other day when I picked up a broken washing machine from a sister, repaired it and we later drove it to a poor family in the village who we had gotten in touch with (we as in the whole fellowship, or, in this case, another couple).
Within the fellowship we communicate with each other often. We are learning from our brothers and sisters and can also help others to grow in their discipleship. Every week Luna meets with a young woman for discipleship, usually with another sister. Once a week we "Whats-App" late in the evening with a good friend in Germany, whom we are helping to take the next steps in following Jesus. As I said, such relationships are the focus of our vision as a community. And in order to carry out this mission of making disciples, we need to spend plenty of time in prayer, so that we are connected to Jesus in such a way that the Spirit can flow freely and work as He wants, and that we can listen to God. In fact, one of the things Luna and I enjoy most right now is our morning prayer time together.
However, times of quietness are not easily found, even when we are both at home. Everyday life as a family has its demands, chores and challenges. And we must never forget that our children are the first two disciples whom the Lord has entrusted to us! They definitely learn the most from us, the good and the bad, whether we like it or not.
For our contact with people in the world, we would like to ask you to: "Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ" (Colossians 4: 3). We have had some encouraging experiences with strangers on the street, praise the Lord! Here and there we can give testimony of God's existence, goodness and plan for salvation. At the same time we have been praying for a few weeks that God would show us people who are really hungry for the gospel. I have been praying for each of our neighbors by name, and in the week of Christmas, if God allows, we want to start knocking on their doors, inviting them for coffee and asking if we can share with them the message of Jesus. For this and for other occasions I am learning the gospel message by heart in Croatian. It‘s divided up into 12 steps, with many Bible verses in between, which I or the other person can then read out loud. Of course, Luna can talk more freely about Jesus in Croatian. Encouragement from Germany came when a friend had a prophetic picture for us of a woman from a village through whom many will hear the gospel. In any case, we are more aware than ever that we cannot do anything if God does not prepare hearts and open doors for us!
Harry learns to be patient
"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness!" - 1 Timothy 6:11
I am very grateful that God kindly guides me through a school of patience. Just over a week ago I became really aware of my frequent, carnal impatience with God's schedule, as well as my impatience with my dear wife and children. I repented of this and I sincerely apologized to the Lord and my family; now I become more conscious of the Spirit's time schedule. When the old impatience returns, I tell it that it died on the cross with Jesus and send it away (see Romans 6:11). May God continue to give me his grace!
The truth is, God brought us here and He has the perfect time plan. Actually, we should already know this from our experience over the past few years. But no matter what our experience was or what our feelings say: This is the truth of his Word (e.g. Psalm 18:30: "As for God, his way is perfect")! That‘s what we rely on – or better yet: it is HIM who we rely on!
When He opens a door to share the gospel, we want to be ready and go through (the important thing is that we go into the harvest and not wait for the wheat to walk into the barn). When He entrusts a disciple to us, we want to serve him or her faithfully. When doors and people close again, God has other plans. If He has other assignments, then we devote ourselves to them. After his conversion, the apostle Paul spent more than 10 years in quiet service in Damascus, Arabia and Tarsus before he went to serve the church in Antioch and later planted churches on his trips (Gal. 1.17-2.1; Acts 9.30; 11.25 -26).
My impatience has really been rooted in disbelief.
When I wish that God would work more or faster through us, I secretly doubt whether he even will work through us at all.
But I do not want to serve out of my need to feel useful or busy, but rather out of the power of the Spirit, regardless of whether it seems to be about small or large things.
So I thank God that He is changing my heart in this matter!
Divine provision
"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" - Matthew 6:26
God is absolutely 100% faithful and keeps his promises. He provides us with everything we need and much more at all times, even now six months after we last had a monthly salary! We do not have the freedom to tell you about individual answers to prayer at this point, since our principle remains to only ask God for the fulfillment of our financial needs, in order that only He gets all the honor. But we believe the time for these testimonies will come.
Work with your own hands
"These hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’" - Acts 20: 34-35
I have kept telling the Lord that if he shows me, I'll be happy to work in a regular job. However, I have not yet felt any leading in this regard. Luna, on the other hand, applied for some home-based jobs at the end of November and beginning of December, for example in German-speaking customer service for different Croatian employers. So far, however, she has not received any feedback.
Instead, a dream that I (Luna) have cherished for a long time is suddenly taking shape before our eyes: I have started to set up my own business as an artist and sell small canvases and greeting cards decorated with Bible verses and I love it. It is exactly what I always wanted to do! When I started just over a week ago, there was so much instant confirmation that we are really excited to see what God will do with it!
Since I was little, I've scribbled on every little piece of paper I could get my hands on and designed my own story books and comics at an early age. However, my own perfectionism and the comparison with other "much more talented" artists had discouraged and kept me from using this gift. I had a very low self esteem back then.
All this time after I gave my life to the Lord twenty years ago, I really only wanted to use my artistic gift for God, but I had no clear idea of how exactly and with which medium this could work. I felt that the time would come, but I was not ready for it yet because of my own bad attitude.
In recent years, God has led me on a path of healing and deliverance. He made me realize how unhealthy and destructive perfectionism and extreme self-criticism is, not just in art but in all areas of life. I was able to experience this liberation, for example, with regard to my self-love for my own body. I can talk about this again at a different time. In any case, my art lay idle for a long time.
Then, two years ago, I received a prophecy in the Slavonski Brod house of prayer from a brother, who didn't know me before: He said he saw me painting pictures for God's Kingdom and God was blessing it (I already wrote about it here on this blog). That was like an initial spark. During that summer I actually did paint canvases and wrote Bible verses on them while we were travelling through Croatia. We then gave these away to various brothers and sisters we met during our journey. God made me paint pictures that were far from perfect and I didn't care! And that was incredibly liberating. He led me on the path of watercolors and I fell in love with them. I started practising and learning about this medium online. The rocket actually took off just over a week ago. The little pieces of the puzzle that I was missing were the courage to start and a clear vision of what exactly I wanted to create. The following advice from another artist and the courage of a sister in faith, who started to sell her knitted baby blankets also helped me to "just do it": "You don't have to be the best artist in the world to make your art your profession. The biggest mistake you can make is not to start. So, just start and learn and develop your skills as you go!" (Kirsty Patridge, you can find her amazing channel on youtube). We all learn through our "happy little accidents" (quote from Bob Ross). This wise piece of advice can actually be followed in all areas of life, right?
And that is now my vision and mission: I want to work with watercolors and hand lettering as a medium and so design Bible verses in order to bring hope and God's living and powerful word into the lives and homes of people. This is based on my firm believe that "the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12). The word of God combined with prayer is also our only weapon against the enemy (Ephesians 6:17)! It is also medicine. Best to take it three times a day! When one of my pictures hangs in a house and is read several times a day, then I firmly believe that the power of God is at work in this house. One often reads a whole chapter without stopping to meditate about one verse for a longer time. Hence, this is also an opportunity to actually think deeper about a specific verse. I've done this before and, wow, I realize just how powerful words are, especially the living word of God. With them we can tear down or build up. I have decided to use my art to build people up so that they can align themselves with God and his mighty word in every situation. Therefore, I recommend hanging Bible verses up at a central location of your home, where they are easy to read and are looked at several times a day. And don‘t just contemplate on them in silence, but proclaim them loudly as well! You will notice a different air in your house.
So feel free now to pray for me and, by sharing my page, actively contribute to building up an "audience" for this project, so as many people as possible hear about it and are blessed with it. So far there are not many Christian artists who do exactly that and, above all, not just simply print the canvases, but paint them themselves, so that each one is unique. I realize that this is exactly what I want and should do. God is so good! He saw my longing to use this gift for Him and He let me go through a process of healing and purification so that this dream would actually come true. I am so grateful, full of joy and ready for action!
Here you can see the first works:
https://www.instagram.com/bojenade_watercolorsofhope/
Or else on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/PaintingHumbly/
International orders and deliveries are possible with German or English verses, if so desired. :-)
Luna's grandma in Zagreb
"Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases." - Psalm 103: 2-3
Luna's grandma probably had a heart attack a few weeks ago, but she remained at home and dealt with it by taking her medication because she did not want to go to the hospital in this virus madness. Then, on December 14th, she had what initially looked like a stroke; she just barely managed to call for help and was taken to the hospital. All the while we as a fellowship prayed a lot for her. In the hospital, she was in the intensive care unit and could not fully use her right-sided limbs. Then came the miracle: It wasn't a real stroke, but a vertigo attack, which was triggered by a constricted vein in the neck area. On the evening of December 17th she was already released back home due to the corona situation in the hospital, and two days later she felt strong enough to take off, wash and hang up her own curtains. The swelling in her limbs was almost gone. Then on Sunday December 20th we sat around her dining table with her and Luna‘s uncle‘s family for an early Christmas dinner. It was overwhelming and astonishing how well she was and looked again! But the most wonderful thing was this: On Wednesday, December 15th, Luna was able to call her in the hospital and her grandmother started telling her all by herself that she has put all her trust in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, has confessed to him all her sins and is prepared for eternity. This was the answer to exactly the question Luna had been asking God in the weeks prior: "Does Grandma really believe in Jesus so that He will save her and we will see her again in eternal life?" May He glorify himself many times yet in this life through Luna's grandma. She was and is already a walking blessing for many and a miracle of God, because He has carried her through many moments of sickness and pain and she has often recovered and healed in a miraculous way incredibly quickly!
We are very grateful and happy that we saw the family again after quite a long time. It was a really nice get-together and before we left we were able to pray for grandma again.
Celebrating Christmas
"Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" - Revelation 19: 9
Last Christmas, the return of Jesus was still quite a foggy picture way out in the future for me (Harry). The year 2020 made me personally excited for what is going to be the greatest feast in world history! When we celebrate Christmas, any other occasion, or Sunday as the day of the resurrection, then we embody this: our greatest hope - and I think our Lord is pleased with it.
Are you looking forward to his return too?
We have spent Christmas Eve as a family and then visited another family with another sister on Christmas day. Yesterday we will have our Saturday fellowship meeting as usual.
Now we've shared a lot about us - but how are you? Please, please take a moment and send us a video or a (voice) message with a selfie! If you want, let us know what God is doing in your life. We would love to hear from you! Thank you very much :-)
God bless you!
The Müllers
P.S .: If you haven't watched our Christmas-Greeting-Slide-Show yet, you can find it here.
Alternatively, there is a PDF version here.
