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| The view from our balcony |
As I reflect upon these last few months, which passed with lightning speed I look forward to share again a few bits and pieces of our life and ministry here with you.
So where were we left off last time? Ah yes, the earthquake. So far, the ground has been much quieter thanks to God. There were a few smaller ones felt from time to time but nothing as dramatic as the ones in December.
My Granny: she is doing well, thank you very much for your prayers. Last time we were there we had a very nice, long and deep conversation about many things. These are some of the moments I live for. Granny had a cataract surgery on one eye and is now slowly but steadily recovering from that. In a few weeks she may have surgery for the other eye. I truly admire her guts! Even though her body is old and she feels pain every day she basically rebukes it and just goes on as best as she can. She is such a hero! I do hope ad pray that she will be lifted from the pain so that she can enjoy life to the fullest, but above all for Papa Ehyeh (haha now google that! Little hint: look up the bible project on yt) to glorify the power of the name of Jesus when we pray in his name. ... As he does so many times here and all over the world!!!
Please pray for the young woman we told you about last time. Apparently, she left her child and partner to be with her lover, even though she was showing so much sincere interest for Jesus last time we spoke. It really saddened me to hear that because I was already excited seeing some discipleship going on in the future with her and truly liked her sweet character. But there are also a lot of spiritual strongholds from past religious/New Age/sect experiences in the family distracting them from seeing the only real truth in Jesus. There is definitely a spiritual battle going on for that family.
Harry goes to the streets with one or two other brothers on a regular basis and they proclaim the good news and Gods Kingdom all over Karlovac offering prayer to the people along the way. As a church we have also started going together to, what we believe, strategic spiritual places and strongholds in the city each Saturday praying for the people and for the city. We received a lot of very encouraging prophecies for our city and country and are looking forward to when the Lord is going to fulfill them!
We received a list of families that we helped and brought the Gospel to seeing if there were some among them who were houses of peace and establishing relationships with these families who live in humble circumstances. Sometimes it is truly devastating to come into direct contact with poverty instead of just hearing or reading about it. It gives us a new perspective on how Jesus was sitting around the table with the people "on the bottom". Often, there is such a sadness and hopelessness in the air, sometimes delinquency. There is a communal need of discernment and prayer needed to see the truth through the lies, that often occupy these families.
We believe we found at least one house of peace. It is an older widow with two grown handicapped children, of which neither is capable to work. But she has a little garden which she is planting with food each year joyfully and God has always blessed her with an abundant harvest and finding mushrooms and chestnuts in the forest. But winter is hard for some people living humbly here since there needs to be more money spent on food. We visited them three times by now and each time there was an interest and openness about hearing the gospel and songs we sang. Still, it needs to be discerned whether we are just a nice distraction from boredom and a new source of supplies or if these wonderful hearts are ready yet to be changed by the blood of our King. Last time we went we did not bring any groceries, just a few plants for the garden and some cake. This may sound strange but people in this particular village are very much used to receive and get help from outsiders and would often go and beg. Anyhow, God IS definitely stirring something up there because the first time we were there we prayed for the knee of the widow to be healed and what shall I say, a cup sized tumor is now gone, as confirmed by the widows' doctor. We believe that God opened the door widely through that for salvation to come into this family! So we will continue to visit this dear family building relationship and a bond. Actually, the first time I looked the lady in the eyes I already liked her a lot. She has a wonderful attitude and a special glow in her eyes. Writing this I feel such a love for them surging up. :-D The second time we prayed for the whole house to be filled with the Lords presence and Shalom, especially for the older son who has fear attacks during the night since the earthquake. It was the first time I literally felt something physical tugging me and then leave and after the prayer we felt what we prayed for and it also stayed like that until the third time we came back. The son also reported that he did not have fear attacks anymore after the prayer. Our God is an AWESOME God!!! Next time we come we will focus more on repentance and sin and why we need the blood of Jesus to be born again. Our dear lady did say that she wants a new life, however she truly needs to understand with her mind and heart that we are all nothing in front of God in the state of a sinner. So battle with us in prayer here. Truly exciting times!!!
I was also able to preach a little evangelistic Easter sermon on good Friday to some of my Co-workers through Teams, after which they said I could become a clergyman, haha. I still need and pray for more opportunities to witness to them, but all in Gods time plan. It is never good to go against His time agenda, whether we try to delay or accelerate it, so I'm pretty chill about it. They are going to be saved when the time is ripe. Until then I will sow the seeds and water them. All in all, I feel more than blessed with all of my colleagues, we are a nice bunch and have grown into a good team with many opportunities to share life and a good laugh than we would have in a normal office, I think. By the way, never order anything online from Möbel Höffner or Matratzen Concord, they have terrible customer service and lots of problems with delayed deliveries and people not receiving their bills and therefore sliding unjustly into collection/Inkasso.
Personally, I love working from home. This is where I feel safe and relaxed, no need to drive or walk to work, time saving, being able to give my children and husband a quick kiss and hello and a comfortable environment is truly a great bonus, not represented in numbers on the pay check. The employer is very satisfied with my work performance, so I received an extension of the contract for another three months. Having emotional intelligence and practical and theoretical education in special pedagogy does come very handy while speaking with business clients and not so business gone astray people on the phone! If somebody would have told me that I would be doing such a job in 2021at the beginning of last year I would have believed them. Because, you see, until March 2020 I actually had a phobia of communicating through the phone until I experienced a life changing deliverance and complete baptism of the Holy Spirit. It was much later during last year though when I realized that my fear of talking to people on the phone was completely gone. Oh yes, the freedom that Jesus brings is full of taste and colour and fresh air!
God has been teaching us to walk on the water in faith in this spring season, to really believe IN Him and His goodness, He is currently strengthening our character through some great teaching series and life lessons for the things to come. Be the good ground. Do not fear. Trust in Him. Our Papa is faithful and this will never change. May the name of our great King Jesus be glorified in all our lives! May your day be filled with His Shalom, His intimate presence and His eternal love for you.
And remember: there are only two types of Christians in the world. Those who believe, and those who believe they believe. Which one do you want to be?
