In the stillness, He is there...

One of the goals of the Internship program that I am participating in this year is to acquire good, healthy habits to "go the distance" in service. Practicing a weekly Sabbath has been one of those principles. This has been something that God has challenged me in and in which I have been stretched. But, in that stretching I have found refreshment.

To me, this Sabbath has been trusting God that He will enable me to get all that I need to encourage in one less day, six days of work and one day of rest. Sometimes I look at my schedule and I say "But Lord, with all that I have to do this week...how can I take a Sabbath?" But, I am relieved to know that I am not God, I am not all-mighty or all-powerful, that I need rest and that without Him...I am n-o-t-h-i-n-g. So I take my Sabbath as a step of faith, this step means that "Lord, I trust you to help me to get everything else accomplished another day."

Today is one of my Sabbath days, and it has been beautiful! The sun is shining calling me out on a nice long walk, the construction workers are pounding the ground...but that's Brussels, and I hear the call of God "Come Away With Me." And with that call--I go. I delight myself in Him, and I enter into His presence. I just finished reading an article published in "Discipleship Journal" entitled: Keeping Company with God. It spoke of Frank Laubach's, a worker for the illiterate, journey into constant moment by moment communion with the Father. This is not just for a Sabbath day...this is for life, constant communion with the Father. Here's the link if you want to read it: http://www.navpress.com/EPubs/DisplayArticle/1/1.106.7.html Feel free to comment on what it spoke to your heart as well. Is it not refreshing to just be in the presence of God?

How God Brought down the Giant

It is amazing that with just a little stone, God used David to bring down the giant Goliath. Just like that, God also brought down a giant in my life and gave me a story to tell. As I’ve mentioned, my roommate and I have been searching for apartments, I want to thank you for your prayers and expand the story some…

How it all began...
Near the end of October, my two roommates and I started looking for inexpensive 3bdr apartments in a safe area of Brussels. We looked and looked, and right before Dec found the gem of all apartments! We instantly fell in love with it, and told the landlord that we wanted to take it. They said they’d make their decision by the end of the weekend. That weekend, I prayed and prayed, yet somehow...I knew that this was not our apartment. Sure, enough, the landlords gave it to someone else.
After an appropriate mourning period, and after seeing other apartments, we found another 3bdr apartment. We prayed for discernment, and I felt as if God said “No.” It was small, clean, but expensive, and we couldn’t put an oven in the kitchen. It was Dec. 20th and I had planned to move out by Jan 1st, so I prayed “Lord, we’ve seen so many apartments—either break it all up or show us the apartment you have for us.” A few hours later, my third roommate said she couldn’t move at this time, I knew that even though I did not have an apartment—God was moving. So right before Christmas, when all of the agencies closed until after New Years, my roommate and I re-started our search this time for 2bdr apartments.

Re-starting the search, our hope in God alone...
As we were looking, we saw apartments that resembled our criteria, reminding us that God knew what we needed. We put our application in to one, and were once again denied. We put our application in to another, and were again denied. There were times discouragement, people said it would be impossible to find an apartment. Yet, God was building our faith as we chose to persevere and trust Him.
Then, we were shown a small dingy, dirty, cold, expensive apartment in a not-so-safe building; yet it felt like our last chance. The man showing it said we had to act fast. We were discouraged and didn’t know what to do, so we prayed and we knew that this was not what God has for us, so we felt we just needed to wait and not take it.

How God brought the Giant down...
That same night, I received a phone call from an apartment. During the call, I heard it was near our budget-limit and the kitchen had no appliances, I explained my concerns to them yet they told me to come see it and we’ll discuss the rest later. I fell in love with the apartment the moment I walked in the door. It was large, clean, lots of light, two nice-sized bedrooms, a hint of European class, and it gave way to community; in essence it was more than I could hope for. The landlord then said that they would put in a refrigerator and oven at their costs and were willing to lower the price by 50€ (about $75) making it a steal. That same day I brought enough money to block the apartment. I continued to pray that they would accept us. Within the week, I had signed the lease and had my own set of keys to it! It seemed like a dream and I was reminded of how our Father God really DOES know how to give good gifts to his children!

Thank you for your prayers—I am praying for you to see God do the impossible in whatever you may be facing! Our God is bigger than any giant!

Giving away Signatures, aka Signing a Lease!

I got back from the annual Students For Christ - European leaders Prayer and Planning weekend, and God did move. Not only was their a goos time of fellowship, but it was encouraging to pray together with everyone for every country where SFC is or will be. God is moving!

Then, when I returned...God had a gift for me--a beautiful apartment! I had applied for it before I left and they had accepted! As of today I have a new apartment, although I won't move in until February 1st, I have signed the lease and I am thanking God!! I'll post pictures and my apartment story at a later time, but know that today--God worked miracles!

God is bigger than any giant

Since January 1st, I have found two great apartments and I have applied and have been denied at both places. One just stopped communication another said they wanted Belgians renting it, so my American-self and my Congolese roommate started our search again. It has been hard, but I know that God is bigger and that He knows how to give good gifts to His children.

One consistent criteria has been an apartment that will give way to community. It feels like there has been opposition, will you pray with me? This opposition is trying to get my roommate and I down. Yet, I have recently been reflecting on the life of David. He did not have what it took to fight Goliath, David was not strong enough, his weapons were not ‘adequately equipped,’ but he knew one thing—his God was bigger than any giant.

In light of my apartment search which has been extensive and has at times seemed like a massive giant, I here-and-now proclaim that God is bigger. I am thankful that I serve a God in whom I can trust and that He also loves me enough to teach me how to trust Him even when I am faced by giants. In this proclamation, I hope you will also be encouraged that regardless of what you are facing, regardless of how big and massive it might seem, God is bigger. Thank you for your prayers! Let me know how I can also stand in prayer with you to face your giants with our Big God. :)

Life is Great in 2008!

I was talking with my Mom the other day and she said the previous phrase, "Life is great in 2008," so I thought is was appropriate to use here. Today, I am relaxing as I just got back last night from a European-wide Students For Christ conference in Nuremberg, Germany. It reminded me of when I first came to Brussels over two years ago, because that was the first conference I assisted in. It went really well, there were students there from over 10 countries and we prayed and worshiped our God together. There were times of fellowship (as can be seen holding Starbuck's coffee mugs) and times of seeking God together, as a community, as a church.

During one of the services Christopher Gornold Smith said the following: "By thinking that a problem is too big for God, you are limiting Him to a human in His understanding, and by saying that the details of your life are too small for Him, you are making yourself like God for nothing is neither too small nor too big for Him." I like that. It put things in a new wording which brought about new perspective. A great way to start the New Year!

Also, this year I have decided to make some other changes, I wrote a long list of all the things I want to change or do (including being better with emails and going to more museums). But to accomplish those, I realize that it is all in the Hands of God, so God--take my dreams and make them yours!

It was a soirée to remember...

Music, laughter, games, people who smile and love one another. And remembering. Remembering the "reason for the season..." You see, Christmas just puts a smile on my face. :)

This year I celebrated Christmas with a few different groups of people. First I was able to spend it with some really good friends, I've known them since I was an exchange student in Comines, Belgium. We laughed and ate, and talked, and ate, and exchanged some presents as well on Christmas eve. Then today, Christmas day, I returned back to Brussels to be able to celebrate with the Turley family and my extended SFC family. I ate again and then we all sat down to a very Christmas-y movie, Spiderman 3. All in all, it was a wonderful time spent remembering Christ and celebrating it in community finished off with games, puzzles and laughter.

That's one of the things that is striking me the most recently is that one of the first things God established in Genesis is community. Us with Him and with others. So to all... Merry Christmas! (I encourage you to go to the following site to hear an extra special Christmas greeting from me: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ndA7iLLJ67Y ) Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

Scaffolding is covering Belgium

I mentioned earlier that Belgium was going through a time of "political unrest." In Belgium, the country is fairly divided into two different people groups the Flemish (Dutch speaking) and the Walloon (French speaking). After their national elections in June, they effectively elected separate governments over each people-group as it is habitual to do. Yet they were unable to decide on an overseeing government.

For the next 190 days, Belgium was without a government and a transformation came over Belgium. Places that have never before "seen" the colors red, black, and yellow together were suddenly doting flags commemorating the Belgium flag from their windows. Nationalism poked out its head and reappeared as a part of the Belgium society. Belgium people realized that amongst all their differences, they desired unity.

Earlier this month, the Belgium government decided upon a temporary government for the country's national affairs. They put up a sort of façade of unity over the country. But this façade is still needing work and prayer to become a permanent part of Belgium culture. This temporary government is like scaffolding that is covering the country, restrengthening the structure of the building as well as redefining the layout and construction of this building many call "home," Belgium.