Two hours later: I HAVE A TOWEL! Well, 3 hand towels, which will possibly make up for the lack of one big one. I also have 6 bottles of water that ISN'T fizzy, quite the achievement given the completely nonsensical obsession with fizzy water. And just to put the icing on the cake, I am eating bread with spreadable ham as I type. Wow.
As for what I'm actually doing at the minute, it's a blessing. I have to read through the letters being sent to families in oppressed countries and ensure that there are no addresses or mentions of the organisation on the card or letter, and make sure no derogatory comments are made about the government. Whilst doing this I have learnt something about the mentality of German Christians, they are all amazingly humble and are able to love without return. They love unconditionally and sympathise fully with the people being persecuted.
I miss everyone greatly though. Last night was hard, I'd never been away from home on my own before, there was always someone there who spoke my language and who I knew, but I'm having to adapt, and it really wasn't easy. But thanks to a bit of prayer between me, a very close friend of mine and God, I've settled in perfectly today. I haven't felt as close to God here as I have at say camp or Castlewellan, but hopefully He will strengthen our relationship over the next few days.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it already in my blogging experience, but Sally and I are reading the whole Bible, together, in a year. As a result, we've shared the burden, if one of us has a couple of readings to catch up with, we always have the other person to encourage us to keep going and stay loyal to the cause.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Sally and I could live by this verse, and technically had been before we were ever aware of it. I think we all ought to be living by the Bible anyway, but we all tend to get caught up with the rest of our lives. We need to remind ourselves that God gave us the privilege of our lives, and when we become Christians, we give our lives to Him, and using our lives our way isn't what it should be like. It's been given to God for Him to use to spread His word.
Giving your life to God leads me to another point. In giving Him our lives, we give Him EVERYTHING. Our name, our reputation, our spirit. If we have done something wrong that we regret but need to tell someone, tell them. The most likely explanation for you to not want to tell the person what needs to be said is that you'll tarnish your reputation. But in giving your life to God you therefore surrender your reputation and anything associated with that. God is fully in control and will always be there to sort things out when they need looked after. You can be assured that God will be there to sort out any mess you have made for yourself, as long as you are willing to be forgiven for your sins.
That doesn't mean to say that you should sin knowingly then ask for forgiveness. You should be striving to live a life of God, not one of sin and destruction.
John 15:19
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
You will only find love from God, in doing worldly deeds, you won't find love, you will be living in false hope. Only God can truly love, and it is our responsibility to live for him. Jesus gave his life for us, now we have to give it back to him.
Hopefully working here with Open Doors De will bring me a bigger understanding of what God is capable of and what he has done in my life, and it'll hopefully help me spread the word of God more efficiently when I get home.
That's it for the time being, I'll leave you now and get on my way.
Viel Spaß and God bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment