Adventures in the Kingdom: Reflecting Forward on 2016

Five Christmas’…

Five New Year celebrations…

Five years of birthdays…

Have been missed.

Five year’s worth of life events - marriages, divorces, separations, estrangement, boyfriends (not my own of course), breakups, babies, moves, sicknesses and deaths – have been missed.

Five years.

It hasn't been easy. I wouldn't trade the experiences, connections and adventures that I've had for anything as they've shown me more of my King, who I am and how wonderfully He and I work together when I obey. But it has been far from easy. If you had told me six years ago that I would find myself living overseas as an expat with no idea what the next step of my journey would hold, I don't think I would've believed you. I certainly didn't anticipate this life. But faithfulness to the Lord is to live a life of adventure, I've found. (Even for those who don't country hop and stay in the same place, there is an adventure for you too.) Someday I pray that adventure will include a family and perhaps even a stable home, but today I'm reflecting on the adventures that have already been had. So many more than can be recounted here.

In June of 2011 I left America to go to China, thinking it would only be for one year.

In 2012 I thought that I would stay in China for just one more year.

In 2013 I obeyed and stayed for another year, but was beginning to sense that the end wasn’t in sight just yet.

In 2014 God began preparing me to move – but not back to America.

In 2015 my wonderful Father had me pack up my life into two suitcases and two boxes, move, once again, to another country, culture and community.

As 2016 approaches, I’m preparing for another wild ride.

This may look like a lot but when you consider that this
is all two people own aside from two boxes being
sent by mail, it's not much.

This time last year I was still in China; enjoying the blessings and surprises that came with living in China. But I was also wrapping my head around the word that I had just received to “go” yet again. By Springtime 2015, the command was unmistakable, “GO” to Germany. In July, I was on a plane to Germany with no idea what God had in store for me when I landed – and never could I have imagined. I remember as the plane was descending into Frankfurt airport, praying quietly, “God, I sure hope you know what you’re doing because I most certainly do not.”

But He has been faithful.

When we needed a place to call home, He was faithful to provide a place that was more and better than we could have imagined. He even added the much desired and much prayed for and believed for community that we so needed and desired.

When I had no idea where finances were going to come from, He provided for our needs.

When it looked like there was no way we would be able to acquire visas to stay, He provided the favor and the means to do just that.

When I had no idea where to begin getting involved in ministry, He provided the contacts to open the door to active ministry all over the city.

When I broke my toe, He healed it. Just ‘cause He can. *smile*

When I needed church support, He brought it (in the most unlikely of places)

When I was sick, He Healed.

When I was struggling with the goodness of God, He was patient with His child and reminded me that He is a Good Father, ALWAYS.

YES, my God has been faithful in every way this year (as He has been in the past). And I am thankful for the hard times, the struggles, the challenges that I’ve faced that have brought me closer to Him and taught me more of who He is.

Looking forward to the coming year, I’m excited to see what God has in store, though I confess that there is still lots to discover. I will continue on in my working/assisting with SFC in various aspects, including worship, teaching and relationship building. I will continue on in my language study for as long as necessary (likely another 6 months at least). I will continue to seek to build connections at the local Prayer House, as well as the local body that I meet with regularly.

Yet, in the midst of the consistency, I’m also seeking specific direction to become clearer in the coming weeks/months in regards to ministry, schooling, trips to the US and financial provision. As it is, I’m seeking and living off of financial support given. And will likely continue to do so for at least the next year (legally I am unable to work on my current visa; depending on how God leads in areas of ministry will dictate whether I seek work after language or continue on in this new phase of life). I would urge you again to pray and consider giving a small amount (maybe only $20) monthly to assist in the basic living expenses that need to be covered. One of the many blessings that has come in recently is that I’ve been accepted as an “agent” of International Christian Mission Services (ICMS) which is a 501(c)(3) organization and enables those giving to me as an overseas missionary to receive tax receipts. This is especially good news for the churches that I've been in contact with. A BIG answer to prayer.

2016 will be a year of excitement and challenge! It will be year of constant change and the unexpected. But it will also be a year of blessing and declaration. A year of fulfillment, and a wonderful year of growing with our glorious and wonderful Father. This is what I do know.

As you prepare to enter into a new year, a new season, perhaps even a new chapter, I pray that our God would bless you greatly in this coming new year and that 2016 would be a year of drawing closer to our Lord as children of God as well as the Bride of Christ. God bless!!

Community of Believers

So last weekend, we (SFC) got to enjoy our first annual Winter retreat!!! Woohoo!!

It was definitely an adventure! =]

Truth be told, there was little that seemed to quite go the way that we had expected or anticipated. BUT, the goal of the retreat was to bond and build relationships with each other, to learn more about spiritual growth and get away and worship through life together for a few days. And THAT goal was accomplished.

Game time after the first session

We arrived at the house to find no gas for the heaters, less than clean rooms and most of the beds had been written on in ways that only teenagers away from home can leave memories behind for others to be embarrassed by. And I arrived with an upset stomach that had me in bed most of the first evening.
But God in His goodness restored and calmed the storms in my stomach and allowed me to enjoy and really glean from the rest of the weekend while getting good quality time in with others there. We were able to have someone come and fix the heaters and we got a fire going and had a great time huddling in the warm community room while we learned together, shared together, ate together, prayed together, and laughed together. Outside, it was too warm for snow but there was still enough snow on the ground from the previous week's cold days that those who wanted to were still able to enjoy the snow without freezing to death (a very important grace for the Floridians present).

Learning about the different spiritual disciplines

One thing that I loved the most about this retreat was the concept of coming together with the intention of learning and growing together. Something that we've really been focusing a lot on with SFC this semester is the concept of discipleship and how thats done in community. This weekend, I felt like we had the opportunity to come together as a community, as the first disciples did when they gathered around Jesus, and hear the Word of God being taught.
I had the privilege of sharing about what it means to worship in community this weekend and the conclusion of that came in recognizing that worship is an attitude of reverence and awe towards God. And when we come together with that same heart attitude, our actions and reactions towards each other become acts of worship to Him, regardless of what we're doing. We can be celebrating or mourning, praying and singing or playing games, sharing testimony or sitting together in silence, no matter what it is that we do, when our hearts are set on Christ (which is what the process of discipleship does to our hearts), we can worship Him in doing life together. A.W. Tozer says that one hundred pianos tuned to each other will lead to disharmony, whereas one hundred pianos all tuned to the same master piano will all be in tune with each other. We are the pianos. Jesus is the master that we need to be in tune to. This weekend was a great time to practice that. Such a blessing.

In other news, as a group, we also had a chance to go and enjoy the Freiburg Christmas market together and had a great time eating great food and looking through all the stalls. THIS was just too much fun!!

Thank you to all of you who have been faithfully praying for the work that is being done here in SFC, Freiburg, and in Germany. God has been amazingly faithful. And for the students as well as the leaders, we have had the beautiful blessing of witnessing the working and orchestrating of God throughout this semester. And there's more to come!!