prayer.

Sometimes we intellectually know something about God. "Sunday school answers" easily come to mind when asked to describe His character: He's good, faithful, loving, patient, etc.

But there comes a certain point in each of our walks where we must step beyond intellectual [head] knowledge, and truly know by experience that these common descriptions of His character are, in fact, true. Basically, we may know every fact about God, and still not truly know Him or His character. I can know everything about somebody, but until I develop some form of relationship or friendship with them, I cannot truly say I know them. So it is with God. I may "know" endless things about Him, but He calls me to Know Him.

Therefore, when I say that God is our Provider, our Healer, and the Hearer of our prayers, my statement is verified when He proves Himself to be so. And this week, He has. He does hear our prayers, and He does answer in His faithfulness.

Example 1: We prayed for a student's father to be healed of cancer for several weeks before his test results came. We trusted that whether or not the Lord healed him, He would answer our prayers in the right way, and provide for the family. The answer? No cancer.

Example 2: We prayed for another student to be able to fly home for Christmas, and to find a reasonably priced ticket. Simple request, maybe "too simple" in the eyes of many; nevertheless, we prayed it. The answer? She has a ticket.

Example 3: We prayed that the Lord would provide money for a member of our Vienna outreach team, after an unexpected bill came up, and left her without sufficient funds. The answer? After church on Sunday a friend came up to me to say hi, and as she left, put money in my hand with the simple explanation that it was for our outreach. How much? Exactly the amount we needed.

So, I can say that the Lord answers prayer until I'm blue in the face; but when I actually stop saying that, and start praying and trusting that He'll answer, it gives Him the room to do so. I know that He answers prayer. We serve the Living God! And He loves to take care of His children! As we know Him, let us also trust Him to be faithful, and praise Him when He is!

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

...Nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. 1 Timothy 1:12

be still and know.

"When I cannot understand my Father's leading,

And it seems to be but hard and cruel fate,

Still I hear that gentle whisper ever pleading,

God is working, God is faithful, ONLY WAIT."

-Streams in the Desert

friends.

to celebrate our "last" day of summer [before semester work begins], my friends Andrew and Miriam hosted a barbecue yesterday!

about 12 of us enjoyed a feast of meats, salads, bread, apfelschörle, birne-melisse wellness getränk, and homemade banana bread and s'mores. so lecker.

afterwards with our coffee and tea we had a great time of prayer for the upcoming semester. it's such a blessing to be part of the Body of Christ, and especially to have friends like these! i love you guys. :) i also was awed by how the Lord put the exact same things on each of our hearts- twice i was going to pray about a specific thing, and someone else did it! sabine said the same thing happened to her. how cool that our God loves to bless us as we seek His face together!

here's a few pictures of the girls. [the boys were busy at the grill. go figure.]

love!

bini and miri!

the kathas!

blessing.

Once upon a time, perhaps a year or two ago, I had a slight desire. It was for something that was very handy, and shiny, and nice. Yet it was not necessary, and I found that I had lived all my life [until that point of realizing my desire] without it; therefore I decided that I ought to be able to get along quite nicely without it. Besides, I couldn't really afford it.

Time went on. I applied my hand to the proverbial plow, and earned an honest living. Yet I still found little justification for making the aforementioned purchase; it was still desirable, yet remained unnecessary and rather frivolous. Such an amount could do much greater good elsewhere. No sleep was lost over this decision.

Fast forward to this evening. Following a nice family dinner and my brother's birthday celebration, I spy a certain young nephew of mine running toward me with a small, shiny object in his hand. He drops it at or around my feet, and I stoop to pick it up. My mind tells me that he should not have this sort of shiny object, then moves to bewilderment as to where such an object might have been procured by his 20-month-old hand; meanwhile, my mouth is asking him the same sort of question. Next I see my name on the screen, and hear a voice telling me, "It's yours, Annie!" 

My mind at this point is thinking several things, such as "I don't have one," "Whose is this?," and "It's not my birthday, it's Tyler's!"

After a few such seconds of such perplexity, the realization sunk in.

I almost cried.

My three brothers, plus Mary and Bryce, pitched in together to get me the very thing I supposed I would never have.

Currently feeling: grateful, undeserving, blessed, amazed, and still somewhat bewildered.

Thanks family. I love you.

And so, the Lord reminded me in a very tangible way of a particular promise in His Word which I read this very morning:

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. -Psalm 37:4

For in so doing, we shall all live happily [and contentedly] ever after.

The End.

deuteronomy 33:26-27a.

There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
Who rides the heavens to help you,
And in His excellency on the clouds.
The eternal God is your refuge,
And underneath are the everlasting arms...

I will wait for You, O You my Strength;
For God is my defense.
My God of mercy shall come to meet me...

But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.

To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.

psalm 59:9-10,16-17

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Behold, all those who were incensed against you shall be ashamed and disgraced;
they shall be as nothing, and those who strive with you shall perish.
You shall seek them and not find them; those who contended with you.
Those who war against you shall be as nothing, as a nonexistent thing.
For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, “Fear not, I will help you.”
Isaiah 41:10-13

His ways are beyond finding out!

don't you love how when we sit down to read the Word, the Lord just showers blessings upon us?
i am continually amazed at how truly Living and Active the Word of God is.

par exemple, this morning as i was reading the last couple chapters of Mark, all about the crucifixion and Resurrection, i was amazed at the contrasts between those who believed and those who did not believe. such blessings upon those who believe, and such condemnation and rebuke for those of unbelief and hardness of heart.

and then i turned to my bookmark in the psalms, and lo and behold, it was psalm 22, which 'just so happened' to be a Messianic psalm about the crucifixion! again i found references to faith, in Jesus Himself, having no one but His Father in whom to put His trust.

My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the LORD. Let your heart live forever! psalm 22:25-26

those who seek the Messiah will find Him in the Person of Jesus Christ. and they shall rejoice and live forever!

A posterity shall serve Him. It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation,
They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, That He has done this. psalm 22:30-31

let us believe!

mercy.

at our ladies' bible study last night, we were reminded through 1 peter 2 that when the condemnation of the world is heaped upon us, the mercies of God that stretch to the very heavens are upon us. we are pilgrims and sojourners in this temporal land, but oh! the mercies, all surpassing, all encompassing, new every morning.

..who were not a people but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.. 1 peter 2:10-11

The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. psalm 11:4

But I have trusted in Your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD, because He has dealt bountifully with me. psalm 13:5-6

psalm 15:1- Lord, who may abide in Your temple? Who may dwell in Your holy hill?
the footnote in my Bible says that abide can also be sojourn. we are sojourners here on earth, but what a privilege for us to sojourn in His presence.

amen!

psalm 1

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.



p.s. amazon cancelled my mistake order.
..for His mercy endureth forever.

be still, my soul.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27

Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.
Psalm 119:165

I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.
Isaiah 26:3-4

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Colossians 3:15

The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26

it's one of those days where everything sort of hurts, and my mind is rather foggy, and concentration is vastly too difficult to muster. but the sunshine pouring through my window is bright and warm, and the leaves are swirling by the window on the breeze, and the wispy clouds can't hold back the blueness of the sky. the Lord is so very good. He likes days of rest too.

balance.

"Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon." Nehemiah 4:17

"The battling of the Christian must never replace the building. We must be armed for our warfare ... [but] the wall has got to go up; the final answer of the Christian to the world is that the wall is being built, that the temple of the Holy Spirit is visible."

-excerpts from Alan Redpath's Victorious Christian Service: Studies in the Book of Nehemiah.
i am currently reading this book, and by it being immensely blessed. if you haven't read it, please put it on your to-read list!

roots.

last night our family went out to our country garden and picked the last of the summer harvest.
part of that harvest was a bumper crop of carrots, and several bucketsfull of potatoes.
but in order to remove those root vegetables, you have to dig- it's hard, dirty, work.
yet it wasn't without reward- we'll be eating carrots and potatoes until they come out our ears. [which would definitely incur more digging]

in the past days the Lord has been doing an awful lot of digging in my own heart. there's been bitterness left unheeded in the deep recesses of my heart. did i like to admit it? of course not. but in praying and preparing my heart for future ministry, the Lord has placed His finger upon that root, and has revealed the ugliness of it. it is not a pleasant experience to be dug into, but it is a necessary one if we are to be Useful For Every Good Work.

my friends, having learned this lesson the hard way, i humbly ask you to not let the root of bitterness go unchecked in your heart. may the God who dwells in unapproachable light shine into our hearts and cleanse us, that He may receive all the glory.

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. Heb. 12:14-15.

barmherzigkeit.

The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.
ps. 145:8

le voyage plein d'espoir.

well today i did it. i hopped in the car and sped down the road.
but only an hour and a half.
you know, it's really lovely, driving on a 2-lane highway across the prairie, passing through towns of population 61, named Ihlen or Holland or Woodstock, seeing the sun set over abandoned farmhouses, catching an undisturbed moon and stars and some fresh prairie air on the deserted road home.
but we're not all wilderness forever! oh, no.
in fact, this very evening i was inside a MALL, in the largest south dakotan city [which would perhaps seem miniscule compared to the average 'small town' on either coast]. but it's ok. the kindly caribou man sympathized with my overwhelmedness over such a spree.
[so if a half-horse/half-man is called a centaur, what is a half-man/half-caribou called? just wondering.]
he made good coffee too.

..
oh home, you're such a drag sometimes, but so comfortable to return to. you're really not that bad.
truly the Lord gives grace to His children, whether near or far, in that He is ever our steadfast Keeper.
..

grow-up + build-up
this has nothing to do with the post's previous thoughts, but the Lord has really been teaching me lately from ephesians and 1 corinthians about growing up in Christ. everything is to be done for the edification of the Body [His Body, no less], and although we shall be His children eternally, we are always growing up in Him. just like in The Last Battle [i just finished reading the Chronicles of Narnia- CS Lewis], where Aslan and all the creatures keep urging the children on- "Further Up and Further In!"
there should never be a plateau in our walk, for we are sojourners here. every step taken upon our Word-enlightened paths grows lovelier, because each step takes us nearer to the heart of God. this whole Growing Up business has often left me quite baffled- but the Savior, has comforted my heart, and shown me that it is not merely outwardly that we have to grow up, but it is His delight that we should grow up into Him, and thereby be more thoroughly equipped to edify the Body also.
[see ephesians 4-5; 1 corinthians 14-15]

un-dragoned.

..."And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.
"Then the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke - 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back and let him do it.
"The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it IS such fun to see it coming away. ...
"Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass; only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there I was as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why.

I'd turned into a boy again."

-Eustace Clarence Scrubb, after Aslan un-dragoned him in the land of Narnia, and changed him forevermore.
[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis: pp. 115-116]


An apt description of redemption, is it not? Not by works of righteousness which we have done..


Titus 3:4-7
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

priceless.

the look in a little boy's eyes when the greatness and holiness of God is explained via isaiah 6.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
And one cried to another and said:

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!"

the utmost.

This Experience Must Come
Oswald Chambers

Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha . . . saw him no more —2 Kings 2:11-12


It is not wrong for you to depend on your "Elijah" for as long as God gives him to you. But remember that the time will come when he must leave and will no longer be your guide and your leader, because God does not intend for him to stay. Even the thought of that causes you to say, "I cannot continue without my ’Elijah.’ " Yet God says you must continue.

Alone at Your "Jordan" ( Kings 2:14 ).
The Jordan River represents the type of separation where you have no fellowship with anyone else, and where no one else can take your responsibility from you. You now have to put to the test what you learned when you were with your "Elijah." You have been to the Jordan over and over again with Elijah, but now you are facing it alone. There is no use in saying that you cannot go— the experience is here, and you must go. If you truly want to know whether or not God is the God your faith believes Him to be, then go through your "Jordan" alone.

Alone at Your "Jericho" ( 2 Kings 2:15 ).
Jericho represents the place where you have seen your "Elijah" do great things. Yet when you come alone to your "Jericho," you have a strong reluctance to take the initiative and trust in God, wanting, instead, for someone else to take it for you. But if you remain true to what you learned while with your "Elijah," you will receive a sign, as Elisha did, that God is with you.

Alone at Your "Bethel" ( 2 Kings 2:23 ).
At your "Bethel" you will find yourself at your wits’ end but at the beginning of God’s wisdom. When you come to your wits’ end and feel inclined to panic— don’t! Stand true to God and He will bring out His truth in a way that will make your life an expression of worship. Put into practice what you learned while with your "Elijah"— use his mantle and pray (see 2 Kings 2:13-14 ). Make a determination to trust in God, and do not even look for Elijah anymore.