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As I am not feeling so much like writing right now, I thought I could instead upload some pictures of the last two weeks:

England:

A sunny day!!!

The Thames flooding Marlow:

Marlow, Holiday Week:

Don't get it wrong: This was one of the RARE quiter moments...


Paris:

Eiffeltower

Street Evangelism/ Worship:

At an open air exhibition:
See the resemblance? Scary, huh??

Megashort Update

...as I am using my host family's computer.

Just so much: Paris was awesome! Great teachings, the evangelism was really good, the worship was powerful every single time. I shared my faith in FRENCH. I'm so glad God can make good things out of anything...

I arrived yesterday in England to help with a holiday week which started today. The group I am co-leading is pretty lively, but it is much fun.

There's more to come :)

Alorrrrrrrrrrrs...

Arrived in Paris two days ago; meetings have been great so far; soon first evangelism in the streets.

Would be cool if u prayed for us :<)

P.S.: French keyboards are tres trerrible!!!

God's Righteousness

He [Jesus] Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
1 Peter 2:24

Death/ sin is clearly contrasted to life/ righteousness.
We can either choose the one or the other. We are either (godly) righteous or self-righteous. There is no middle course. We can either accepts God's judgment or live by our own.

Let me point out some appearances of self-righteousness:
You are treated unfairly/ rejected/ hurt/ ..., so you...

-> "harden" yourself, building up walls of self-protection:
I will NEVER give anyone (him/ her) the opportunity to treat me like that again!

-> refuse assuming responsibility:
Why should I be the idiot?

-> become a perfectionist:
If I don't make mistakes, I'm untouchable.

-> set your own boundaries tight:
No risk, no hurt.

-> control your environment:
If I'm the boss, nobody will dare questioning me. And if they do, I can make them go...

-> become a good girl/ good boy:
If I'm always good and do the right things all the time (i.e. I am perfect), everybody will love me and I'll be save.

Instead of putting on God's breastplate of righteousness, i.e. accepting His judgment about us and others, we protect ourselves with our own totally insufficient "breastplates" to guard our hearts.

The question is: What do I find my identity in?
Is it enough for me to be unceasingly loved and accepted by God?? Or do I need some replacement of and assistance to that?

Just think about it: What might God's answer to the reactions described above be?

When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats. Instead He entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.
1 Peter 2:23

Lekker!

"Lekker" is what the Dutch call everything. Lekker koffie, lekker bedje, lekker meisje,... So let me say, my day today was just "lekker":
- Lekker sleeping in
- lekker talking to friends
- lekker wasting my time on the net (also lekker chatting with friends)
- lekker meeting a friend
- lekker food.

I already love the summer break!!! Maybe I'll keep ignoring the impending final paper I have to write. Leisure time is somehow so much more fun...

Also time to be grateful again: Tomorrow we'll get our new washing machine (for free!!!) If there's someone who is doubting that God provides feel free to ask me. I could tell one or two stories :)

Still alive

I finished my first year of the teachers' training today!
I'm relieved, happy, STOKED!! Who would have thought I could get that far? Not me, definitely!
I handed out evaluation sheets to my students today to get feedback about my work from them; the comment I appreciated most was "I don't think that anyone has ever as much believed in me as you did."
I'm glad I could be encouraging.

Women's Retreat - Report

I guess I should say something about it, right? :)
Frankly, I don't have so much to say. For me, the weekend was mainly pretty stressful because I was either leading worship, picking my sets, praying about the worship or practising. I mean, a whole weekend of prayer and worship was cool, but I was also rather worn-out afterwards. So far about me :)

It was good to see how much the women were moved by God's love and presence; I think many were edified by the preaching and also by experiencing God in the worship, which - I guess - was of a rather different style than about half of the group was used to (half the women came from southern Germany from more conservative congregations.)

Anyway, I'm grateful to have gotten the opportunity to grow in my ministry and to experience God anew!

Ich hab kein' Bock mehr, ey!

Muss ja auch mal gesagt werden...