I'm having a funny time of it at the moment. I almost feel like a new person as if my eyes have been the most open this week to God's goodness than at any time over the last two months.
On Tuesday night I spent the evening with two christian friends, eating together and sharing just how much God has done in our lives. It was such a wonderful time of encouragement which I believe the Lord used to show me all of the good things that I had previously failed to see. To read the psalms together, pray together and just be built up as the three of us shared more of what was really on our hearts was, to me, such a privilege and a massive blessing. It was like God was saying 'See! Look at the friends I've given you. Look at how sinful the three of you are, but look at how I am making you purer in heart and mind day by day.' For a while I thought I didn't have real friends here with whom I could really share problems with and so I hid a lot of distress and discouragement away and tried to deal with it myself, all the while becoming more and more frustrated by the thought that no one really knew who I was or how I was feeling! However, I think those last couple of months had to be the way they were so that God could graciously make me see more clearly, more positively and certainly with far more thankfulness at what He has done and still is doing.
Wednesday, I was at an Allianz Gebetsabend -inter-church prayer meeting- that was part of a week of different Allianz meetings going on in Göttingen. It was run by the SMD (equivalent CU) and so mostly attracted students from the other christian groups in the university. Nevertheless, it was great to pray with others for Göttingen, for the university, government, persecuted christians in places such as Iran and Laos as well as to be reminded by our speaker of the importance of being persistant in prayer.
On Thursday I finished work at 9.30am (whoop!) and trotted off to a friend's house for a spot of breakfast that ended up turning into a six hour munch marathon with numerous cups of tea and coffee as we talked and talked and talked...
Right now, the guys who may be reading this will be thinking, 'aha! And now we have proof that all girls do is talk!'
Well, we were just on fire... talking about God's plan for the nations to be saved, missions and missionaries, evangelism, how to encourage our church and the other churches in the area, how and what to do concerning the needy people in Göttingen who are without the gospel, Israel, how our minds affect our hearts and how important knowledge and wisdom from God is.... quality stuff really that ended with prayer and a solemn decision to order some gospel tracts and spend some time distributing literature in Göttingen together, aiming to try and engage people in conversation. It became apparent that we have both had burdens on our hearts for a while concerning the way evangelism is done by the local churches. Namely that gospel events are good and ought to be carried out but that the majority of people will never ever set foot in a church. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that the lost will come to us and we just have to wait, but rather that we are given the command to 'go' and preach the good news of salvation to all people.
Again, it was a tremendous encouragement to me to find another christian girl who wanted to see God at work in Göttingen. I have to admit that I was surprised at myself to not only be agreeing to but suggesting that we go out and tract together! I remember being on MV a couple of summers ago, physically shaking and jumbling up my poor french as I attempted to give someone a christian leaflet -never really been that confident speaking languages, you may be surprised to hear- and yet this prayerful decision was one of the easiest and most joyful decisions I think I have ever made!
So, it's sort of funny really that after all that's happened over the last week that last night as I was on my way to Bible study, my bike should suddenly make a horrible, scratchy, clunking, chain warping noise and shudder to a halt just a few feet from my flat. Problem: the what-do-you-call-it that you can move to slacken the chain had completely sheared off and had sprung up into my bag wheel, there to be lodged, wrapped around chain and spoke and never to be moved...lovely. As it was dark and I couldn't see anyway I just had to chain my bike up and walk. I must admit, I was pretty puzzled as to why the metal should so suddenly decide to revolt and mangle the gears up, but I did have a chuckle about it. I found it rather amusing actually after so many encouragements that one of the few objects that is useful to me is now utterly immobile! At least I had the ability to laugh about the whole thing and be thankful that it didn't happen on the way to work or even worse, as I was heading down a rather steep mountain!
Please pray I'll be able to get something sorted out soon and not at too high a cost as I've been told that the repairs would cost at least 100 euros as this manufacturer of gears doesn't exist any more, which means that nearly all the gears, chain and gear-changer would have to be replaced...hehe, sounds familiar to a post I put up in October eh? Also, as I've borrowed the bike from my flatmate's colleague I need to check things over concerning the money with him. It seems that the bike was just old and was third-hand when it came to me, nevertheless I'd appreciate prayer for wisdom in knowing what to do.
So, the weekend is upon me once again. Lesson prep, japanese study, web-site design and cleaning await me tomorrow. Help! There must be something wrong with me...am I actually joyful about cleaning?
