Out of the ordinary

I love having those really smack-on-the-head obvious divine appointments. You know, when something so out of the ordinary happens or you meet someone in a place and at a time that strikes you as odd and mysteriously planned. So the theological bods will be musing to themselves that everything is kind of a divine appointment anyway. But do you really notice these moments and stand in awe at a God who delights in shaping and crafting the tiniest, (to you) most insignificant parts of your life?

I had one such meeting today. It was an unexpected, path-crossing moment with a friend, which later turned out to be a direct answer to prayer. The words she spoke to me were so to the point, contained a gentle, godly rebuke and yet were also so encouraging. It was like God was speaking clearly and directly to my heart through her mouth, showing me an answer to my prayers this week over a couple of issues that have been on my heart.

It was a humbling experience.

Quiet time snippet

'I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of
righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a
priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause
righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.'

Isaiah 61:10-11


'Go through, go through the gates;
prepare the way for the people;
build up, build up the highway;
clear it of stones;
lift up a signal over the peoples.
Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth:
Say to the daughter of Zion,
"Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him."

And they shall be called The Holy People,
The Redeemed of the Lord;
and you shall be called Sought Out,
A City Not Forsaken.'

Isaiah 62:10-12

Sitting outside a cafe this morning and reading these passages was like water for my soul. Certainly, it was an encouragement that I am neither forsaken nor cast off because of my sin. Rather, I am clothed and covered with a garment of perfect, pure righteousness and salvation that is not of my own making. I am no longer uncovered, shamefully naked in my sin and attempting to cover myself with clothes which are nothing more than rags. I am clothed with a robe not woven by my own hands, but threaded, beaded, embroidered and carefully tied around my shoulders by the hands of the Son of God. This is no ordinary robe. It is fit for a priest and for a bride. Yet it is worn by a poor beggar.

He is not even willing that I remain with a plain faith, but that I be beautiful and adorned. And this not only for my own good, but for His righeousness and goodness to bloom like wild flowers before the nations, untamed in their beauty. For the beautifying of the nations and the supreme glorification of the Son.

Countryside snaps

These a few of the pictures I took when I went on a bike ride in late January on a beautifully crisp, sunny day. Who said Germany isn't beautiful?

South of Kiessee looking east.

From the top of the Weir south of Kiessee.

Just LOVE this green :)

Cycle path back towards Göttingen looking northwards.

While I'm in the spirit of catching up on old photos (and because I've got my USB working again, yay!) the next few posts might be lacking on content but will hopefully be a little prettier and interesting than my usual messy ramble.

From my balcony. Early January

My Mum has been sending me such lovely postcards which always cheer me up :) Aren't these pretty?!

And here's my 85 Euro bike (Bike no.2). After one week the dynamo head came off, so that had to be replaced. Whilst in the shop I found out that the wire attached to the front lamp was faulty and needed replacing, so that had to be redone. Then in the second week I fell, quite spectacularly, off my bike after skidding on ice and smashed the front lamp. Then in the third week my chain broke and had to be fixed. I tell you, God gave me A LOT of grace to deal with this and not get angry.

Berlin (2)

Berliner Dom by night

Birds swooping round the Dom at dusk.

Er...find it on wiki... some radio tower and a church whose name escapes me.

No prizes for guessing where this was taken.

Berliner Mauer art.

Berlin- post well overdue (1)

Some snaps I took before christmas (and epically forgot I hadn't put them up) from when I went to Berlin to visit a friend from university.

Somewhere Unter den Linden.

Apologies, this was the best shot of the Brandenburger Tor I could get as it was all cordoned off due to a bomb scare!

N- posing as a lefty left left. The guys we borrowed it from were thrilled!

In the Holocaust Memorial, just to show you how tall those blocks are!

Me posing in front of the British Embassy.

I was pretty fed-up last week and over the weekend and found myself just getting really discouraged by many things. I was quite seriously considering not bothering to cycle across town and climb the enormous hill to church on Sunday for a morning that I felt would 1. contain a light, probably superficial sermon, 2. songs that wouldn't exactly set my heart alight, 3. that would contain more chat, laugh and food than deep-felt fellowship, consequently making me come away feeling thoroughly disheartened and wondering what the point of church was at all.

Before leaving my house I prayed desperately that God would show me again why I ought to attend church, what the point of it was and so fix up my head and heart to get a right view of it all. I was not hopeful, to put it bluntly, that anything out of the ordinary would happen, or that anything would be different at church. Did I doubt God, or was I just discouraged? I was probably filled with some self-righteousness too and no doubt had a very small perspective of the situation.

So when our first song was 'What a friend we have have in Jesus' auf Deutsch, (bearing in mind we haven't sung this even once in the last 6 months) I had a little chuckle to myself at the utter absurdity of my thoughts and this stronge sense of the ridiculous. Ah yes Lord, you know how to get me where it hurts while bringing a smile to my face.

How can you ignore words like this?:

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

--I'm glad He knows my weaknesses!

God made me realise that it wasn't necessarily the teaching that bound a church (though it is integral in many ways!) nor always the songs and prayers themselves as such. But that on the Lord's Day, to stand and sing, worship God, share the Lord's Supper together and remember how Christ has saved us, is certainly a privilege. A lot of what I felt stemmed also from a lack of love for my brothers and sisters in Christ, which only struck me when after looking around at this room of believers the sudden thought came to me, 'I'll be with these people for eternity'.

So no, the service wasn't filled with theological highs and I must honestly say that the sermon was lacking, but God showed me again (as He faithfully keeps doing!) a glimpse of what it will be like to worship and live in the presence of God for eternity. Church is but a shadow and painting (though a glorious one at that) of what is to come.