God at Work

One thing I really wanted to make sure happened while I was in Europe was some sort of church group meeting thing because I will be in different cities that speak different languages every Sunday morning and will need some solid Christian fellowship while I'm here.  So I asked my roommate about it, and she was down to make a weekly "church/devo/fellowship" happen with me.

When I got to Maastricht last week, during my first night's devotional, I read a part of Thomas Kempis's The Imitation of Christ (amazing book!  I highly recommend it!) that really hit home for me.  Kempis writes about how being "abroad thou shalt too often lose" what "in thy chamber thou shall find." It was crazy perfect.  God reminded me through the work of a 15th century writer that "in silence and in stillness a devout soul profiteth, and learneth the hiden things of scripture." Now, Kempis was not writing because of how easy it is to skip quiet time with God when you are busy traveling the world through a study abroad program, but God was.  I had, for the first time in years, been skipping quiet times when in Istanbul, and, boy, did God convict me when I finally went back to Him!  I quickly came to the conclusion that this message was just too perfect and applicable not to share, so I decided that it would be what I talked about for our first devotional.

So I posted about having a church/devo/fellowship group on the facebook page and planned to meet after dinner on Monday, having no idea if anyone would actually show up.  A fantastic group of about 15 Godly people came to spend time with Christ and each other.

We started church with worshiping by sharing God moments, which was so encouraging because it was a chance to hear what God has been doing in everyone's lives on the trip so far.  Almost everyone shared at least one story of God showing up, an experience that led them to worship, or reflection that had on the trip.  It was cool because we had all been traveling and done many things together, but we had never gotten the chance to talk about how they spiritually effected us and how our hearts have been  since we got here.  It was amazing to just sit in the lobby of our building, listening to incredible instances of God showing up in my classmates' lives.

A few people during that time mentioned having struggled with not spending time with God since they have been abroad, which was so encouraging to hear knowing that it was exactly what God had put on my heart to talk about.  So we then moved into the devotional, and it was so cool to hear God speak through me (...and Thomas Kempis, I read a few paragraphs from his book, and Matthew, I read some of his book of the Bible too, and Paul, but anyways...) as I encouraged my peers to "seek a convenient time to retire into thyself, and meditate often upon God's loving-kindnesses," and how and why it is so important to do, especially while in Europe.

We concluded church by breaking up into small groups of 2-3 people (I encouraged everyone to group with someone/people they are not already close with who are of the same gender as them) and share with each other what we need prayer for and to pray for each other in our small groups.  The two girls I was with both shared with me how much they needed to hear exactly what the devotional had been about, and then we all found out we were having the same struggles while abroad that we all needed prayer for.  It was crazy how God put us three together, and I heard other groups express that their prayer time was an amazing experience as well.

It was incredible, and so evident that God was at work making our little idea to have a church/fellowship thing into a place He decided to show up.

I love how when I make myself available to God to do his work, open up my heart to Him, and rest in his presence, He uses me in incredible ways.  I love being His tool and knowing that, despite the undeserving nature of all my imperfections, God values me enough to use me to further His kingdom!  Crazy how God can work through someone so unworthy!

God is good!