10 posts tagged “prayer”

I attended Columbia International University in South Carolina from 1992-1998.  During the first couple years I was there, Tom O'Brien was a student there as well.  While there, he met Ann and they married.  A couple weeks ago, Ann and their three children were in a serious car accident.  All survived, but Ann has been in a coma with serious injuries since.  As I read the daily updates from Tom on this site, I am moved by his love for Ann and his unwavering trust in the Savior during this otherwise despairing time. 

Will you also pray for this family?  Tom gives specific requests on the site, so if you have a minute, please check it out and pray for them as you are led.

Thank you.

Wer sein Leben findet, der wird's verlieren; und wer sein Leben verliert um meinetwillen, der wird's finden.  Matthäus 10,39.

Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Matthew 10:39

Oh man, how many times have I heard this Scripture?  How many times have I read it?  How many times have I heard it used in a message about missions?  Did you know this was one of the very first verses that I remember reading for myself as a teenager, and having the Holy Spirit "pound" me with its meaning?  And now here as an adult I am finding myself reading it again, and again being blown away by what it means for me personally.

When I was fifteen, I took my first trip overseas with my mom to the Philippines to visit friends who are missionaries in the southern part of the country.  I came away from that trip determined to one day be a missionary in that place and at the ripe ol' age of 15 knew exactly what the rest of my life looked like!  I visited again two years later and after high school went on to study Missions and Bible Teaching at Columbia International University in South Carolina.  When I graduated from there, I joined a mission agency and began making plans and raising support to move to a small remote island in the Southern Philippines that is surrounded by pirates to work with an unreached people group called the Sama people.  Knowing what I know now about myself, I am able to see why the Lord redirected me from this and kept me home.  It was during this time though, as I was trying to involve myself in ministry singing and working with the youth group at church, that I got lost in a secret life of sin that led me far away from the Lord and far away from His plans for my life.  At the same time, I firmly believe that He used this dark time in my life to as part of His plan, and now is constantly recycling it for His glory and Kingdom.

Two years ago, I went to Hungary with a group from my church, and it was my first trip overseas since I came back to the Lord.  It was a powerful trip for me, and since then, I've had the opportunity to make several more trips to Hungary, as well as here to Germany.  Each time, the Lord continues to show me ways in which the gifts that He has given me fit perfectly into the work that is taking place in these and other countries.  And I'm thankful that He has shown me that my ministry here goes beyond my ability to sing and play guitar.  I am aware that that gift is not a given, but rather one of the avenues that He uses to connect people to Himself.  In the end, though, that's the main objective, isn't it?  Providing avenues that connect people with God.  Whether it is a concert, or an English group, or a conversation over coffee, or a work team to Hungary, it's about finding avenues for people to connect with God.

So, that's what I want to do.  And as I have spent time thinking and praying and talking with Craig and Debbie, I believe that this is place that He is calling me to.  That's crazy isn't it?  Yet for me, so incredibly exciting!  Exciting to see how He has brought me full circle in missions, and exciting to see how He has provided a place that so perfectly fits with the gifts and abilities that He has given me.  However, this is not the first time that I have thought this.  Each time I've been here, I've come away with the sense that this is what God has planned for me, but I get home and get caught up in my life, music and busy-ness there and get side-tracked from what I believe I should be doing.   So, before I have the chance to get side-tracked, I've contacted the mission agency in the states that Craig and Debbie are with, FIM, and spoke to them about the possibility of joining their mission so that I can get back here and be a part of the ministry here.  I need this kind of accountability, or I will drag my feet and never get anything done.

Thinking about actually moving here to Germany, leaves me incredibly excited and terribly afraid at the same time.  The absolute most difficult part about moving so far away is not getting to watch my nephews (and soon-to-be neice) grow up.  I hate thinking about this.  When I do, it is impossible to keep the tears from flowing.  It seems almost unbearable to imagine not being there for them.  And yet I know that it is not a reason to stay behind.  As I was thinking about all this a couple weeks ago, the Lord was tender in reminding me that even though I will not be around to see my nephews grow, there will be "spiritual children" that I will be able to see grow up in the Lord and THAT is eternal.   But what sacrifice is too great?  None.  There is nothing that I could possibly give that would out-give what He has given to me.  Nothing.  And what's interesting, is that as I'm writing this blog I got a text message from a friend that simply says "...we must let go of stuff to b free to hold on with both hands."

Tomorrow morning, I will wake up, eat breakfast and board a plane for home.  I have mixed emotions.  At the end of my journey tomorrow awaits my family, but left behind here in Germany will be a life that I have found and of which I long to be a part.  Thank you all for your prayers for me on this trip.  They have been heard and answered, and I am just without words to express how grateful I am that you have been such a vital part of the ministry that God has given to me.  Thank you for partnering with me and supporting me in such a significant and meaningful way.  If you are interested in continuing in this "partnership", I humbly ask for your prayers for me through the next several months of planning and decision making for my return full-time.  I will be sharing more about this in the months to come, so feel free to check back here anytime. 

Thank you again and may you be blessed 100-fold for all that you have given.

It's good to be back in Hungary, but I have to say that it's a bit strange to be here without members from my church.  If any of you who have been with me to Hungary in the past are reading this, know that you are missed.  The other strange thing right now is trying to type on a Hungarian keyboard.  VERY strange.  I'm managing though. :)  What's really good, is having the chance to go and sit by the Danube, which is just a short walk from the Bible Center and which is one of my favorite places in the world.  I've spent a lot of time by this river and have talked to the Lord about many differnt things there, so it is a significant place for me.  It's good to be back.

We arrived here at the Bible Center in Dömös on Saturday evening after a very long and tiring trip from Leipzig.  It took us about 13 or so hours, but we finally made it and were greeted by Ernö and Katrin (Ernö is director of the Bible Center), and of course, Tünde ("toon-da"), our wonderful cook.  She had a meal all prepared and waiting for us, and even though none of us were really hungry, we sat down and forced ourselves to eat.  Sunday morning we got up and drove another hour or so to a small, but growing, church near Budapest.  The people there seemed so warm and it was wonderful to share communion with them and attempt to sing with them in their language.  (Apparently, Hungarian is the second or third most difficult language to learn!)  I sang a couple of my songs for them, and Jack, from the Pennsylvania team, gave a message.  Afterwards, we all split up into smaller groups and ate lunch in the homes of various families from the church.  I always love these times of interacting with the people and having the opportunity to get a small glimpse into their lives.  I went with Ernö and Katrin to the home of "Willie" and Eva.  (I'll hopefully have a chance to upload some pictures later today).

Sunday evening I gave a concert here at the Bible Center for various friends and neighbors of the staff here.  I sent the songs ahead last week, so Katrin and her friend, "Kristy", who is not a believer, translated them into Hungarian so we could project the lyrics behind me.  There were about 30-40 people there and some even came who are professing atheists.    The Gospel was explained and I simply tried to talk plainly about meaning of life and relationship with God.

Monday morning, Craig, Debbie and Peter (from Germany), left to take some medical supplies to Romania...which means that I have been somewhat in charge of overseeing the group.  Yesterday and today have been spent working around the Center and tomorrow morning we'll be heading into the school to speak with the students studying English.  I'm looking forward to connecting again with the teachers and students there and introducing the team to the wide open opportunities for building relationships in the schools.  

Well, I know this post has been  mainly factual, but hopefully it will keep you appraised with what's going on in my world over here.  Thanks for all your prayers.

Well, I've got two more shows and then I'm on my way home.  Tonight I'm playing at a church here in Columbia, SC and then tomorrow night I'm playing at a coffeehouse in Richmond, VA that ragamuffin set up for me.  That one should be interesting since he's gonna try to do a live recording of it.  I hope I don't sneeze or anything. :)

It has been a good trip...but I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for a couple nights before heading up to NY with a couple friends for some down time at my parents' Lodge.  This I am looking forward to.  I did take some time away in Charleston to rest and relax before Thanksgiving, but it ended up raining the whole time I was there so I was pretty much cooped up in my hotel room the whole time.  Not really the down-time I was expecting, although I was able to get a lot of sleep which aparently I needed.

Well, I need to get going or I'll be late.  Thanks for reading and praying. 

That's where I am tonight.  Rainbow City, AL.  I arrived here this afternoon from Decatur, AL where I spent yesterday afternoon and evening with my friends, Tim and Pamela, who are the directors for The Neighborhood Christian Center in Decatur.  It was such a neat experience to see them there, loving those people, and simply being in the place that God has called them.  I got to sing and share a little for a group of women--single mothers--who had come for a Bible study that afternoon.  In the evening, I went with Pamela to the "kick-off" for a Bible study she and another woman are hosting for high school girls in the area.  About 26 girls showed up from 3 different schools and they all seemed very excited about having a Bible study like this, which is super cool because one of the goals of this group is to encourage unity between these deeply rivaled schools.  I had an opportunity to sing for them as well, and share a bit of my story.

Tonight has been a wonderful evening.  My dear friends from Bible College, Dean and Kelly, opened their home for a "house concert" and we had a great evening of worship.  I'm beginning to love doing house concerts more and more because of the intimacy that is there.  About 30 people showed up and it was great to have such a close setting to just sit and talk with them and sing my songs.

After everyone left and the kiddos were all tucked in bed, Dean and Kelly and I had some time to catch up.  We got out the "Finials" (a.k.a yearbooks) and did some reminiscing.

For the past day or so, I've been feeling this slight "scratch" in my throat.  I'm a little bit nervous about it turning into whatever was going around at French Camp, in which case I will lose my voice in the next couple days. :(  This would not be good.  This would be very bad.  On Monday, I'm planning a few days to just rest, rest, rest with no singing for a while, so hopefully that will help as well.

Again, I just want to say THANK YOU all for your prayers for me.  Your words of encouragement and your prayers bring me much strength on this journey, and I'm glad you are journeying with me in this way.  I haven't had much time lately to really comment on everyone else's blog, but know that I am trying to at least glance through them and as I am driving I'm praying for you all as well.

I only have few minutes before I have to go, but I wanted to give a quick update on the past couple days.  I'm here at French Camp Academy, in French Camp, MS.  FCA is a Christian boarding school located along the Natchez Trace.  One of my retired professors from Bible college now lives and volunteers here at the school, and created a pretty packed schedule for me while I've been here.  Between singing/speaking in chapel, singing/hanging out with some of the girls in the dorms, meeting with small groups of students or individuals to just chat for a while, and giving a concert at a local church, I'm starting to get pretty tired.  Please pray for me physically--both for rest (which I have been able to get so far), and for protection from the sinus/throat thing that's going around here.  Also, there are a couple of different girls here who would like to get together with me this afternoon to talk about some things going on in their lives.  I am so thankful for the opportunities that I have here, but every day I am acutely aware of how much I am in need of Him for strength and courage to face these broken kids.  So many are hurting.  I just want to be able to speak the truth about a God who desperately loves them just as they are and is hurting with them.

Tomorrow I leave for Decatur, AL to touch base with some friends who are directors for a ministry that works with those caught in the poverty cycle.  I'll share more about that later.

Thanks again for all your prayers and support of me on this trip.  You guys are great!!

Well, so far the trip has been going well...apart from leaving my passport/plane ticket on the train to Dresden, trying to type on a German keyboard (the "z" and "y" are switched among other things) and of course, and most importantly, hearing the news of the tradegy in our hometown.

We continue daily to receive news and information from our families about all the happenings.  One of the women on our team here owns a funeral home with her husband and he will be doing several of the funerals.  Our church is having a special service tonight (7pm, ET) as so many within have been effected by this tradegy.  Of course, we have all been effected, but there are people in our fellowship that are related to the killer and many who are neighbors and friends of the victims.  An amish woman who works for my mom is the cousin of one of the girls still in the hospital.   Each time I hear anything about any of this, my heart just aches.  However, even in the midst of such a tragedy, the Lord is sovereign and is already receiving the glory that He deserves.  Thank you all for your prayers.  Please continue.  Please also pray that the Westboro Baptist fools are not able to come anywhere near those funerals.  I am angered by this group once again.

As for my trip...things are going well.  I gave a concert Tuesday night in the local Kulturhaus that was well attended and very encouraging for me (even though the sound wasn't the greatest, but I've dealt with worse).  I'm just excited to be able to share my music, and even more so, the platform to talk about God's desire to have relationship with us.  My interpreter, Isabel, was wonderful.  She is a dear sister and I so much enjoyed getting to know her as we talked about the songs a few days in advance.  She translated them into German so that we could have them on a screen for everyone to read.  I know that was a huge task, but she did a wonderful job (not that I, personally, could tell...but I was told that she did) :) and I'm so glad she did it.  Several people commented that they were glad they could read the text. 

Today, we worked at the church building.  I basically spent the entire day in the basement (affectionately called "the Pit" shovelling dirt, cement, and broken bricks (from a wall that was knocked down) into a conveyor belt that took it outside into a dumpster.  Then we went through the whole bricks (couple hundred of them) and scraped off the cement so they could be reused.  A monotonous, non-thinking job.  That was good.

Tomorrow, we are doing some sight-seeing.  I think we all need a day like that.  Then later in the week/weekend I will have some more opportunities to play.  Next Wednesday we fly home.  Hopefully it won't be as eventful as the trip here!  Right now I'm going to take this tired body to bed.

Thanks again for praying.

I just heard about the Amish school shooting in Pennsylvania.  I'm literally sick in my stomach.  I live in the heart of Lancaster County and this school is less than a mile from my church.  I honestly do not know what to say...except that all of a sudden, I feel very far away. 

Please pray for these families, and this community.

Well, nothing like an eventful start to a two week trip overseas.  We started out by sitting on the tarmac in Philadelphia for 2 1/2 HOURS!!!!  Reason?  Because there were 20 (not an exaggeration) planes ahead of us, several of which were going in the direction of bad weather and didn't have clearance to take off.  So we all waited.  His quote at the beginning: "There's really no way to know how long we could be here."  Finally, our pilot got permission to go around everyone and take off (phew!). 

When we got to Frankfurt, we obviously missed our flight to Leipzig.  No biggie.  We just take the next flight, right?  Nope.  We were told that we should take the train instead.  So, the final leg of our trip went from being 45 minutes to 3 1/2 hours.  The conductor came by several times to look at our ticket, so I finally just put my sash with my tickets and passport in the seat pocket and took a nice little nap (you know where this is going, don't you?).  Right before we pulled into the station, I woke up and, in a daze, started grabbing my bags and heading for the door.  Once off the train, we greeted our friends and headed for the airport to get our bags.  I didn't realize that I had actually done such a foolish thing as leave my passport and tickets in the seat pocket of the train until we pulled up to the airport.   ::sigh::...no, more like ::gasp::  I just stood there in disbelief.  Well, our bags hadn't come in yet, so I went down to the train station at the airport and they made a few calls for me.  The craziest thing is that, for whatever reason, I remember looking around the train car and noticing the train number, the car number and my seat number.  Thank God for my quirky ability to remember random numbers!!!  They found my sash which was well on its way to Dresden by now and we went back to pick it up when it came back through Leipzig.  I seriously thought it was gone...or at least that I wouldn't get it back for a while.  God is good!

This morning, I sang a Ladies Breakfast, tomorrow morning I will sing at a church service in the city and on Tuesday there is a concert planned for me at the Kulturhaus ("Culture House") in the town of Schkeuditz.  Please pray for these times...that God would put His words in my mouth and give me the ability to communicate His goodness in my life even through the language barrier (I will have a translator, but sometimes it's hard to communicate with so many breaks in thought).  Also, I'm staying with a woman, Martina, who is not a believer.  She has been exposed to the truth on numerous occasions.  She spends most of her time with believers and helps the missionaries with the teams that come here, but is pretty agnostic.  She is my friend (I met her in May), and I'm glad to have the opportunity to stay with her, but I long for her to know Christ and His joy.

Thanks for praying, my friends.  I know that you do, and it means so much.  I will try to post more later in the week.  I don't have time to read through all your posts (which I miss doing), but I hope that you are all well.