A God of the Last Minute, but Perfect Timing

"Dear Lord, You have called us to be medical missionaries in Southern Germany. Would you please provide for our training and also give us a place of our own where we can start a lifestyle center?" We have prayed this prayer for over a year and a half.  In January we decided to go forward by faith and register for the training. And in March of this year He miraculously provided for the first part of our prayer. As many of you already know, we got to spend almost 4 months in the US getting medical missionary training, visiting different lifestyle centers and helping with some prayer initiatives. It was a blessed time that we have tremendously and thoroughly enjoyed.

"Lord, how do we continue from here? Would you, please, provide also a place of our own where we can invited people to help them regain their health? Would you, please, give us a place with buildings already on the property, isolated, with no direct neighbours, with enough land that we can grow our own food and in a nice setting?" We prayed this prayer countless times in the last year, but it did not seem that God planed to answer our prayers any time soon. We knew that God had to do a miracle for this to happen. Why? Firstly, we did not have the money to purchase such a property. Secondly, a place with no direct neighbours it is almost impossible to find in Germany.

We had to do something. We needed to use our time and talents. We kept looking for an open door, and we saw one opening in Eastern Germany. So we told God that if He didn't open a door in the South before the end of September, we will use the door that we could already see. We will go and help a dear friend to start his lifestyle center. We had to use what we have learned if we did not want to forget it. It was not an easy decision to make, especially for me. Moving again to a new place where we knew no one beside our friend was not something that brought me joy. But it helped that he is a dear friend who has the same purpose in life and who has the same approach to the medical missionary work as we do.

End of September came. We could not see God opening a door in the South, so we made the bitter-sweet decision to move to Berlin. We wanted to move as soon as possible, but our friend requested that we wait until October 26. I was not happy about that. I wanted to be able to start my German language classes as soon as possible, but I decided to leave the matter in God's hands. He knew better what I needed.

The same last week of September, Roman was asked to preach on the 17th of October in the church where he is a member (that is 2.5 hours away from where we currently live). He did not want to accept the invitation. He told me that he wanted to stop preaching for a while. He needed some rest. But even though he did not feel like preaching, he was impressed to accept the invitation. He was also invited to have a presentation for the youth in another nearby church the same Sabbath. He was not excited about either one of them, but he accepted both invitations.

The week before his preaching appointment we rented the car to move. We prepared a lot of our stuff. We said our good-byes. We were ready mentally for the big change. But we were not ready for what was about to happen that weekend.

It took only 30 to 45 minutes of a conversation with a friend for God to turn our plans upside down. He shared with us his concerns about giving up too fast on God, about trying to start big when we can start small with what we have. He showed us that he really cared for us. We could clearly see that he hated seeing us leave Southern Germany. And at the end of the conversation he came up with a solution: he had a place for us that fulfilled all the requirements of the Spirit of Prophecy. We found hard to believe the part with fulfilling all the requirements for a health center. We knew this is not very possible in Germany. We had to see it as soon as possible and make sure it is really so, so we visited it the very next day.

We were astounded by what we found there. We knew God can do it, but still found it difficult to believe that He was really giving us such a place. It was hard to believe that He was really answering our prayers and giving us the very things we had asked for: buildings in place, no direct neighbours, enough land to grow our own food and beautiful surroundings.

I thank God for a husband committed to do what God is asking him to do even when it is against what he wants. If he did what he felt like doing, we would have not met our friend and would not have received this place.

It's been a week since God answered our prayers and we still feel that we are dreaming a wonderful dream! And we still ask each other at times: Is it really true? Has He really answered our prayers?

We will be moving there at the beginning of the next year since there are still some arrangements to be made. Until then God prepared for us another place. And I find even more amazing that God has prepared the way for us a long time ago. Before we left for the States at the beginning of April, our friend (the same friend who gave us the property) told us that he has a place for us to store our furniture if we chose to leave it in Munchen. We took him upon his offer. It was easier than bringing it all the way to Ulm. This is the very same building where we will be moving for the next few months. It simply blows my mind to see how God prepared everything many months in advance!

Friends, we serve a God for whom nothing is impossible, a God who delights to give us wonderful gifts when we ask them for His glory. He told us in Jeremiah 32:27 - "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?" No, nothing is too hard for God! Let's dare to ask for the impossible, because He delights to do the impossible for His children. We know because we have just received it from Him!

Time for a Change

Lately, as I have traveled and observed people's approach to mission, I thought more and more about our commission and the way we fulfil it. Let's face the facts: we have been here on earth for so long. We have been given the mission to spread the Gospel. And we say that we do it. But our efforts are meagre and powerless. How do I know it? I know it because there are still so many people who have not heard of the Gospel. I know it because we are still here on earth.

Just recently, a friend of mine was telling me that someone went interviewing young people close to Berlin, Germany. He asked the young people if they know what Jesus did for them. And some of these young people did not even know who Jesus was. They thought that he might be a politician. This is Germany, the birth place of Reformation!

We keep doing the same things. We see that we do not have success, but we still we hope for better results. Wasn't Albert Einstein right when he said: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"? Yes, you got it right. I think that this quote is talking about us and our approach to evangelism.

We talk about the Jesus' method, but how many are really applying it? I am not saying that there is no one doing it. There are here and there some who have understood what Christ's method is. But we need more of those.

In Gospel Workers, p. 43 we are told that "during His ministry, Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick than to preaching." And yet, how many of us are doing this in our evangelistic approaches? We love to talk. We love to preach. But this is not what the people needs. People need more than our words. They need divine healing. They need mental, spiritual and physical healing.

I read this quote in my morning devotion today, and I was impressed with the approach of John the Baptist. It presents John the Baptist in a different light. We usually think of him as a stern guy who spent time like a monk in the wilderness and who only knew to admonish people and point their sins. Here is a new picture of him:

"From time to time he [John] went forth to mingle with men; and he was ever an interested observer of what was passing in the world. From his quiet retreat he watched the unfolding of events. With vision illuminated by the Divine Spirit he studied the character of men, that he might understand how to reach their hearts with the message of heaven. The burden of his mission was upon him. In solitude, by meditation and prayer, he sought to gird up his soul for the life-work before him." GW 57

What was the result of his preparation? We are told that "multitudes flocked to the wilderness". GW 54

I find in this passage three things needed to be done in preparation for a successful mission.

1. A vision illuminated by the Divine Spirit,

2. Studying people's characters to know how to reach their hearts with the message of heaven,

3. Spending time in meditation and prayer.

We need to study people's characters because we need to find them where they are. Because we need to offer them what they need. Because people are tired of words, they need deeds. Because people are different. Because different people need different approaches. Because people need healing, be it spiritual, emotional or physical. Because it is all about people, not about us and what we think they need. But we can do this only when we have spent time with Jesus in Bible study and prayer, only when we have been filled with the Spirit.

I believe it is time we ask ourselves: Are we doing the same thing and still expecting different results? Are we trying to work without the Holy Spirit? Are we preaching more than healing?

It is time we change something if we want to go home soon!