God is still in the business of doing miracles. This is all I can say after what happened in the last 3 days. I am in Wien, on my way to Germany. Life has been really hectic and I did not get to write my blog in a long time. So, since I have free internet in the airport, I thought this might be a good opportunity to write.
Some of you may know that this weekend I have been invited to go to Youth in Mission congress, to coordinate the prayer room and to have a workshop on united prayer. I promised to go there before I knew that our ARME Bible Camp from UK is going to take place in the same time. When I found out I tried to find someone to replace me and I did. But the Youth in Mission leadership did not accept me not to come. They said that they would really like me to go. And I consented to do so. Still, the thought of not meeting my ARME family and some of my friends was torturing me. So I came up with another idea. What if I go to the UK only for Sunday and Monday? So I bought an one-way ticket to Frankfurt. Than I tried to buy my ticket from Frankfurt to Birmingham and than Bucharest. But the two credit cards I tried to use did not work. And than, I really did not have peace about it. So I decided that the best thing to do is to stay in Germany the whole time. Once I made this decision, I bought my return ticket to Romania. Needless to say, I was really sorry for the mistake I have made because buying two one way tickets was more expensive than buying one round-way ticket.
Monday morning I woke up like usual, had my devotions and opened my computer to check my emails. Little did I know that I was in for a huge surprise. I opened an email from Melody. Melody is one of my best friends whom I have never met. She introduced me to ARME and united prayer. I have been wanting to meet her for a long time, but it seemed that God canceled our plans every time we planned on it. In the email she wrote me that she was invited to come and speak in Germany so she was going there for a week. She was coming the day after I was leaving. I had talked to her on Sunday and she did not mention anything like that. Now, after 12 hours she was writing that she bought her ticket for Germany. I could not believe it that I will miss her by 24 hours. Could I extend my staying? But where will I sleep? What will I do about my ticket? I had a non-refundable, non-changeable low cost ticket.
Since Mel wrote me me and to the lady who invited her, I wrote the lady and asked her where is she living. I was thinking of trying to see if I knew anybody or if my father knew anybody in the area who could take me in for a few nights. But Gerda was kind enough to tell me not to worry because I could stay with Mel.
Once the problem of the accommodation was solved, I had one more to solve: the ticket. And this was the most difficult one.
I called the company and found out that it would cost me one and half more times the price of the ticket if I wanted to change the date of my departure. Hmmmm, I really could not afford that!!! I asked the lady what is the penalty for canceling the ticket. She told me that I will be refunded the whole amount of money. How's that? God worked out things that they changed the time of my flight and now I had the right to cancel it and get the refund without having to pay any penalty. Wow... when God is doing something, He does it all the way to the end. But this was not the end of His miracles.
I started looking for a new ticket and all of them were very expensive. I could not afford it. But than, He did it again. I found one. Even though it was more expensive than the first one I had, still the price was reasonable. Not to mention that someone offered to pay for that out of the blue.
And when I thought this is all, God showed me one more time that He was not done yet.
I applied for a week's leave on Tuesday and my request was approved. Wednesday I talked to our secretary and she told me that the director decided that from now on nobody can apply for leave. Everybody will have their annual vacation in August. Had I been a day late, I would have not been approved my request for a week off and I would not have been able to meet Melody and Gerda.
So... who would have ever thought how things will turn out when I decided that obeying God and staying the whole time in Germany? Who would have ever thought that God can turn a mistake into a blessing? Who would have ever thought that He will give me the desire of my heart? Had I not obeyed, I would have spend 2 and a half days with Mel in the UK. Now I get to spend with her a whole week!!!
God is amazing. In fact, saying that He is amazing will not do Him justice. There are no words to describe how blessed I am to have Him as my Father. He showed me one more time that He loves me so much and that Jeremiah 29:11 is so true: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the
Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." We just need to trust Him even when our desires tell us to do something else, even when things do not make sense, even when it seems that we have to give up so much. Just do it. Just obey Him. And in the end it will all make sense. You will not regret it when you will see the wonderful things He had in store for you.
I am really excited about Youth in Mission, about the wonderful things God will do there through united prayer and about spending a week with Melody and Gerda. We serve an awesome God and He just showed me one more time that He is more than amazing.
Praise the Lord!!! I had no idea that I would get to know you and also Mel and that I would see you here in Germany. God is working miracles in bunches lately and I am more than grateful for everything how things worked out. We at Christian Advent Center are in need to learn everything on united prayer, God has been good and we are meeting for this sweet hour of prayer 3 times a week....we have a big mission coming to Germany, yes Germany!!!! We are offering AFCOE to Go here in Darmstadt, Germany! We do need prayers!!! Thank you Raluca for being so faithful and coming to Youth-In-Mission in Mannheim and now God worked it all out that you will see Mel and we also will meet!!!! I am so excited to meet you both and hear about United Prayer, it is amazing that you and Mel will come next week already and Mel giving 4 presentations at Christian Advent Center, starting on Wednesday at 7 pm! What a blessed time this will be!!!
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