Have you ever been so blessed that you feel it is hard to
take everything in and you are simply overwhelmed? As I sit here and ponder
over the last week and half, I can only say that God is amazing. And even
though I know that my words will fall short in describing how awesome He is and
how blessed I have been, I am still going to try to convey through words His
goodness and blessings.
It all started with a group of dreamers who though they can
get together over 300 young people in Scandinavia. Some thought they are nuts.
Never in the Scandinavian history there has been something like this, but they
managed to make history in Scandinavia as God used them to bring together more
than 400 young people from 23 countries. I can only say that God is really raising up an army of youth in
Europe to finish the work. At least 3/4th of the attendees came up front
deciding to serve God, to go to a mission school or in a mission trip when
Jesse Zwiker (one of the main speakers and Director of Wildwood College of Health Evangelism) made the
appeal at the commitment service.
I knew that God was going to do mighty things because, as
soon as I accepted to go coordinate the prayer room and have the workshop at
this event, Satan attacked me and I started doubting that the decision to go
there was the right one. But I trusted His leading. It is so interesting that Derek Morris was spiritually
attacked, as well. But God got the victory!
I have attended many conferences all over Europe in the last year and a half, but I have to admit that none of them was so centered around mission work and finishing God's work. It was such a blessing to see all the speakers and organizer having the same mindset and the same goal. It only confirmed that there is so much power in working together in unity.
I have attended many conferences all over Europe in the last year and a half, but I have to admit that none of them was so centered around mission work and finishing God's work. It was such a blessing to see all the speakers and organizer having the same mindset and the same goal. It only confirmed that there is so much power in working together in unity.
I was so blessed to have a wonderful prayer team with people
from Romania, Germany, UK and Sweden. Though the united meeting prayer room was
in another building from the main meetings, I was amazed to see that many
people came to pray with us. The presence of Elder Derek Morris was a blessing. I was pleasantly surprised to see people flocking to the prayer room after his workshop on radical prayer. They decided that they need the practice, as well.
We also had united prayer every morning in the
main hall and I praise God for the people who attended every morning. The group
was bigger than I expected and people were really blessed. After the first
morning I told to some attendees that we are thinking to make small groups and
give more people the opportunity to pray, but they begged me not to. So we had
united prayer every morning. Many told me that they have never experienced
something like this before and they were moved to tears. I praise God for
leaders (Derek Morris, Reidar Kvinge - the President of the Norwegian Union and
other pastors and speakers) who joined us every morning. We stayed until
late on New Years Eve (most people went to sleep after 1-2 AM) so I expected
that we will have a small group praying on Tuesday morning. But it was not so.
The number of the people did not decrease, but increased New Year’s morning for
the united prayer session.
God not only blessed people at this conference, but opened
new opportunities for united prayer. The Health Ministries Director from
the Finish Conference decided that he wants to start an IMPACT project in his
country and he asked me to come as a speaker and coordinate the prayer room. I
talked to him about translating the United Prayer booklet into Finish language
and he told me to talk to the Editor for the Signs of the Times who also attended the conference. I did and it seems that we will have it in Finish, as well. Than, I talked to the President of the Norwegian Union about
doing the translation into Norwegian and he said that they want to have it in
Norwegian and will translate it. Someone from the workshop also promised to
translate it into Estonian. So, we will soon have more translations of the
booklet. Praise God that the united prayer is spreading!
God provided an unexpected opportunity to share about united prayer with a non-adventist audience. I was asked to record a program for an ecumenical radio from Estonia. So I got to talk around 45 minutes about united prayer.
One thing that God has been doing lately and He did it at IMPACT, also, is to rekindle my passion for education - true education as we find it in the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, the education that prepares people not only for this life, but for the life to come. It was such an inspiration to meet people with the same passion. It's been 3 years since I have not been directly involved in the work of education, but God keeps reminding me about the importance of true education and I know that He is doing it with a purpose. I am eagerly waiting to see what He has in mind and why is He reminding me all these things.
I believe with all my heart that today more than ever it is high time we pour our lives out for Jesus Christ. It is high time we live our lives for Him and Him alone. It is time we put everything aside and allow Him to lead our lives and use us in His service. It is time we make Him and His work a priority in our lives.
Thank you Raluca!
ReplyDeleteThis was a blessing!
Veli a IMPACT Scandivavia participant from Finland