Fight the good fight of faith...

In my devos I am kinda reading about Joshua and all the battles of the Israelites as they come into the Promised Land. No wonder the Lord told Joshua in the very first chapter not to be afraid nor dismayed because there were a lot of armys and cities to fight. It always amazes me how many times the Israelites in history have been way outnumbered by their enemies but they (almost) always gained victory. It is so easy to just read through it and think, "it was so easy for them" or to think "they werent afraid, this isnt as real as the things that are happening in my life" but the truth is there battles were crazy, they really were facing, living breathing men that wanted to kill them. They really had to be brave and courageous, and place all of their confidence in the Lord because their lives were at stake. I wonder if we take our battles as serious? Paul tells the Ephesians, "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers..." Our battle is just as real and maybe the stakes are even higher for us than they were for Joshua and the Israelites. How much more should be place our confidence in the Lord, to not be afraid and walk as soldiers. Be encouraged, the command to not be afraid is always accompanied with the promise of the Lord's presence. We are assured victory because He fights our battles and not us.

One other thing I want to point out about Joshua that I absolutely love (!!!) is before he was even made a commander or a leader he was continually in the Lord's presence. During Moses time when they set up the tent of meeting, Exodus 33:11 says that Joshua never departed from the tent. I love that about Him and I desire that same heart, no wonder God called him to be a leader of His people! True faith and courage comes from knowing whom you serve and that HE is able and will do what He has said.

Picture is my tough fighting face, haha...I really do have too much free time...but I am going to Cologne tomorrow..THAnk you JESUS!!!

Say unto my soul...fix your eyes on Jesus.

"But hold fast what you have till I come." Revelation 2:25

Some of the girls God has put in my life so far, they are a huge blessing...they make my heart full.

Homesickness....could it be that I long for something deeper than just the houses I grew up in or the family I am so close to? Could it be that I am longing for the home that I have never actually been to, the home that is awaiting me? My heart longs for the cozy arms of my heavenly father, the comfort of completely being myself, of knowing where I am, who I am, and that I belong. When will you come for me dear Lord?

John 14:1-3"Let not your heart be troubled...I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am there you may be also."

"Beloved, I beg you as sojourers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul..." 1 Peter 2:11

"By faith he (Abraham) dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob...for he waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God." Hebrews 11

"For our citizenship is in Heaven from which we also eagerly wait fot the savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." Philippians 3:20

There is a river that runs through Siegen, called the Sieg. One morning I had an hour before I had to go to work and the Lord led me to go down a little trail across from my apartment and there is a cute little bridge with the Sieg flowing under it, so romantic :) it reminds me of when Anne Shirley tells Gil Blythe that she only wants to be friends...always makes me cry...anyways. I decided to take a pic there today after my bike ride. When I was in Siegen I met a couple from Peru, how amazing! They live 20 minutes from Cologne, it was nice to speak Spanish again...

Oh why are you so good to me? Today is a beautiful summer's day, a perfect day for a bike ride into Siegen. Saturdays really are wonderful, no wonder the Lord commanded the Jews to keep the Sabbath.

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17

Thank you Lord Jesus for this day!

This morning I woke up after a crazy dream about people running in fear hiding from what looked like Roman soldiers, I was amongst them trying to hide from all the killing. When I woke up I had the passage from Luke on my heart where Jesus weeps over the city of Jerusalem because they didnt recongize their messiah and He weeps because of all the devestation that was going to come upon them. I asked the Lord if the dream meant something or if there was something He wanted to show me. He showed me that a lot of times His people miss Him even now...We should recognize that our Messiah is right in our midst, He promised to never leave us or forsake us, He promised us every spiritual blessing, yet we miss out becuase we dont seek Him out, becuase we are too busy to make time for Him, because there is too much distracting us. I think sometimes the Lord weeps over us when we fail to recognize and acknowledge Him in everything. DO you realize what you have???? I know I have written posts like this before but like Paul for me to write to you the same thing is not tedious (Philippians 3:1) it is good to be reminded the abundance we have in a relationship with Him. He is so amazing that He would even want to have a relationship with us, to spend a little time with us, let alone every second of every day.

"How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" Matthew 23:37

I only write this with the desire that we all draw nearer to God, He is so amazing. He is so good to those who wait upon Him and those who seek Him. There is something so much deeper that I know He wants us all to step into, that abundant life He talked so much about. I havent figured it all out and I think there is so much we will never fully obtain it but I know He desires that we experience every second so much more of Himself! Be blessed my beloved brothers and sisters...

on a personal note, I am doing good.. the Lord is blessing so much here in Germany. I dont think I have ever been so happy anywhere. The more I am here the more I dont ever want to leave. I am learning a lot more german and I am getting to know a lot of people, they feel like family now. God is good thank you all for your prayers!

Oh, how good the Lord is!

"Happy are the people who are in such a state; happy are the people whose God is the Lord!" Psalm 144:15

"who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our woks, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began." 2 Timothy 1:9

"who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works!" Titus 2:14

Finally we had a sunny day in the Siegerland so I went to this lake/pond with the youth Pastor Tobi Sanger and his wife Lucy, Janos from Hungary, and a few other friends. The guys played in the fridged water while us girls got some sun...

I miss you friend!

"As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." Proverbs 27:17

Let's have more adventures...Love, Misheru

One of the ministries of CC Siegen is their thrift store aka The Halle, it is an enourmous warehouse. The vision for the Halle is to reach out to the community by providing a Christ centered atmosphere. We have an average of prolly 100-2oo people that come everyday. Most of the people that come are not from the church but from the Siegerland. This is where I am working for the summer, cleaning, organizing, pretty much doing whatever needs to be done. It is a huge blessing from the Lord, I get to meet lots of cool people and I get to practice my German.

This is my new friend, Lisa. Her mom works at the Halle with me. Lisa wanted to learn better English so she decided to come with her mom one day so she could meet me. I got to hang out with her in Siegen on Saturday we went shopping at H&M...good times! The Lord continues to bless me so much beyond my imagination especially through the friendships He is placing in my life. I am grateful and honored by all of them!

Do you have Eternal or Abundant Life?

The trip from Egypt to the Promise Land was an 11 day trip but because of unbelief and failure to obey the Lord the Israelites wandered in the Wilderness needlessly 40 years! Do not let disobedience and disbelief rob you, Do not be merely content with having escaped from Egypt step into the Promised Land, the abundance God has for you!

"...all ate the same spiritual food and drank from the same spiritual drink...these things became our example...all these things happened to them as examples and were written for OUR admonition upon whom the end of the ages have come." 1 Corinthians 10:3-4,6,11

Sometimes I think we do not really understand what we have.

Isaiah 55:2 "Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy. Listen carefully to Me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance."

I have been given so many promises from the Lord, so many benefits simply because I am called His child (Psalm 103:1-5) yet I try to do things on my own or seek to satisfy myself in some way other than Him. I am ashamed to say that I love Him or that I know Him because I still keep doing my own thing, my life is not completely surrendered to Him. If I truly knew Him He would be my everything. The small glimpses I have had of Him bring me to my knees in adoration and thanksgiving for all He has done, but like the children of Israel I am so quick to forget, rebel, and seek my physical needs above a relationship with Him. Oh that we really knew Him we would be set apart from this world, apart from sin, apart from the flesh, we would obey His command to love others, we would see the world changed. Oh that we would take the time to simply sit at His feet and know Him today instead of always saying "later". The one thing that will count in eternity is how much we know our Savior Jesus Christ, I do not want to be ashamed when I see Him face to face I want to recognize Him and continue on as best friends in Heaven as it was here on earth.

Psalm 146:2 "While I live I will praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being."

Oh please saints, know Him! Come to Him with everything He loves you so much, there is nothing He will hold back from you, there is nothing to horrible that He cannot forgive. He desires relationship so much, fulfill the purpose of your existance, to know and worship Him! By doing this you will be so much more satisfied than you could ever be doing anything else! He is great and greatly to be praised!

"I am the bread of life." John 6: 48,

"But whoever drinks from the water that I give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give shall him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." John 4:14

"This is eternal, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:3

Be blessed,

Michelle

Ministry in Ben Yehuda Street
Jason and I in the Dead Sea

Tio Mesod at the Kotel on Shabbat

Balcony at the CCBC

Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age they shall be fresh adn flourish to declare that the lord is upright He is my Rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Psalm 92:13-15

EnJoY!

Bonner family on top of Mount Carmel.

Tractor ride after a long day of hiking in Petra, Jordan.

On our trip to Petra we got to meet many Bedouins who work in Petra and one of them invited us to His house for dinner where we got to eat amazing food with our hands! It was the greatest experience and Bedouins are the coolest people ever!

We have 10 more days here in Eretz Yisrael. I want to stay here forever it is by far the coolest place I have been. It is so amazing to look around and see and hear all the Jews from all over the world who have answered that "inexplainable" urge to come back to the land of their fathers. God has been so faithful to do exactly what He said in His word, Israel is the greatest example of this. If He is so faithful to this very rebellious and stiff-necked people how much more will He be to us His children according to the New Covenant?

A lot has happened since i last updated this thing, my family came out to Hungary for my Graduation from Bible College we traveled around Hungary then Vienna Austria and now we are in Israel! We will be here a couple more weeks then I am off to Germany. I am not exactly sure what I will be doing now that I am finished with Bible College but I sense the Lord opening some doors so we shall see thank you for your prayers and encouragement! Here are some pictures from our trip so far.

For Graduation I got to play a song that the Lord gave to me.

We got to minister at a youth group in Vacs, Hungary. They were the coolest youth group ever!
Crazy JOshie!

Wien, Osterreich

The little Austrian girl we stayed with

Here are some pics of my trip in Vienna Austria it was amaying, the Lord did amaying things i didnt want to come back.
Some of the girls we stayed with: Caro and Kristin and my little room mate Aline Me and Aline possing in a sauber WC ;)

Vienna is amazing! Especially at night!

Thanks to everyone who prayed it was an amazing time! our team became like family we got to share the gospel one person gave their life to Christ, our hearts were knit to the church family there...and now i am back and only have 2 more weeks of school then iam finsedh wiht bible colelge forever crazy!! love you all, Michelle

Hey Family in Christ! This post is way overdue...I am doing well, the semester is going well it is half way over i cant believe it. The Lord has been teaching me so much this semester I cant contain it all but I know He will bring it out when He needs to. This semester has been really different, the things the Lord has been teaching me it has been a lot more challenging, a lot more heart work. It is a sweet time and I love being here in Hungary. I live in a castle with 100 other people...pretty crazy where the Lord will take you. My classes are amazing I have like 50 papers to write it seems but it is all good and helping me be diligent.
As a word of encouragement the Lord has been teaching me about being the faithful and wise steward from Luke 12:42-44 and being ready for His return like the 1o virgins. Our Lord's return is so near, beloved family be ready!!! Walk circumspectly in this world, redeeming the time because the days are evil, dont let your love grow cold but keep yourselves in the love of God soon our hope will be revealed and what an amazing day that will be. All the struggles and difficulties we go through are nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed at His coming!! Above all rejoice, we have been given so much He gave us His SON!! what esle will He not give us if we ask? Ok so this is the run down on what I have been learning :) I love you all and you are in my prayers!! In our Savior, whom we have not seen but love, Misheru

A couple from Calvary Chapel Murrieta took us out to a Hockey Game, we saw the Ducks vs. the Stars. Ducks won 4 to 1 Woo!! It was a great game and on top of that we got to see it not just from ordinary seats but from a suite included with food and drinks it was a pretty amazing experience...