Simon and I were talking today about updating blogs and I realized that I am not doing so good at updating mine. I will try harder even if it is something small, I will try!!!! Anyways, this morning I read Psalm 91 and I think that is one of my favorite Psalms. The pictures the writer uses are so cool, I can just imagine being so close to the Lord, under His wing or in a huge fortified tower, Him protecting me so carefully, while the enemy gets creamed.
What is the reason for His gentle and careful care? Because I put myself in that place. "Because you have made the Lord who is my refuge...your dwelling place." v.9 "Because he has set his love upon Me...because he has known My name." v.14

what comfort that we know Him and that we have placed ourselves in such victorious and powerful hands! There is so much to meditate on in this Psalm, I havent gotten to it yet but I thought I would just encourage you to read it because you will be blessed!

Today was nice because I got to hang out with Simon. Usually we are able to just hang out on weekends becasue of work so today was a treat, lots of good times of lauging and joking each other. Ill try not to be mushy but I am so thankful to the Lord for giving him to me. Waiting for sure was worth it and every day I am blessed just by knowing him. He has a blog now, please check it out: http://simonfriedrich.wordpress.com/.

Thanks for reading!

So time for a new update! The semester ended a few weeks ago. We have been pretty busy since it ended doing different things, this week I am helping cook for team that is here-that should be interesting!! Some of my plans have wonderfully changed. I was supposed to go home June 15th but I was able to change my ticket and I will be staying until September 16th, so I get to spend another summer in beautiful Germany! The reason for this change of plans, of course, is Simon. He will leave a day before me in September to go to Belize for a year to help out in the ministry there. I think it will be a hard year apart but we both are confident that the Lord will do amazing things.

This morning in my devotions I was reminded of how happy a Christian really is and should be. In Psalm 1, David writes "blessed" or "happy" is the one who's delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates in it day and night. I was reminded of the importance of training myself to "set my mind on things above." It isn't always the easiest discipline to learn, it takes time and effort but in the end the rewards are far greater and far more satisfying than anything this world can offer. I have also been reading through 1 Corinthians, and in chapter 9 it comes to the part about athletes. Paul talks about fighting and disciplining the body. An athlete's life isn't easy, there is plenty of denying the flesh. The Christian life isn't any different, but the amazing thing, like Paul says, is that our prize is certain, we know what we shall receive and it is really something worth fighting for!

...just because he is so cute!

So probably most everyone knows by now but I was waiting for the right photos to announce that I have someone very special in my life. His name is Simon Friedrich and we have been together a little over two months. I am blown away and amazed at the Lord's goodness and grace in this relationship. The Lord uses him so much in my life to teach me and reveal the care that He, Himself has for me. I am a very blessed woman!

"Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

At our last staff meeting, Ben Viscarra, one of our teachers, spoke on this verse. He asked us the question, "What do we delight in?" A great number of things were said, like music, coffee, relationships, seeing people grow, things of this nature. Ben shared with us what Paul delighted in, in weakness and infirmity, according to this verse. For me that is such a strange thing to delight in and really didn't make much sense to me but yesterday, with that in mind, I got a little glimpse of why Paul felt that way.

Mind you, this is nothing in comparison to what Paul went through, but I am a little Christian so I think it is legitimate. Every weekend an intern takes over in the kitchen, cooking and making meals for all the students. For me, this is a difficult task as I dont know really how to cook. I know some basic things but cooking (and especially for 80 people) pretty much is far from my comfort zone. Basically the story is, that yesterday was a very trying day, after not sleeping Saturday night and having to get up early and being very emotionally drained I told the Lord I couldn't do it. Making dinner was too much for me, then He reminded me of these verses and I knew He was going to give me strength. And He really did, He gave me joy and helped me to be more than decent to people. I thought that it is very rarely that I get opportunity to really be stretched and pulled like that, and I think that is exactly what Paul delighted in, those opportunities where he could see the Lord be his strength when he was weak. Every weakness and difficult situation was an exciting way to see the Lord do something amazing! Maybe our flesh doesn't like to be pulled on but after that dinner I was so thankful to the Lord because I knew He had done it! And I look forward to more of those pulling times where His strength has to be revealed through my weakness!

Egypt Baby!

Museum in Cairo

Dinner on the Nile!

He is not from Egypt, he was our cute tourguide from Israel, named Israel. He was one of my favorite people I met on this trip.

Mediterranean Sea in Alexandria

New Museum in Alexandria

How Cute!

Walking like an Egyptian

God is so good to me! His blessings are more than I can take...I was reminded that His goodness in my life now is nothing compared to eternity, it is but a small glimmer! That is way too much to handle! How good and great God is!!! Thank you Jesus for my life and for all the blessings you give me!!!

Israel Pictures!

Everything is going great, its nice to bee here with my dad and seeing the Holy Land! I love you all and miss all you Siegerlanders!

"For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield."  Psalm 5:12

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35

God is so amazing! i am blown away by His goodness to His children, and the blessings He pours and pours out on us. seems too much sometimes, like i dont know what to do with it, i guess just pour it all back in thanksgiving and praise!

SAMBOOKIE HERE I COME!!!!

how amazing his love is!!! his banner over me is LOVE. thank you jesus for all your blessings! my heart is full...welcome to the abundant life!

its snowing today! i thought it was for sure going to start springing but alas it looks like it will be cold for a while longer...God please bring the spring!!!

most of the students are here, its going to be a good semester! tonight i am going with keith and sabine to a Bible study in Koblenz, i am gonna do worship auf deutsch! please pray we dont crash in the miserable snow.

chiara mai, i love you so much and i am SO thankful to the Lord to be here with you for this season! oh, this is going to be a good semester!!!

1 corinthians 15:57-58

love,
chiiiiilllaaaaaaaaaannnnga!

how amazing that the Lord has a specific and perfect plan for each one of us. last night he was so faithful to remind me of that...i went to a home group at Tobi and Luci Sangers house we read the first chapter of Jonah, so cool to me not all about how jonah rebelled or whatever, becuase i dont feel like i am rebelling, but how even though he did rebel there was a specific calling God placed on him and he couldnt get away from it. if God would do that for someone who is rebelling how much more for his children who are seeking to know and do his will? this is my last semester as an intern in germany and i have been here long enough to know that it will go by so fast. this is the first time i have not really had a plan or a "next semester" where i know what i am going to do, it is kind of a wierd feeling for me, but i am encouraged by the desires he has placed in my heart and that he does have a plan and he will bring them to pass.

Above all else (by Vicky Beaching):

Jesus, my passion in life is to know You

May all other goals bow down to

This journey of loving You more

Jesus, You’ve showered Your goodness on me

Given Your gifts so freely

But there’s one thing I’m longing for

Hear my heart’s cry

And my prayer for this life

Above all else

Give me Yourself

Savior, the more that I see Your beauty

The more that I glimpse Your glory

My heart is captured by You

Jesus, You are my greatest treasure

Nothing this world can offer

Could ever compare to You

So, hear my heart’s cry

And my prayer for this life

so amazing how the Lord works in such natural ways...i was craving pizza so bad this evening so me and chiara headed to the pizza shop, she left to go to the bank and i stayed to wait for the pizza, the couple who owns the joint is from argentina and italy so i got to practice my spanish and out of the blue they started to ask questions about the bible and the door opened to share the gospel and i was asked specifically about what my hope was, and i got to share that it is christ and eternal life with him. they are both JW's and they tried to share their beliefs with me. the wife wants to keep talking to me and encouraged me to bring my spanish bible around so she can show me that what she believes is biblical. so please pray for them and for another door to open to share the truth of God's living word...

....i love pizza :)

friend left today. we had a really good time together and i have the same empty, lonely feeling i have when i have to say goodbye to my family. please pray for her as she seeks and steps into the next step of God's plan for her.

the craziness begins again this week, getting ready for the pastor's conference and then the semester...oh God get my heart ready!

The fear of the LORD

i have been wondering for a long while, why i have not been seeing or experiencing the power of God in my life the way i read about it in the bible or the way bible teachers talk about it. i wondered about that not just for me but for a lot of the body as a whole. i have been wondering why i do not have so much power over sin, why i am not ready when it is time to minister, why i come up short and feel like i am barely keeping my head above water in my christian life...
i think it comes back to those verses from 2 timothy i posted a few posts back. who am i living for? me and shannon listened to a bible study where the preacher was talking about how the Lord does not fill much of the church because we compromise. much of the church today is living too much like the world, not being set apart and that is what those verses are all about: sanctification. why would the lord fill a vessel that is compromising, unfaithful to him, that has ulterior motives and seeks to glorify itself? he wont...i miss so many of the chances for an abundant life the Lord has given me because i still have one foot in the world and one foot in the things of God. it really is one of the most miserable places to be, a lukewarm christian trying to balance the world and a relationship with God at the same time.
i have been reading in proverbs about the fear of the lord. the lord is giving me a little bit of a clearer understanding of what the fear of the lord really is. it is to hate evil (8:13), it is to depart from evil (3:7). it is being afraid of missing out on the fullness of God because of sin, it is being afraid of severing that relationship again. i am tired of letting the enemy keep me in bondage as he steals away my opportunities to be a vessel of honor "prepared for every good work."
what else does proverbs say? the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. wisdom is something everyone desires!!! i encourage you to read the book of proverbs and see the fruits of wisdom, they are so many and so beautiful, who would want to be a fool??? and best of all the lord delights in it!

i am not trying to condemn anyone or say anyone is a fool, i know sometimes i am, but i long for so much more and i think it will take a lot of mortifying the flesh and its deeds, a lot of hating the evil i sometimes so much enjoy, and truly be set apart for our lord but the fruits it yields are so much greater, they are everlasting!

"the Lord knows those who are His, and let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity." 2 timothy 2:19

HANNOVER TRIP PICTURES!!

our faces make me laugh haha!

me and shannon went to hannover this weekend...we walked a huge circle around the city trying to find our hotel which turned out to be not that far from where we started but it was nice to just walk around and see something outside of the siegerland. we went to calvary chapel koinonia there, its a pretty sweet church, and the message by pastor peter will was pretty sweet, relating somehow to my "vessel lesson" the lord is giving me now. i have a stinking cold now from walking around in the rain this morning trying to find the church. grrrrr...anyways im sure shannon will put pics up on her blogg of our little outing maybe ill steal some and put them up! goodnight everyone.

may the grace and love our lord guard your hearts and minds in christ jesus!

mit lieb,
michelle daniela.