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.

"if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work." 2 timothy 2:21

the principle of this verse is something the lord has been challenging me on for the past few days, what am i? i would love so eagerly to say that i am a vessel of honor...