God Enjoys Us When We Trust Him

“War horses and powerful soldiers are not what he cares about. The Lord enjoys people who worship him and trust in his faithful love.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭147:10-11‬ ‭ERV‬‬

I just have experienced the most incredible two weeks of God's display of power. I spent two weeks in Germany at a English/Sports camp. I began the week with some sad news from home. I experienced jet lag for days. I had back spasms for the last ten days of the trip. I got a bad cold and lost my voice for two days. I can hardly write this blog without coughing and blowing my nose! I constantly questioned why I was there. I am old. I am not sports minded. I can't speak German. Why Lord, did you bring me here?

He brought me here so that I could see that He does not need "war horses or powerful soldiers." He needs me to worship him and trust him.

I was given a group of 8 middle school aged girls to mentor for the week. I did not speak German and most did not speak English. The older students are better at English. The middle school students are just beginning to learn English at school. My heart was especially drawn to one of my girls who did not know Jesus. She asked me a question. If God was so good, then why did He not draw all of them to heaven? This is a question of the ages, is it not? Many people believe that a loving God would not send anyone to hell. But a loving God provided His son so we could experience a rightness with Him.

When she approached me with her questions, she did not want anyone to know she had these questions. I thought that this would be an impossible situation because she was my most limited English speaking student. But God did not think that this was impossible at all. I began with Romans 6:23.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭6:23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

She found it in her German Bible. After she read it, I asked her what did it mean. She said that it meant that Christ was the answer to her if she did not want death.

Everyday for the remainder of the camp, she would stay after the lesson and ask for more Bible verses to read. She would meticulously highlight them. Then she would write the verse on a separate scrap of paper and use that for a bookmark. Our conversation was limited...just the careful highlighting of verses. On the last day, she stayed to highlight 25 verses! I ended with Romans 10:9-10.

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭10:9-10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I asked her what that meant. She said that if she believed and professed her belief that she would receive Jesus. I asked her if she wanted to do that. She said with a smile, "I do." I was so shocked!!! She went to talk to our camp pastor. He called her father(who is not a believer). Her father agreed that she could be baptized. She came back to find me and hugged and sobbed for 5 minutes. The joy of the Lord was evident in her heart.

Another amazing thing is that she agreed to stand in front of the group and share her testimony. This was huge! She did not like to talk in front of the 8 girls much less 41 campers and 20 adults. She worked all afternoon on writing her testimony. She practiced with me. She was insistent that she must share her favorite verse...Romans 6:23, the one she began her journey with.

God does not need my talents, my energy, or my wisdom. He does not need me to be well-rested. He does not need me to know a foreign language to share with a non-English speaking person. He needs my willingness to go into all nations and trust Him.