Just a Hair's Breath from Failure!

Do you ever wonder why God chooses to use you for one of His specific purposes? I often wonder this and no time more than this last week. Two large events were coming down on me and I felt such anxiety and defeat that I was sure both of them would totally fail!

This past weekend was a Prayer Weekend at our church. The youth group was in charge of Friday night and I was in charge of the over-all program for that night. The theme was "Prayer Through Celebration."  The young people and I had prepared hand-made instruments to give out to each person as they arrived, we had set up 4 prayer booths around the sanctuary, and the youth band would be leading the worship through the singing time.

Then on Saturday, I would leave at 8 am by train to go to the two student trainings I teach every month. One would be at 10:30 am and the other at 6 pm. Then I would stay the night with the family of one of the teens and visit their church.

Last Tuesday night at our House Group Bible Study I felt attacked and defeated by the enemy. My dear friends gathered around me, laid hands on me, and prayed. I sensed such a releasing from fear and a reliance on the Spirit!

Some of the Home-made Instruments

So, how did it go? The prayer evening was truly a time of celebrating God! We celebrated God as Creator, Savior and Refuge, and Almighty, Eternal King. The youth band was incredible, even doing one song as A Capella! (The "bump, bump", "chit, chit"s and all!) One of the girls plays the violin and it truly added to the feeling of celebration!

Two of the Prayer Booths, to represent the joyous celebration of the Jewish "Feast of Tabernacles"!

We used them to pray for "Ourselves", "Others", "Our Church", and "The World."

And the trainings had 7 teenagers from 6 different towns and 7 different churches, and with only 1 or 2 of those churches having pastors! Every month we are studying a different "Foundation" for running a youth group and a "Tool" to help them run it. Last month was Prayer and How to Ask Good Questions. This month was God's Word and How to Use the "COMA" Bible Study Method. These kids are so incredible and are excited to learn how they can be used of God to lead their youth group! The first group came up with the title for the first chapter of Philippians of "Just Pray and DO IT!" Wow! We could all use that encouragement sometimes!

Jona is leading his youth group in Guben. He gave his testimony at the church service I attended on Sunday and will be getting baptized on March 25! Pray for him as he continues to be bold for Jesus! 

Erik is attending the trainings and has a desire to help lead his youth group in Zeesan. Tabea is one of the University age German girls who got this all started. See this blog post for more of that story. 

Melli (also in the blog post) and Steffan cleaning up after dinner at one of the trainings.

Louisa, Anton, and Jona after a training. Louisa's testimony at camp is what God used to speak to me about doing these trainings!

Please, pray for these young people as they learn to stand boldly for Christ as possibly the only Christian among their atheistic peers!

Also, to get our latest prayer requests, go to the JV online Prayer Room! There you can sign up and be lead through an incredible hour of prayer for JV Germany and Josiah Venture as a whole!