Cabin Fever

Typically, one gets cabin fever in the long, cold winter months, when staying inside is the wiser thing to do rather than subjecting oneself to the frigid, frost-biting temps that can be typical in some areas of the world. I, on the other hand, have cabin fever big time as a result of having to stay home and rest to get rid of a bad UTI. Yes, I've gone outside, and yes I've taken some short walks, but overall, "these four walls" have been my 'life-setting' for nearly 2 weeks now.

I think of the Apostle Paul, who spent many, many days inside cold, dark prison cells; I'm sure he experienced a type of cabin fever, but much worse than anything I have, or hopefully will ever, experience! What did Paul do during those times? He praised the Lord! He worshipped! He sang out His Redeemer's praise, lifting His name high! He rested in the palm of His Father's hand.

At times in our lives, we all have our "cabins" where we find ourselves...and we may get "cabin fever"...may we see Paul as our model of what we are to do and be during those times: worshippers of the Living God, who in His grace, has given us a time of "seclusion" for us to seek His face more intently, without the outside distractions, and rest in His comforting presence.

Recovery time

I'm learning a great deal about illness, recovery time, the impact fever has on our bodies, and rest. I was in hospital with a bad infection, fever for 3 days, and in hospital for 4 1/2 days. Of course I thought after 4 1/2 days of rest AFTER my hospital stay I would be fine to return to work. HA! I learned my lesson the hard way; feeling pretty well, I returned, only to find that I became EXHAUSTED...which is exactly what my doctor said would happen.

Who am I listening to? I'm not saying that doctors are always right. More importantly, WHO is my ultimate authority? Am I listening to my Father in heaven, who can use broken vessels, like doctors, to give His words of wisdom to His sometimes very stubborn children...i.e. me?

REST....what a good thing......God created it......we need it.....let's take it as He gives and declares because it's for His glory!

Movie nite/sleepover

Girls and guys enjoyed a LONG movie night....3 films....and the girls enjoyed a sleepover at my flat! Those who came are part of the high school/university Bible study I've had in my home for 6 years now. God has grown us in numbers and nationalities, and it was fun to look around the room on movie night and count 5 different nationalities represented!

One young lady who has recently joined our group is named "Rudy"...that's her "anglicized" name. Rudy was born in a "closed country in the middle east", but is a Norwegian citizen. She shared with me her parents' "story" of "escaping" their home country many years ago. They made their way to another country nearby, where Presbyterian missionaries shared Jesus with them and they both became followers of Jesus! Later, Rudy too gave her life to Jesus! Eventually, they made their way to Norway where they now live. Rudy is pictured on the far left in the top picture.

Rudy is a medical student who loves Jesus and just "found out" about our group about a month ago. She has one more year here at the medical university and is thrilled to have a fellowship in English where she can grow and serve! We are thrilled to have her join our little community!

Seniors and serenading

One of the neatest high school traditions here is the senior serenade. Each spring, every senior class (about 30-35 students in each "group") take two evenings to travel around to all their teachers' homes to "serenade" them from the street! Then the teacher invites them in to his/her home for something light to eat, cookies or salty snacks and soft-drinks. It's a precious time for them to be together and for them to sit and visit in the "personal space" of each teacher. Pictured above is my 12b class, a group of 17 students whom I taught for four years...the first two years were kind of "rocky" but the last two have been sweet! They were able to devour two batches of chocolate chip cookies! Guess I'll be baking a lot in the next week!

Spring

I love spring in Szeged! I especially love the flowers in the city-center and near most every fountain around the city! Life abounds, fresh, new beginnings and fragrances fill the air! That should be us who are followers of Jesus, huh?

Retreat of Silence

I'm finishing up 3 days of being silent before the Lord...in those three days I've had a few distractions, like two days of teaching, but outside of that, and the occasional neighbor interruption, I've stayed in silence before my Lord. He's spoken. It's been good. Part of my time was spent on this beach on the Tisza River where resting in His presence was so very sweet. I encourage anyone who can, to take a day, or if you can, longer, to sit silently before the Lord and allow Him to minister to the depths of your spirit.

Yellow are the fields for harvest....

Ok, I'm definitely taking liberty with Scripture here. But the meaning is the same. Jesus stated that the harvest fields are ripe for harvest....people are ready to hear about the Kingdom of God...then He said to pray to the Father that He would send workers into the fields.

Wherever we are, whether in the U.S., Nigeria, Germany, Mongolia or Hungary, the harvest fields are ready! Let us pray that God would send His workers and let us also declare, "Here I am, Lord, send me!"

This picture was taken on our drive home from Debrecen to Szeged, Hungary. Fields are ablaze with these yellow flowers which are harvested, I think, for some sort of oil. These fields seem to "light up" the surrounding countryside; may we be His light wherever we are!

Spring Break in Ukraine!

I wonder how many people can say they spent their spring break in Nagydobrony, Ukraine? This is a small village of about 6000 people just across the border from Hungary, which still keeps Hungarian time (Ukraine is one hour later than Hungary) and where everyone still speaks Hungarian! There is where the orphanage is located that I first visited with other missionary friends in February.

Irgalmas Samaritanus Gyermekotthon was started by the Danish Reformed Church and has been in existence for over 10 years. It houses 67 girls from ages 4-21, most of whom are handicapped in some way. However, there are a handful of girls who are "perfectly normal" but who have no families at all or who are from extremely abusive homes. I wanted to return to visit a little girl there who captured my heart in February....Valentina.

My 3 days there were full of laughter, playing soccer, holding little girls' hands, giving hugs, hearing "I love you, Arden! Please don't go! Please take me with you!", playing guitar and singing, walking, walking, and walking everywhere, celebrating Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, and taking in everything I could about life in this little corner of the world.

As God would have it, "my" little girl, Valentina, celebrated her 14th birthday while I was there, so I got to take her out on a special "date" to the local (and only) ice cream shop in town! She was thrilled to eat 4 scoops of ice cream, chips, drink a coke and get a lollipop for later. Walking the one kilometer to and from the ice cream shop was pure joy for both of us.

In addition, I fell in love with another little one, Zsuzsa, (Susan) who is 12, and a real sweetheart! She is excellent in learning English words and has great pronunciation! Valentina and Zsuzsa accompanied me to the train station to say goodbye when I left on Sunday afternoon. Please pray for these little girls, and all the girls in this orphanage...they all need to know the LIVING GOD and allow Him to transform their little orphaned hearts into hearts that KNOW AND BELIEVE they are deeply loved and accepted by the God who lived, died and rose again for them!

"You are Enough"

I just bought a new CD which is blowing me away, and I will recommend it to anyone who loves live worship! It's called "Grace in the Wilderness" by Eoghan Heaslip and the song "You are Enough", written by Eoghan and his wife, Becky, is below. Let these words minister deeply to your heart.

Through the testing through the fire
Through the storms of life and darkest hour
In our suffering and many trials

You have remained
Yes you have remained faithful so faithful

You are enough, Jesus, you are enough
Lord it's your love that carries us
You are enough, Jesus, always enough
Lord it's your love that satisfies, You satisfy

Now with thankful and grateful hearts
We sing of all you've done for us
Power made perfect when we're weak.

Copyright 2004 Vertical Worship Songs/ASCAP

More on the "cost"

Once when I was experiencing a sort of "down time", I was dealing with some pretty challenging things. God was showing me areas of my life/heart that needed to be brought to the cross, and habit patterns in my life that needed to be broken. In the process of it all, I received wonderful words of encouragement from a good friend. When I thanked her for her faithful involvement in my life and helping me walk through this stuff, she said four words which hit my heart deeply, and which stick with me to this day: "You are worth it!"

How many of us believe we are really worth it? Worth the time and energy that people have poured and are pouring into our lives? The MORE important question, though, is do we really believe we are "worth it" to God? His answer is loud, clear and strong and came directly from God's Son at the most unlikely time that someone would speak words of love and acceptance...from the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing!"

We were worth it to Jesus!!! We still are today as He continually pours out His love, grace and mercy, even on those who turn their backs away from this gift. As we meditate on the cross and the incredible cost of it this coming week, and what it means for every person on the planet, let us remember that in those words spoken by Jesus from the cross, He was saying, in essence, "You are worth it!"

Too great a cost!

I'm in Budapest with a group of students from my school who are paricipating in a Model UN. These students have spent the past weeks preparing to take part in this 3rd annual, here in Budapest, Model UN, along with about 180 other students.
When we received the letter inviting us, once again, to participate, we read with great interest. We got to the part where it said what the cost would be. Both I and my boss read this part quickly. We thought it was $25 per team for a 3-day event, which included lunches, bus transport, special events, and refreshments all day long. So, we decided our school could send two teams.
Upon arriving, the director asked for our money...she looked incredulously at us when we handed her $50. She said, "The cost is $25 per student!"
How could we have misread the letter? So we went in and pulled up the letter, and sure enough, clearly it read $25 per student! (Still a good deal for everything they are getting for 3 days!) So, I had the fun task of calling my boss in Szeged and telling her our mistake! Her response surprised me: "Gather the kids, put them on the train and come home! That is a rip-off and our school cannot afford to pay that amount!"
I was amazed as I told her the problem was ours, not the organizing school, who had clearly communicated the cost. To make a very long story short, our headmaster has let the kids stay, and says he will somehow find a way to pay for it.
This incident is rife with spiritual truth! Have we believers counted the cost of following Jesus? It is a high price, but SO worth all the blessings God has promised since before time began! BUT, the price Jesus paid is even greater...in reality, our price is nothing compared to what He paid. He knew the cost was not too great, because of His great love for each one of us!

Women of Destiny

Saturday morning, three of the girls from one of my Bible studies and I drove to Budapest to take part in a one day women's conference called "Women of Destiny". Carol Maiden and Mary Jill Callery, my dear friend, were tag-teaming on the teaching, the theme of which was "Oil and Fire" based on Matthew 25 and the parable of the ten virgins. Prazsak Laci and his wife Csilla and their worship team led the worship time...this was a real treat for me to meet them in person because they spent one month in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer, and now, they are working on starting an IHOP in Budapest!

The conference was well worth the trip for me, and for my girls...we had sweet time in the car on the way up, and they got some sleep on the way home, as you can see! Fun to have a multi-national group...American, Hungarian, Norwegian and Swedish....joining a multi-national conference, with people from a wide variety of churches, together as the body of Christ, open to the fresh oil that the Lord wants to pour out on His people!

Richard and Carol Maiden have ministered all over the world, and have two main bases, Phoenix, AZ and Budapest, Hungary. They are blessed servants of the King who continue, even in their "retirement years" to go to the nations with the Gospel! May blessings be showered upon them and upon all who were there yesterday...and may ALL that God did in individual hearts bear MUCH fruit for His Kingdom!

International Service

Last Saturday, one of my Bible study girls, Melita, organized a service project for two of the groups she is involved with: the first is Mozaik, a university group of international students, and the second is our weekly high school/university Bible study group. Our service project was to go to a "homeless shelter", which is kind of a half-way house for homeless people, sing some songs to/with them, and paint Easter eggs. Pictured is the group that bussed it out to this shelter Saturday afternoon. It's exciting to see Hungarians, Swedes, Norwegians, Indians, Nigerians, and Americans coming together to serve.

That phone call

I never quite know what to do when you get that phone call....the one that lets you know that someone in the family is not doing well....really not doing well. Everything else seems to fade into the distance, be put on the far back burner, and life seems to slow to a snail's pace as you try to grasp at every memory you have had with this particular person. The mind is flooded, in an instant, with laughter and fun and years and years of "what was". Then the tears flow, because of what won't be...and for those closest to this person, my cousins, the reality of losing their mother. You simply want time to stop, somehow, to cling to this time when she is still with us, so we can enjoy her for just a bit longer. Lord, have Your way in her heart...and in ours.

Prayer walking

I may be biased, but I don't think so. I think my city, Szeged, is one of the most beautiful cities in all of Hungary...and others say so too! Wednesday afternoon this week, a team of folks from Debrecen and Budapest came to Szeged to meet, walk around the city and pray! We happened to hop on the Szeged tourist train which took us to every place we had wanted to walk and pray, so we were doubly blessed in getting a tour by a cute train and being able to pray!

Exciting things are happening here. Wednesday night this same core group met with university students from four different nations to discuss and pray about further ministry opportunities to international students and young marrieds in this city. Szeged is a university town and many nations gather here to study; there is a tremendous need for a place for these of various nations to gather and worship the Lord in English, and this is what we are seeking the Lord about and following His lead in doing here! From here may the whole earth be filled with His glory through the faithfulness of these young ones!

The whole earth.....

Pruners did some major work last year on the trees in our back yard area of our downtown building. We have probably 1/3 of the trees we did last year, but as I sit in my kitchen this morning and listen to the birds twittering and chatting with one another and gaze out at the remaining trees and greenery, I'm struck by one tree that was left. It's is gloriously in bloom with thousands of small, white blossoms! It's the only tree left out there with flowering blossoms, and they are white, the symbol of purity!

God reminded me this morning that the shed blood of Jesus on the cross washes us whiter than snow, whiter than these gorgeous tree blossoms. I find it interesting, maybe even ironic, that the sole tree outside my window is this one...God's gentle reminder of His never-ending, undying love for me and for this nation...and the world?

More memory

I just got more memory put on to my computer! Wow, things are moving faster, files are coming up much quicker, the entire computer experience is much more enjoyable!

The Lord reminded me this morning of the passage in John's Gospel when Jesus is telling His disciples that it is good that He is returning to the Father because then He will send the promised Holy Spirit, who will remind them of what Jesus taught them and will "teach them all things". I've found in the last two years as I've allowed the Holy Spirit to have "free reign" in me that it's like having new memory chips put in me: by His Holy Spirit and grace I'm learning things much faster, hearing His voice much more quickly, and my entire walk with God is a fantastic experience, which is much more enjoyable than it ever was before!

Teaching on Saturday?

Yes, you read that correctly...we had a full day of school today. In fact, it was an "official" work day in Szeged because next week, Thursday, is a national holiday; so that we can have a four-day weekend, the government has required people to work the Saturday before and treat it as a Friday. We'll all be thankful for the 4-day weekend next week, but right now, I'm pretty bushed after a 6-day teaching week.

Birthday and Women's Day

This is a special week! Not only did I celebrate my birthday, but today is Women's Day in Hungary! As you can see in the picture, it's a day of flowers! The men in this country "celebrate" women by giving them a flower or a bouquet of flowers, and wishing them a "Happy Women's Day!"

My students from some of my classes brought the various flowers pictured here, and my university Bible study group also brought me a flower for my birthday! While this is a special celebratory day for women, I'm reminded that God's mercies are new every morning for all of us, and the Lord celebrates US every day! May the beauty of these flowers remind of His beautiful gift of grace which He pours out on and in us every single day!

Brokenness and restoration

This bridge may not mean anything to you, and I wish I could find my other picture of it when it did not look like this. This is one of the main bridges that crosses the Danube River in the city of Novi Sad, Serbia. When I first was in Novi Sad in 2002, three years after NATO bombed this country, the bridge was still in "two pieces", making a "V" shape in the river, destroyed by a NATO bomb. So, this past weekend, when I saw the bridge restored and cars zipping back and forth over it, my breath was taken away and tears welled up in my eyes! It took many years and there was tremendous suffering and inconvenience endured by the people as they had to find other ways to cross the river, but now the bridge has been restored...all the bridges have been restored and travel across this great river is "back to normal."

Serbia is a country which has endured centuries of turmoil, brokenness galore. The wounds run deep, but hope abounds as Jesus Christ is being lifted up and people's broken hearts are being met by God's amazing grace and love, which heals all broken bridges. The needs are great, though, because the physical can be restored so much more easily than the emotional and spiritual.