Exciting Peace

Praise the Lord! Im now only six days till my travels take me back home. I am basking in the time I have left here and enjoying it to the fullest. The one thing I like the most about Germany is the weather. It is nice everyday. I can be outside without dying of heat exhaustion:) Its cooler with a gentle breeze. By the time I ride my bike I am at the perfect temperature.

The past two days I have had breakfast at 10 and then rode my bike to the canal where I spent some solitude with the Lord under the sun. Ahh!! Its so beautiful:) There is one place where I feel at my best. I have taken over the bench!! :) LOL. I park my bike and spend about 2 hours there. I write, read, meditate, sing, and pray:) I can lay down, stand up, jump, shout, whisper, and smile. I have the freedom to do it all without reservation. Once I get there, I hardly want to leave. Its so peaceful to listen to music and allow the Holy Ghost to talk to me. He lays things on my heart and without any distractions I can take care of them. Its so important to have solitude time. Its crucial to be renewed in God everyday.!! but we so often lack this. In Jesus Name I pray for the self control to take time out to rest!! I had this exciting feeling of peace. LOL. So peaceful but so excited at the same time. :) AHH!!! I love God so much! :) Praise God.

Last night I went to the inner city of Nurnburg again. I stopped to grab a bite to eat at a place called, Kochloffel. I got some chicken with a mango sauce and fries:) As I was sitting down a gentleman came up to me and asked me something in German. I told him that I only spoke english. He then asked me in english what time it was because his watch stopped working. I told him. He told me that he knew a little bit of english and thought it would be nice to sit down with me and talk for a bit. LOL. I was hesitant but before I could make up an excuse he was sitting across from me at my table. He asked why I was in Germany and the Lord quickened me and reminded me of my missions effort. I told him that I was on a missions trip. If I was gonna talk to this man it was going to be about God.:) He had a surprised look and said, "all you americans are so religous, God this and God that" I said, "yes sir, I am a believer:) But there is a big differnce between religion and relationship with God. I have a genuine relationship with God." He seemed annoyed but stuck around so I decided I would feed him as much as I could in the time that he stayed. :) So he started asking his questions. Who is God? My response the creator of all things. He's my maker and my Lord. His next question. Where is he? I said he was everywhere. He is a spirit:)... That robed himself in flesh, to walk among us, living without sin, to die for our sins. He said, yeah yeah, This spirit.... ? How do you know? I said, The Word and By Faith. The bible says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him, he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." I said we needed faith to trust him and to take that step and once we do he reveals more and more to us, his truths. As much as he didnt agree, he asked questions and I did my best to answer them. It was a challenge. Sometimes you dont have the words to express how amazing God is. You know in your heart because the Holy Ghost reveals it to you, but without the Holy GHost it is harder to comprehend His goodness, His reality and His truths. But he listened to everything I said. He said that humans are humans. We make a choice to live a good life or a bad life. He said that we cannot possibly comprehend reality of this world. Its too big, its too great and that mankind made up religion and God to understand it. He used the example of color. We dont really see color, we see reflections of color to make color but its not really color... SOmething like that. I said that "the reality was that God exist and there is spirtual warfare happening all around us and that we cant see it but that is reality." I said "reality is there is a God whether you claim that there is or not." :) LOL I said "reality is there is a heaven and a hell and if you dont love God you can pay eternal consequences for this belief." He said, "oh no. There is no God and there is no devil. There is no Heaven or Hell." I told him about my expereince with God. I told him that God moves on me and that I pray to him and that he speaks to me. I told him about the day I got the Holy Ghost. I said I was so moved by God that I began to cry. I said that I worshiped God from my heart and before I knew it, I began talking to Him in words I couldn't explain. This was the HOly GHost experience and I challenged him to read about it in the book of Acts chapter 2. I told him that if he tried God, He would reveal Himself. I know God ordained this conversation between us and I expressed this to him. He said, "no we are having this talk becasue I asked you what time it was." LOL. Yeah, Yeah, think what you want.:) Little did he know this was his opportunity. I asked what his name was and he said it was Leonardo. Leonardo ended the conversation with, "I dont want to be a christian."
Wow. I had such a hard time with this. I know I did what I was supposed to do. But it doesnt take away the pain I feel for this man. The world so often has this same mentality. They dont want it. When I got home, I couldnt help but to cry out for him. I was so emotional and so weak. I felt that it took so much out of me. In the midst I was challenged too. The enemy tries to take what you love and what you know and he will use it against you. Im not gonna lie, as I was telling him about my love for God and I couldnt find the words to express it, I felt a tiny portion of doubt creep in. How come I cant explain it? BUt God kept laying on my heart, Faith. Believing in things not seen. I trust in God by Faith. You can't always explain God, he is too big, too amazing and too real for our human brains to wrap around it. But thats why we have the Holy Ghost. I cried out because I felt doubt, I didnt want to doubt, but I did. I was sorrowful for feeling doubtful. It's scary to feel your humanity at times. But greater is He that is within me than he that is in this world.:) God knows our thoughts, he knows our hearts. I trust him with everything that is within me. He is real and no one can convince me otherwise. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. Thank You Jesus.
So I sit today...:) AFter a long quiet time with God, pondering my weaknesses and pulling strength from him. I am convinced that there is nothing to run back too. I am so blessed where I am, so rich in relationship and the love of God that I wouldnt think of living my life any other way. I was lost and now I am found. :) I know WHO I am now. I know this becasue of my thoughs, the mindset I now have and how I have changed. I know this because of the things GOD has done in my life. The fullfillment I have that I so often see others lacking. I am satisfied in God and wouldnt dare leave his side.:)

Im about to leave to go to the city again. Possibly to find more Leonardos.:) Just to present myself available. Not sure what God would have of me today, but I am willing.
I am counting down the days. I cant wait to be back home. And my sweet Sassy Mehl! Oh, how I miss her so:)