Skip to main content

December on a train: Choices.

Snow topped mountains. Lakes. Quaint wooden houses. Forests. The view as my (now very delayed) train chuggs along on my way to visit a friend in the south of Norway. It's such a beautiful view which even the greyest of days (like today) can't steal.

I just ate some vestlandslefse enjoying the sweetness of the sugar and the softness of the bread. A very Norwegian flavour to accompany my view (which is a lot more at a standstill than I would have liked).

It's been a restful yet also slightly hectic few days since coming home.

Last Thursday one of the women from the windows in Amsterdam shared her plan to leave prostitution and her need in order to do so. I said I would pray and ask others to pray as well. But suddenly the choice to share a need for prayer turned into a fundraiser as God started to respond to the prayer.

I was completely taken off guard. I guess I should have anticipated it, but in the busyness of preparing to come home for Christmas I didn't think it through.

Choices. It's amazing how every little choice determines our current state of being. How each choice leads to another choice which makes the road as we walk on it.

Choice. Would I have chosen to put out that prayer need if I'd realised what it would become? A demonstration of God's care and abundace towards this girl. His gentle shout to her that: "You can trust Me. I am committed to your life and to My plans for you." I hope so. Even in the hecticness it is worth it. She is worth it and God us worth having His goodness shown to her.

Choices. In the midst of gathering funds and numerous emails with different people to figure out with no preparation time how we would receive and pass on this demonstration of the Father's love, it pushed us right into the One who was orchestrating it all. We chose to include Him in the process, asking for communication to happen when there was no connection with the girl who was being set up to get blessed so abundantly.

Choices. She could have said 'no'. Her shame could have held her back. She could have believed the lie that she had to sort out her own messy life. She could have simply not come.

But she chose to receive.

Just like one day she chose to say 'yes' to Jesus and chose to get up early to come to Bible study. She chose to share her need and she chose to receive the answer to the prayers on her behalf.

She still has many choices ahead of her. Choices that will be hard and will require her to trust in a God who is good. But this is a good beginning of the rest of her life and I am thankful I got to be a small part of her journey.

And so I sip my strong free cup of tea with thankfulness. A delayed train doesn't matter in the big scheme if things and so I choose to enjoy the journey even with the unexpexted and when it's not always as planned.

Popular posts from this blog

Small moments that mean a lot

Walking home on the crunchy snow that lights up a December evening,  I felt so thankful. The revelation that fellowship and being together is the best gift you can give someone, and realising that although it might seem small, it can turn into something big when a person feels seen and valued.  Yesterday I helped out with a crafts workshop for a group of lovely women volunteering for Crux where I worked before (well, in all honesty: they were making angels while I ate Christmas cookies, Quality Street chocolate, and chatted). I love walking alongside people in conversation, and realise sharing life for 2 hours can last so much longer in value and experience.  This evening we had our Christmas dinner for volunteers and people who are part of my current job. It was a delightful evening with many nations gathered around the same table…. eating the same food… and for a few hours creating a small fellowship moment that will become a good memory for the future. Often in my job ...

Taking in the familiar and a heart connected.

Amsterdam. It still has that muggy feeling in Summer, and a constant flow of people which if you stop to think about it, it's quite amazing that there would even be space to accommodate them all. But then I guess they are not all staying. Just passing through on their way to or from somewhere. It's always good for the heart to visit somewhere that was once home. The familiarity of streets and customs makes it easier to embrace what might be new as well as the joy of being reacquainted with old friends. Friends. So many of them to be found in this city, ready with hugs and good words that are uttered when seeing someone who was away again. Friendship. A treasure that cannot be bought. Cobblestones trodden by many, including myself. Sitting on a bench. Praying. Remembering the first time I stumbled upon this area lined with windows with red lights and curtains. An area which has come to represent no longer windows, but people to me. Some still behind a window. Others who have ...

So what is new in Kansas City?

“Not much”, I think is the answer. Although, that’s not quite correct, I’ve had quite an adventurous weekend (in the mildest sense of the word). Let me see, where do I start? Well, Thursday when I last wrote was really good. I got to join with a team for a bit in the evening, which was really good fun and it lifted my spirits as I am totally a team person! The whole week had been quite tense because of adjustments with our household and people coming and going. On Saturday two of the girls I shared with were moving out and since Friday night they were packing, my other housemate and I went shopping. We figured it was easier to not get caught up in the chaos that packing to move houses is. It was fun to go shopping, even if we only went to Wall-Mart and HyVee (big grocery and other thing shops). We got a few bits and pieces for the house to make it more homely and generally just had fun looking at all the stuff they have. We’d decided that when the other girls had moved we’d do a big cl...