Anita Valjak

Living Stones December 14 2008

2008-12-14T21:17:00.001+01:00

Living Stones December 14 2008

Sometimes life is mysterious and complex. The last months have given me both mystery and complexity. If I could put it in one statement it would be; sometimes we need to experince a lot of humbling to learn meekness and gentleness.

A woman who had personal issues came for counseling. She is so busy for God and yet, her husband shows little interest in her. Their children are not walking with the Lord. Her natural response? Anger! Her attitude is something like, Lord, surely I have earned more than this. I so often recognize myself in the women God uses me to walk with into a deeper walk with Himself. He uses them to teach me. One of the deepest lessons is to abide in the True Vine and to live by the Spirit. That sounds so simple...but, true life challenges show how easy it is to still think like the world. Those thoughts would sound like this; "I have worked so hard for you Lord, and I have recieved such small blessings." God's response is, "My acceptance and blessing is not based on your hard work but My Grace alone. My Grace is more than enough for you."

This has been one of those years......time seems to go much faster.....if my grandmother could only hear me now. It has been a year of great turmoil and challenge. There has been lots of mystery and complexity.

Yet, two things stand out clearly in my mind. God has taken me deeper into Himself than ever before. He used sorrow and pain in the process. Next, I realize how much I am blessed by all of you who recieve this letter. God put us together and we belong in the same precious heavenly family.

Sharing and celebrating the gift of Jesus with you this Christmas. I thank God for Christ, this year and for you.

With lots of love,

Anita

You also , as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1.Pet 2:4,5

Anita Valjak
42000 Varazdin
Tina Ujevica 1c
Croatia
tel.00385-42-312 549
cell. 00385 95-902 47 31
skype: anita.valjak
blog: http://valjak.blogspot.com

2008-07-16T17:03:00.001+02:00

Living Stones 16 July 2008

( Church Planting in Croatia)

Family is a very complex institution in Croatia. The family dominates every aspect of ones daily life. In some senses it is very warm and comforting in other ways it is, how can I say, like living inside a fishbowl but with a web cam perpetually turned on.

My sons probably have their own interpretation of what it is like growing up with me. I can only imagine the stories they will tell their children......

This last week though was a time of great rejoicing as my youngest son Marko passed his entrance exam into University with such high marks so the state will cover expenses of scholarship for him.

I sat down this week and put my feet up and realised that after fifteen years of bringing these boys up as a single mother that one great phase of our lives together has come to completion.Now it is mine to pray for them, advise them and guide them into manhood when they will in turn have children and care for their families. My feet that were resting on the coffee table suddenly became restless as I realised that my work is not done....it is just beginning.

For me now is a time of decision. My boys are leaving home, and our little Fellowship is having the usual summer break. This is a time to reflect and plan for the future, but there are still so many people to engage with, encourage and seek to bless. The needs of our community have not changed but my circumstances have. Do I press on and find some part time employment to make up for lost support? Do I write to my few but faithful supporters and share that I need to go back to work full time?

I can not easily forget my calling. Nor can I forget that I grew up as an atheist whose only contact with religion was as a child being forced to bow down and kiss a crucifix on the floor of a Catholic Church. There are so many others like me walking in darkness whose souls haunt me.

So my family......that is you who read this are my spiritual family..please share your thoughts. Maybe some good old family advice will be what God uses to guide in the way ahead.

Bless you all and thank you for praying for me and especially for praying for my boys.

2008-07-16T08:14:00.001+02:00

Living Stones June 23 2008

( Church Planting in Croatia)

Over the years I have done a lot of hiking through the mountains in this part of the world. One of the highlights is reaching a peak or summit after pushing so hard to climb for so long. The view is spectacular, the sense of accomplishment is so great. There is also a sense in which ones body feels like an instrument under your control instead of how it so often is, a burden that holds you back. Sometimes the destination is clear and you press on with the end in sight and there are other times when where you are going is lost in the fog but you press on by faith not sight, believing your compass rather than your intuition.

There are other times when hiking through the Alps is not like that. The day starts sunny and there is clarity only for it to give way to mist and haze and no matter what one does or how hard one works you can not reach the destination and one simply gives up, turns back and experiences defeat. It is at times like that you try to rationalize why it failed, blame the weather or try to convince yourself it is not really a failure but rather a time to learn something from the experience. Deep down though it is experienced as a failure in your heart.

To be honest this is how I feel now in my ministry of Church planting in Croatia.

My co-workers Bob and Nancy have had to move to Budapest and no matter how I rationalize it the sense of being left behind has effected the work here in our Fellowship.

I have lost now my major support source which made up about 60% of my financial income and it really is awful as I am now trying sell vitamin pills to keep going.. and trying to find some other extra jobs..

But more than these, I feel as if I am loosing my way spiritually. Missionaries often refer to Croatia as the "Graveyard" of missions in Europe and it really is. It is not just that the people are hard to reach with a message of Grace it is as if everything that we engage with here is spiritually against us walking in victory.

My country is one that has been wounded by war from the outside and has wounded itself by its spiritual pride from the inside. Jesus weeps over Croatia as He did over Jerusalem part for their destruction part for their hardness of heart.

I am willing to press on in the fog but I need, I desperately need, help.

I need people to hold me in their prayers as one would hold a child who is loosing their way and guide them along a very tricky pathway. I have always accepted this would not be easy and when I "feel" that I am not alone then I can press on... but it is not about "feel" but about "knowing"..Pray for me that when I wake up in the morning that I would enter into the deeper consciousness of HIS presence and that I would rest in the arms of my heavenly Father who knows and understands.

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men but is choice and precious in the sight of God.

You also , as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1.Pet 2:4,5

Living Stones April 27 2008

2008-04-27T14:48:00.001+02:00

Living Stones April 27 2008

(Church Planting In Croatia)

www.valjak.blogspot.com

In Croatia our history is such that until very recently majority either worked for a big company or the government. In fact you could say if you did not have a set place, time and income you would be considered abnormal. My friends are often curious and ask the questions, What do you do? Where do you work? Who pays you? Without sounding to ego-centric it reminds me of when people asked the disciples of Jesus, Who is he? Who sent him? Whose authority does he speak under?

I hate to admit it but I always feel nervous when people ask these questions. The truth is I am abnormal in Croatian society. But the questions are also good in that they make me focus on the reality of my life.

I have no set work day..... good for productivity....bad for people like me whose weakness is workaholism.

I have no set workplace, mostly my apartment is my main office which also doubles as our Church meeting room.

I have no set salary, or rather I have a ceiling but I never reach it, so life has lows and some lower lows in terms of money.

What I do is:

Counsel women in need, both believers and unbelievers
Pray with people in need
Visit widows and sick people
Teach in women's groups
Administer the Church plant
Writing

As well as

Clean house
Cook Food
Pay Bills
Parent two teenage boys........Glory

As well as

Raise support........unsuccessfully
Bible study
Prayer
Fasting

I am tired just writing it.

The truth is I do not believe the above lists are really that important in light of eternity. God's project is my heart before Him. He is the ONE who is building His house with Living Stones. In fact the truth is He may "use" all of our activity for the purpose of bringing more of His life into our own but the activity is not His goal. His life in us is His goal.

Beloved, we live in a constant stress of feeling inadequate, unspiritual and unworthy, never doing enough and never good enough........ but the Holy Spirit is seeking to bring us to the reality of experiecing HIS REST - in KNOWING that we ARE Living Stones... precious in the sight of God....being built up as a spiritual house..and we ARE a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

OK I have it. This is my job description........proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Bless you!

Yours,

Anita

Living Stones April 10th 2008

2008-04-11T19:01:00.001+02:00

Living Stones April 10th 2008

(Church Planting in Croatia)

http//valjak.blogspot.com

The power of words is so great. When my Doctor friend in Switzerland said the words, " You have a genetic hemoglobin disease called Thalassemia ". It was as if all of a sudden the years of struggling with so many symptoms all made sense. The years of misdiagnosis all seemed to come together to allow me to realise how we have to throw ourselves on the Lord in the mysteries of life. I remember having a blood test few years ago and seeing the writing on the report from the lab saying this sample is not human blood.........not the most comforting of words.

The news of the disease was bad news but I found myself relieved. The power of the words made me both gasp and then be tearful with relief. We are all so complex.

Being there for tests allowed me to spend some time high in the Alps. I know it is silly but it does feel closer to God the higher you go up the mountain. Wherever you look, you are surrounded by high peaks like some kind of proud giants staring at you and reflecting God's glory. When you gaze downwards you can see clean rivers, cristal blue and green lakes and green meadows. I was able to spend 3 days in a beautiful Swiss house 4000 feet above sea level. Our hosts were a Godly family, Florian a Lutheran preacher and his wife Marta. It was enriching to see how these people have such a sensitive knowledge and understanding of God. After visiting many families and sleeping in many different places I started to know more of the heart of the Swiss people. My own country has known so much war for so many centuries these dear people have no war in their history for hundreds of years. You look at my face and their faces and you can see our histories written in our eyes.

Now the Alps are a shadow in my mind but the diagnosis is still with me. All I can say is that God has called me to see my nation redeemed and whether in sickness or in health whilst I have breath I will continue........... with or without human blood.

Blessing to you dear people of God and thank you for your prayers, support and walking with me in my Journey with Him.

Yours,

Anita

Living Stones March 14 2008

2008-03-14T15:17:00.002+01:00

We have a story from this part of the country about a local peasant leader called Matja Gubec. In the 16^th century the peasants were being oppressed by the local Lords. Gubec tried to stay faithful to his masters but a law was passed saying that all peasant women were the property of the Lord to do with as he pleased. Gubec rallied the peasants together and fought a loosing battle. He himself was taken to Zagreb and crucified in the public square with a red hot metal crown placed on his head.

This story is almost a picture of the sadness that comes to my office day after day in the lives of those seeking help.
A long time friend of mine has been a public figure here for some years. Sadly, she has become well known because she wrote a book about her ten year affair with a high ranking priest in the Catholic Church. Incredibly, she came to faith as a result of preparing sermons for her lover-Priest. Tragically she has become consumed with bitterness and revenge and it has ruined her life. Her story reminds me of Matja Gubec ending in sadness and tragedy.
But now lets look at Jesus. Symbolically, Jesus like Gubec, saw his bride taken captive to sin and Satan and was also crucified. His was not a loosing battle because through His death and resurrection we have been snatched from Satan and transferred into the Kingdom of God's dear Son.
There is hope, there is power and there is healing for the heart.
A young woman who has been so unwell for so long came to me with a problem. Her Church had told her if she could get more faith she would be healed and if she did not get more faith she would not be healed. It has taken a long time to work with her and see her breakthrough to see God as a Father not a force who responds to principles that we generate by our own effort. Whereas her body still suffers her view of God has been healed. There is a place of gentle rest close to the heart of God that is above our earthly frame, it is a place where victory dwells because our Father knows our name.
How great awsome God we do have! The God of all grace! Someone who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us - He rescued His Bride!
Next week I am taking a bus to Zurich, Switzerland where a doctor friend of mine has arranged some medical tests for me. I will also be meeting small groups of believers to see about the possibility of my being accepted for support. Please pray for me that God would open doors for support and also that many would catch the vision to pray for this tough place of Church planting ministry.

2008-03-05T18:57:00.003+01:00

Living Stones March 01 2008

( Church Planting In Croatia )

What your life looks like? Is it living in the faith daily, living in dying to self, or experiencing constant battle feeling defeated or discouraged by being on the "field"?

Most of the time it is day to day pressing on in Him.

When things are going tough it is a temptation to be anxious and longing for lasting stability, very often looking back into "Egypt" forgetting about hurts in slavery or bad food.

When things are going too well and life is too comfortable the temptation is to become self centered and forget about needs of others. Both conditions are probably known to each of us.

Just recently I felt temptation to look back and fearfully trying to find security "helping" The Lord - in my own works and solutions. Very often I am faced with question of financial security and at the same time with the question God is continue asking me: "Do you trust Me?"

Moments like crossroads and critical decision points were my recent reality.

Recently two of these big moments have come.

Firstly, my co-workers Bob and Nancy from America who I have been planting the Church with have been led to move over the border into Hungary to be closer to the center of gravity of their primary work among Gypsy people. This immediately means our leadership team has been cut in half and it now means the preaching and teaching will be fully under Croat leadership. For us this is a very positive and exciting moment but not without the personal pain of loss.

We have now moved the Church into my apartment which means quite a change in the style of things. It also means that those of us in leadership are developing and casting our vision in a purely Croatian context. This is very positive and whereas we honour Bob and Nancy in the Lord we see so clearly confirmation of the vision for continuing in Grace. There is a sense of growth, specially connected with the simple vision we all agreed on very beginning of our home church : always to meet around Jesus , count on Him as a Teacher and feeling freedom in giving and receiving love. Maybe that sounds really simple, but for many of us feeling free to receive love was tough one!

So, we all agree that there is no turning back.

The second area is in my own life.

With all kind of changes I have had to face some tough realities in my own life. What do I really desire my life looks like. Or better to say what God desires for my life.. Am I talking about two same things ?

My great struggle over last couple of months was wrestling with the lack of security and the financial struggles of so little consistent means of support. Still, the question was the same :"Do you trust Me?"

Through God faithfulness he allowed me to fall down into my face, in painful crying from my soul and took me with His hand and helped me to get up. And not only to get up, but He gave me new boldness and courage to stand on the ground He put me on. And trust Him that He who called me into Him IS ENOUGH. He encouraged me to press on to dreams He placed in my heart long time ago. He breathed new life in me and renewed my strenght.

Nothing changed from outside...and yet..so much transformed from inside.

If one is ever going to accomplish spiritual victory against the tide then it is going to cost dearly. It is going to cost dying to ones wants and throw oneself fully upon the Grace of God to protect and provide. In short, we have to draw a line in the sand and perhaps with weaping make it clear that we are not turning back.

That is where I am right now. The line is in the sand. The wind is blowing hard to try and remove the line but there was blood on the stick when I scratched the sand and the line remains clear. No turning back!

Thank you all for your faithfulness to Him! Be greatly encouraged - "Christ redeemed us from the curse...having become a curse for us...that we might receive the PROMISE of the Spirit."

Galatians 3:13-14

Bless you all!

2008-03-05T18:55:00.003+01:00

Living Stones / February 01 2008

(Church Planting in Croatia)

Sometimes I go out onto the balcony of my little apartment. I live surrounded by hundreds of families and I am so aware of the presence of people and pain. I love to go at night and look into the sky and feel the stars. A sense of wonder often over takes my heart. God is so vast and so mysterious yet so close. I love the stillness, I crave the quietness that I feel there. The greatest challenge is to find balance between being with people and being with God. I try to go there in the day time but it is a loosing battle.

As I think about these things, the telephone rings. It is a young Gypsy girl. Her husband has been abusing her for years. Now he has threatened to cut all her skin from her body and deliver it to her father. She was afraid and needed to come for counselling. Sometimes I feel physically sick as I hang up the phone. Part of me wants to go back to the balcony the other part of me wants to create quick answers to tough questions but neither option is valid. Life for many is a bitter cup and my job is to help them see they do not drink alone but he who took the cup in Gethsemane is there with them. To comfort and to guide.

Once again I want to be quiet but the telephone rings again. A woman who has come to some of our meetings but who is in another Church needs to talk. Her daughter is living in immorality. For her it seems unbearable, her other daughter was killed in a car crash and her husband left her for another woman. She cannot make sense of it all. She feels guilty but does not know why. She is sure she must have done something wrong for God to allow this to happen to her. She needs the nearness of the One who was betrayed by His closest friends but forgave and built a Church upon their lives. Forgiveness for her is a process rather than a crisis.

Then comes the time for mentoring. I have two young wives who are now in our Fellowship. They are very intense. Very intense. They have agreed for me to mentor them but with no restrictions on what we will face and no control over how deep we will go in preparing them as leaders and wives. It is interesting as mentoring is more draining emotionally than counselling. There is a sense that a spiritual struggle exists to hold back those who want to go deeper with God.

The evening comes and my son needs me to be with him. Time drifts away. I keep saying the word balance in my mind. Jesus prayed all night and worked all day, balance, I say the word again hoping my tendency to extremism will be held back. I find myself looking at the balcony but know instinctively that I will not get there tonight. I am right as the telephone rings again.

2008-03-05T18:48:00.002+01:00

Living Stones December 05 2007

( Church Planting In Croatia )

Dearest ones who read and hopefully pray,

Sometimes discouragement is a pathway to a greater knowledge of God. It is as if something that disappoints us, is actually God's mercy in leading us into a deeper place of Grace that we would not see unless we experienced the pain. At other times discouragement comes from the evil one and it has no value other than to harm and to destroy our joy and cause us to doubt the goodness and power of God. There is a third condition. It is a state of mind when we can not identify the source of discouragement and do not know how to respond. Do I cry out to God for Grace as He carries me through the pain or do I cry out in authority against the evil one.

Guess what? The third state is where I am right now. The Church is growing. Women are coming to me for counseling all the time. I have started another outreach small group in a new region that has no evangelical Church. There is so much to rejoice in.

At the same time my financial support has gone down so low that now I do not know what to do concerning the future. I am not sure if I feel sorry myself or whether I need to bind the evil one in the name of the Lord or start singing, "Spirit of the living God, break me, mold me and fill me".

Surely, I reason with myself as I ask so many questions, is it all about money? There has to be trust and faith that God provides in answer to prayer. Then I pause and wonder should I look under the flower pot and see if money has suddenly materialized? Or could it be that if people were aware of my need that they would provide? You get the point.

I love to be in the work of God. I am at peace even when the going gets very hard. This is where I should be. I do not want to be anywhere else. The need is so great. But I cannot live on nothing. When will the Church in Croatia mature to the point that it supports its workers? Should we expect Americans and English people to support something that is so far away and so hard to identify with? I weep as I read through this as I cannot find the answers to the most fundamental questions. Where does the food come from this month? Where is the God of Elijah? Is He looking for the Elijah of God or are the ravens busy doing other things this month?

If you would, would you take a few moments to ask God if you should help keep the ministry here going. If not would you please pray that others would support me here. Also, pray for me that I can discern where the discouragement is coming from so that I can either open my hands to my heavenly father/husband and say whatever you are doing I submit or whether those same hands should be employed to strike out in faith against the evil discouragement that has come at this season of time.

Would you also send me an email with a verse of scripture that you sense the Lord would apply to my situation.

May you be blessed with an abundance of Joy.

Living Stones November 07 2007

2008-03-05T18:44:00.001+01:00

Living Stones November 07 2007
( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com/

Often when a baby is born there are tears. The mother, and I speak from experience, cry with a sense of relief. The father of the child often cries and finds it hard to explain why. Even doctors and nurses who have seen it over and over again are moved by the wonder of life coming into the world.

So it is in the realm of the Spirit.

Our main House fellowship here in Varazdin has brought to birth its first spiritual offspring as we have now started formally a second group in a town called Varaždinske Toplice about 20 kilometers away. The group is very small and yet so intimate. The truth is it is probably intimate because it is so small. On Sunday in the Varazdin Group we had 22 people which is not a mega Church but it is significant and so we have now got to start planting new smaller groups. Two of the principle women in the new Varaždinske Toplice fellowship have struggled over a life time with emotional and mental illness and it has been through the group they have either come to faith or been nourished and nurtured into the first real steps of maturity.

Last night one these dear ones was able to lead three of her pre teen and teen children to Christ in a very real and personal way. It seems birth produces life, life matures and then creates more life.

All of us here weep at such moments. It is interesting that in heaven the angels rejoice but we weep. Maybe they know the whole picture but we are touched by the reality that life is going to be a battle for those who are born in the Spirit. It will also be hard for any new little fellowship that is born in the Spirit. We do not weep with pain but wonder. Perhaps it is awe, perhaps it is just a longing for heaven when a new and permenat birth will take place in the resurection whereby we will weep no more and we like the angels will rejoice forever and forever and forever.

Morning has broken like the first morning.......

Living Stones October 26 2007

2008-03-05T18:42:00.001+01:00

Living Stones / October 26 2007

(Church planting in Croatia)

Church planting is a lonely job. These last two weeks have made me realise how lonely it is.

Firstly, there is the world.

We are 90% Catholic and to be Croat is to be Catholic. I remember even as a young child in an atheistic communist home that my Auntie took me to Church and made be bow down on the grown and kiss a crucifix. Even when I came to Christ I actually thought I was becoming a Catholic. So the culture is, by its essence, against all that I am trying to do in peoples lives. It is lonely being a tiny evangelical island in a very big Catholic ocean.

Then there is the flesh.

I frustrate myself far more than other people frustrate me. Do you ever lay in bed thinking back through the day seeing how you wish you had done things differently. Words, thoughts actions all raise up and conspire to show how weak we were throughout the day. Recently, I have realised how determined I am to be right in all situations. The temptation is for any perspective to only be my my perspective. I must be right........ it is my right. God has really broken me in showing me it is not my right to be right. It is my joy to be broken and allow the broken jar to release the perfume of sacrifice and love. But the lesson is hard to learn, the Spirit says yes the flesh says no.

Then there is the Devil.

The mind is the battle ground. The Spirit is the casualty. Relentless pressure from the evil one is a normal part of every day life here. He does not want to see a community of love living in Grace healing the nation. It is non stop with no rules for the war. Sometimes the fatigue is great the longing for heaven great but even in the longing the warfare continues.

But......what a glorious word "but" is. But...... there is a team whom I love and who love me. But......there are people who pray and send emails of encouragement. But......there are those who express their love and support in sending finances and there are people whose lives are being changed by the Word through the Spirit But most of all there is Jesus. Jesus, greater than the world, merciful to my flesh and triumphant over the Devil.

Let me start again. Church planting is not lonely........ it just feels that way at times.

Living Stones on Slippery slopes

2008-03-05T18:39:00.001+01:00

Living Stones / September 21 2007

( Church planting in Croatia )

On Slippery Slopes

In Church planting work one is always on call. Sometimes I feel like running away from the pressure, sometimes I do run away but even then it seems that people find me. In many senses it reminds of my own relationship with God.

When I became a Christian there was an initial sense of joy and actually relief in my heart. Sadly, it did not take long for me to become disillusioned and want to pull away from the Church. The preacher always seemed angry and it felt like he poured out his frustration on those of us who had to listen to him preach each week. As his finger stabbed the air it felt as if I was being nailed to the wall in constant remembrance of the fact that I was not meeting up to the standard. Within in a short while I had developed a view of God as demanding, harsh, distant and even cruel. My heavenly report card was always filled with minus credits. I started to run away. The more I ran the more God pursued me. He started to bring fresh teaching and real people into my life. My spirituality was put back on track and in His mercy He constantly drew me back to Himself.

Last weekend I ran away again. This time not from God but the weight and pressure of work. I went hiking in the mountains about 3 hours drive from here and climbed rocks and mountain trials to over 6000 feet. I walked at one point ten hours in one session. The peace was exquisite. The elegance and the splendour of the mountains was breath taking. Then came a crisis. A small trail through the snow was packed ice. One slip and I would fall 3000 feet into the abyss. It hit me, this is like the Christian life, slippery and tough yet filled with adventure and a scenic route through life that is stunning. Slowly, I could hear my heart beating, I tried to cross over the narrow trail of ice and snow with eternity just a few feet away. Then suddenly........one of the ski sticks snapped and it felt as if I would not make it. Then again suddenly my cell phone rang. Here I was on the top of the world ready to fall into the bottom of the earth and I stopped and answered the phone as if I were sitting in my front room. Hi this is Anita........ Finally, I gave up trying to cross the icy trail and made my way back down the long path.

It made me understand my heavenly Father. He is never too busy for me. He is always accessible. His heart beats for me. I am His treasure. There is nowhere I can go that He is not there. He is allowing me through the process of pioneer Church planting to enter in to a fellowship with him that is not the fellowship of suffering, that is a different story, but rather the fellowship of access. To allow myself to die to my boundaries, die to my privacy, die to my demands for quiet and just like him be available and say, Hi this is Anita......... This is real mountain climbing and sometimes it gets hard.

Living Stones September 17 2007

2008-03-05T18:35:00.001+01:00

Living Stones September 17 2007

( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com

Just a Thought

Here the hot summer has now broken and it seems that life has begun afresh. School has started and with it the streets are filled with young people, noise, traffic and almost a big city feel on the streets.

If you are caught at a pedestrian crossing point on the road, a long line of young people file past and it seems as the line will never end. One morning as I was sitting still waiting for the line to fulfill its seemingly never ending stream, I found myself looking at the faces of the boys and girls as they came from the train station. Most of these young people come from the many villages in our region, some of them have to get up at 4 am or 5am to be in school on time.

Some of these young ones look like carbon copies of images they have seen on MTV whilst others seem shy and intimidated. Lovely young ones drawn from rural Catholic families in the countryside. The fast-lane crowd seem rebellious and tough yet cover up a sense of lostness that is stunning, in the other group you could sense a mixture of sadness, innocence and fear of not being protected.

My reaction was interesting. I found myself fixed almost beyond words upon these young people. I wanted to stop the car and call out to them that the only hope for their lives was in the Lord Jesus, I found myself wanting to weep for their souls and my car became like a sacred place of prayer. Then the earthly prevailed as the man in the car behind me starting pounding on his horn. I could see in the mirror that the words on his lips were not quite as sacred as my own had been.

My family

Marko is now his last year of General Studies in high school, with emphasis on mathematics and physics. He would like to study technical science next year, so please pray for him as this whole year and the entering exam for University is very difficult.

Luka is moving out from our home soon. He managed to enter into University and he will study Sociology and Philosophy from October in Zagreb the capital. Thank you so much for your prayers!!! He will live in a small one room apartment and will share it with one other student. That means that the cost of living will go up significantly in the next 5 years. Please pray for Luka and for God's provision for our lives.

Ministry

The small home church is growing. Everybody senses that Spirit of God is moving and that something great is happening. I realize my own weakness every day which brings me to the best position possible - depending on God and clinging to Him all the time.

Yesterday we launched our first official Church prayer meeting where we prayed for nearly two hours over our city and the lives that God has given to us to love and nurture. We are also adding an Agape feast every six weeks into the life of the Church.

Also, one of the ladies started ones a month ladies tea which is new for our culture, but it is great opportunity for us - women to minister other women.

My coworkers are encouraging me to start an evangelistic radio program for women, this is a big decision and so please pray for guidance.

Some of you have prayed for the ladies Discipleship group that I have been leading in Zagreb. Two of the ladies have gone on to start their own groups which is wonderful and also another woman has started a ministry in her Church. Other women are wanting to join and so we are starting a second generation ministry from this original group. We hope to start a similar movement here in Varaždin soon with two new groups in this region.

Peace be with all of you!

Living Stones September 07 2007

2008-03-05T18:33:00.001+01:00

Living Stones September 07 2007

( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com

Dealing with unbelievers in seeking to bring them to the Cross is a complex business. The tendency is to think that people are constructed in a certain way with each person being different according to their temperament. Therefore, the reasoning goes, we need to apply the Gospel to them in specific ways according to the felt needs of their temperament.

The reality is people are not so simplistic. People have layers to their personality. What we see may not be a reflection of who the inward person really is. People also are changeable....oh so changeable. Right now I have energy and life is actually full of expectation. I love my coworkers, I trust the people leading our team and even my two sons seem warm and responsive.

Last week........ Oh Last week. I had no energy, life was so heavy and burdonsome, my coworkers annoyed me, I found out that I have lost a significant part of my financial support, I found it hard to trust anyone....... and my sons.... well lets leave that for the counselling room.

That same changeability is also evident in "every" unbeliever we are trying to reach. Often it is more complex because there is no backdrop of Grace to hold them accountable and to heal them. So as we try to bring the Gospel of Grace to a Croatian society addicted to religious law it is to a people who are constantly in a state of change. What I am discovering is that the key is sensitivity.....not sensitivity to the people because their lives are often a lie. Rather a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to reveal what kind of word, action or attitude is needed to touch the real person in their state of constant change.

"You also , as living stones are being build up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" 1.Pet 2:5

LIVING STONES August 29 2007

2008-03-05T18:32:00.001+01:00

Living Stones August 29 2007
( Church Planting In Croatia )

When I travel to Zagreb to teach at the Women's Discipleship class I am there for a few hours, I am on my best behaviour, then I leave. Here in my own town it is a different story. I was born in this community, grew up here, was the daughter of a high profile community leader, had many spectacular failures here and now as a Church planter I am here with a message of hope......... but I am always on display.

Let me explain more. I was at the police station the other day going through what we do well at here in Croatia ..........drowning in Catch 22 bureaucrasy. A low level official was so rude and unkind to me that I was stunned. My flesh wanted to respond with same level of sarcasm and hardness. I could not or rather I did not. I am being watched as a Christian. Our little Church is being watched. God is watching me desiring to see His Son in my life. The powers of darkness are watching ready to give some condemnation to God about me. Without being paranoid..... everyone is watching me.
Inwardly, I was so stressed and frustrated that I walked out of the office and into the next office where another higher level person was working. My reaction. I burst into tears and continued to cry.

I was angry at myself for being weak. I was angry at the person who had made me cry. I want to be strong and show the power of God in my life.
Then the high level official started to break down and poured out her life to me and shared about all her trials and problems. If anyone had walked in at that point they would have called an ambulance. Two grown women blubbering with tears and estrogen flowing everywhere. Astonishingly, this woman and I connected at a new level.
I thought of Jesus weeping for Lazarus. Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. In some strange way tears bring people closer together. We talk of unity and love yet fight so hard to keep the tears away when it is those very tears that bring us together. I am exhausted just writing this.

It is easier to go to a meeting in another city and teach women. It is more effective to cry among people you are known by and have known for a long time.

Lord help me to weep.

Living Stones 31 July 2007

2008-03-05T18:23:00.003+01:00

Living Stones July 31 2007

( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com/

When I was in business one of the things we would talk about was Job Descriptions. In the communist days people had very set tasks and the work ethic was such that people would only work a few hours each day of actual work. When communism came to an end it seemed as if people were expecting to carry on with low productivity but they wanted American wages. Then the other extreme set in where now people have to be willing to do anything and are paid very low wages.

All of this has made me think about the job description of a Church Planter. There are the obvious tasks that I do, teaching the Bible to women's groups, preparing Bible teaching material, translating study notes into Croatian, visiting homes to encourage sick believers as well as counselling both believers and non believers in Biblical counselling.

But in a small team there is so much more. Putting the chairs out, baking cakes for the after meeting fellowships, picking people up and dropping them off in the car, cleaning up the mess after the meetings, typing out the songs for the day, printing off the song sheets for the day...... finding someone else to print when the printer goes down. Then there are the planning meetings, the prayer times, crisis phone calls over the mentally ill people in our group. Then there are the endless hours sitting in police stations sorting out visa issues for my missionary co-workers and then the dealing with the Ministry of Religious affairs about what we are and what category of religion we fit in. Then there is the issue of finding money for a person in need, then getting that money to them without humiliating them ( our culture is quite complex).............and then and then....you get the point.

And then there are days when one of my boys will ask me the question, "Mama what is that you really do?" When the neighbours hear a high pitched scream coming from my apartment they have no idea that I am celebrating the diversity of my job description. One thing Church planting is not...... boring.

"You also as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 1.Pet 2:5

Living Stones July 25 2007

2008-03-05T18:23:00.001+01:00

Living Stones / July 25 2007

Sometimes we can go for weeks here without sensing or feeling the pressure of being a very very small minority in a majority conservative Catholic culture. Then something happens that makes me realise how small we are and how big the forces are that are against us.

Recently the Pope authorised the release of a document that defines the official Catholic position on non Catholic Churches. It caused a lot of controversy around the world and the Catholic spin doctors in America and England were able to defuse much of the heat.

Not here though.

Our media has been triumphantly announcing that things are now very clear that Evangelical churches are not to be considered a part of the true Church. Evangelicals are a cult. Only the catholic Church is the true Church.

It has given people a very strong sense of their Catholic identity and also the second class nature of anything that is not Catholic.

The Pope also gave credence to the return to the pre Vatican 2 practice of the Latin Mass. Astonishingly, here in our town a Latin Mass was celebrated immediately. It was here in this town that the counter Reformation came through and burnt all the books in the library and destroyed all that the Reformation had built.

I have been thinking. How do we respond here in our Oasis House Church? How do I respond personally?

I have had to confess that my anger towards these religious leaders was not of God it was in the flesh.....it actually bordered on hatred. I have to pray for these people with compassion in my heart that they will see the truth.

I have had to accept that the law always tries to murder Grace but Grace cannot be destroyed. I must hold on to Grace and keep as far away from law as I can get.

When Jesus looked over Jerusalem and saw the religious system that was holding the people in bondage......He wept. I have wept to. In weeping there is healing. In weeping there is power. In weeping there is union with the weeping saviour.

Living Stones July 14 2007

2008-03-05T18:19:00.001+01:00

July 14 2007 / Living Stones
( Church Planting in Croatia)
http://valjak.blogspot.com/

One of the ministries of our Church, The Oasis Christian Fellowship is a ministry to the poor, the oppressed and the vulnerable. One of our goals is to bless Widows. This week I found myself ministering to two totally different kinds of widows.

One dear soul has been bitter, sad and lonely for much of her life. She was given away as a little girl to be a servant to a rich family. Her payment was food and somewhere to live and the opportunity to go to primary school for a few years. Her whole life was that of serving others, then at age 35 years she was married. Sadly, they had no children and after just ten years her husband was dead. Now at the end of her life there is little joy in her life. I visited her and took some herbs for her chest condition. Within minutes she was in my arms weeping like a child. I prayed with her and for her that she would know in the last days of her life the start of an eternal relationship with the living God.

The second dear soul is so different. She had grown up with moderate wealth with a father who loved her and treated her as a princess. She married a wonderful man who cared for her and cherished her. Then tragedy struck and he died. Her walk into loneliness and despair was great and then in her sixties the Lord found her and saved her. In recent years though sickness and so much unkindness from her family have made her life miserable. Now she is in bed most of the time and not long for this world. I have been going to her home every day to read the Bible and pray with her. Every few weeks a team from the Church goes to her to hold communion.

It is so easy to pass the elderly by. So easy to think of them as a low priority in planting a Church. So easy to spend time with people who are easier to be with and less depressing. But when we go to the unlovely, the oppressed and the poor our heavenly Father is both blessed and pleased and the powers of darkness become silent in the face of something as sacred as this.

Living stones , July 7 2007

2008-03-05T18:18:00.001+01:00

Living Stones /July 7 2007

( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com/

I was at a conference in the south of the country this week by the sea. It is a city that is very active this time of the year. Lots of tourists from other countries who have so much money to spend and then our own people who spend such large amounts of their income trying to look rich like the foreigners. It is humorous to be at a Gas Station and see a smart young person get out of their car, nice clothes, designer sun glasses and then go and put one gallon of petrol in their BMW that they are buying with a 15 year loan.

Being away I felt so strongly the presence of loneliness. Loneliness is a horrible experience. Often I would look out to sea and think of God as a companion and friend and yet I am so aware that God has created us as people who need people, as well as a people who need God. Life really is a balance between accepting our own humanity whilst at the same time throwing ourselves upon the Lord.

I visited a small house Church and heard the stories of those who have come to the Lord through the trials of life. Broken and beaten down people who are being built as Lively Stones into the new temple of God. Some of these stones were very lively. It is incredible how messy life is and how our mess touches other peoples lives in a negative way. The good news is that God specializes in cleaning up our mess.

Being with this group reminded me of our own Fellowship in Varazdin. Broken lives being healed by the Lord Jesus through the Word of Truth and Grace by the Spirit. I mean this when I write this, there is something absolutely wonderful when that which is broken by sin is made whole by the Cross.

In one sense there is still loneliness but in another sense there is such a wonderful sense of belonging in being with the people of God. We press on striving for the balance.

Lord help us to accept ourselves with all our humanity whilst reaching out and being conformed to your divinity.

"You also, as Living Stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" 1.PET 2:5

LIVING STONES JUNE 22 2007

2008-03-05T18:17:00.001+01:00

Living Stones / June 22 2007

( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com/

Pride is so interesting as there are two sides to it. A short while ago someone referred to me in a way in public that made me feel very unimportant and actually what they said was not true. But what God was concerned about was not so much whether the person was stating things correctly but rather my reaction. My pride wanted to jump and make a correction. My heart was saying don't they realize who I am ........ etc etc In that sense Pride is dreadful as it places so much emphasis upon our humanity and our flesh.

In another sense pride has a positive aspect to it. My boys have done very well in school and Luka has done so well against all odds in qualifying for university with grades that are stunning. So as his mother I am proud of him. The difference is that with this kind of pride I am not focused upon myself, despite the fact that actually I have had to bully, beg and blackmail him along life's way. Incidentally, my surname Vlajak means rolling pin, I can see the cartoon in my head as I write............

Then there is another aspect of pride also positive. In our Church-plant we have one sister who has had a terrible time with disc trouble in her back. She went for surgery and has spent months trying to get better. The pain has become worse but the hospital said there was no more money in her case file to get further tests. Incredibly, through a Christian doctor we were able to get an MRI without cost. The problem is she has no money for rehabilitation. Our small Church raised nearly $350 to give her as a gift for rehab.

You hear stories like this in America, but not here. There simply is no culture of giving within our churches. As I reached out and gave her a card and envelope last Sunday on behalf of our small fellowship my heart swelled with pride. We did this on our own. We have turned love into action. The Angels watched, nodded and then smiled. This is something to be proud of.

Living Stones June 15 2007

2008-03-05T18:16:00.001+01:00

Living Stones/ June 15 2007

( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com/

There was a knock on the door. I should have guessed by the tired almost feeble sound that it was my dear old lady neighbour who lives in the same apartment block as I do. Her request in a scratchy voice was actually more of a command. I must take her to the graveyard as news had come to her that the candles on her husbands grave had fallen over and the grave looked in bad shape. Obeying the command, ( I admit I am not very good at being pushed around like this) we moved towards the graveyard, I say it that way as it took ten minutes to get her down stairs into my car and then at least twice that much to get her to the graveside from the car park.

It was true the candles were knocked over and the grave had seen better periods of maintenance. Then what was so moving was the picture embedded into the tomb stone of the woman and her husband many many years earlier. She was snuggled up under his arm and he was proud of his loving wife.

My dear old friend stood still and remembered; A time when there was no aching body. A time when life was filled with the presence of the husband she loved. Now she was in the last days of her life and he was gone. Life has cheated them both. All she could do was hope for the best that God would wink and look the other way when a life of sin was revealed and hope that at least keeping the grave clean would impress others concerning how committed she was to her religion.

I would have cried if I had been alone, but I weep as I read what is written. Here I am, a single mother Church planting missionary, standing in a graveyard with an old woman who walks at about 1 km an hour. She barks orders like an old dragon who then just for a moment turns into a young bride. She is filled with joy at the expectancy of married life only for it to be dragged back to the present with the knowledge that pain in body and soul is her true lot in life.

You know. That is why I gave up the security of a well paying part time job and leaped into the dark. My country is filled with people with no hope other than a religion of works and wishes.

Oh that God would bring beauty and joy into this land by the eternal truth of the Gospel of Jesus.

1Peter 2:5 You, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Living Stones June 8 2007

2008-03-05T18:14:00.001+01:00

June 8 2007 Living Stones

( Church Planting In Croatia )

http://valjak.blogspot.com/

One of the real joys of Church planting work is the diversity of experiences that one has with people. There is an elderly lady in my apartment block who is coming, quite rapidly to the end of her life. I took some food to her and sat down next to her. Her face with all its character lines said more about the life she had lead than any stories she had to tell. She had been a religious woman and probably would get a good merit medal if the church handed them out. What was striking though was the sense of total loneliness. A cold, sad and empty loneliness. Sometimes I feel lonely as a single mother. In fact the loneliness can really become a side track that has to be cast on the Lord, or I can become too self focused. But this dear soul was experiencing a level of loneliness that can not easily be understood. I tried to reach out but her pride was so deep that the barriers to be loved were very high. In the end I held her hand and together we recited the Lords prayer. When I think of her I realize that there are no easy answers to so many of the deep issues that we face in peoples lives.

Then this week one of our Church was in hospital with Pneumonia. She is in her twenties and has been a heroin addict since she was thirteen years old. Unlike the old lady she was like an open book.....sometimes like an open wound....... but so desirous to be loved and guided into deeper spiritual reality. Sitting by her bed and praying with her created within me the sense of mystery of it all. Here was a big sinner with a wide open heart soaking up whatever I could give her. in comparison my dear elderly friend was a good person by the standards of religion and yet she was so closed.

Then I come home to another reality. The refrigerator that was full just hours ago is now all but empty. How can two young men consume such large amounts of food and still manage to walk down the street. When I try to talk to them about budgets the look on their faces tells me that I am better off communicating to Pharisees and sinners. I look out of the window and smile.

Living stones May 24 2007

2008-03-05T18:13:00.001+01:00

May 24 2007 Living Stones

( Church Planting In Croatia )

Sometimes I need to get away from everything just to be alone and think and pray. The other day I went out on my bike deep into the countryside going through village after village. Before I realised it I had gone nearly two hours. In the villages there are small peasant homes with an outside well. Little old ladies, many dressed in peasant black clothing tend the gardens. I thought I would go and ask if I could go and take some water to drink from the well. Then suddenly I saw something that caused me to laugh and then afterwards to cry. There in the garden by the well was a small garden statue of a dwarf and standing right next to it was a statue of the Virgin Mary.

I wept as I thought of the confusion of my people here in Roman Catholic Croatia. So much relgion yet in real terms most of my people do not know the difference between Mary and their garden dwarf.

As I rode off I started to thank God for our small Church. A place where people are coming to find a place of rest and peace. One of the original women who has suffered a life time of mental illness rightly called our fellowship an Oasis.

Another example was a woman who came to me for counselling this week. It was her first time and most of the time she was crying desperately. She had been a Christian for many years, yet had such a terrible confusion regarding her worth and identity to Christ. So much pain and condemnation inside of her. Raised by a strict Roman Catholic grandmother she learned that it is almost impossible to please God who is demanding and is punishing. After receiving Christ and the forgiveness of sin, she tried so hard to live the Christian life, but after many years of trying she simply gave up. She could not please Him. And He could not love her after all what she has done wrong. Oh that God would bring people like her into the Oasis of His love.

Just as I was thirsty on the long road in the country so my people are coming to our group thirsty spiritually and coming in from the hot dusty spiritual desert and finding the Waters of Life.

Greetings From Croatia

2007-04-20T13:07:00.003+02:00

Blessings and greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ
Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father,
Our Prince of Peace.

My Story

2007-04-20T13:06:00.001+02:00

Varaždin, Croatia As I grew up under Communism I was what some would have called a privileged child, as my father was an economist who held a high position in our city. My brother and I were compelled to provide an example of perfection for others.

At home and school we were taught that God does not exist. So I became my own god by depending on my own abilities, strengths and efforts. I came to believe that I was irreplaceable and that everything that I did was good. Yet, deep inside me was a sad, lonely child that sat in darkness. As I grew older and would sin it was as if this child would tell me that I had done wrong. Sin always left a bad taste in my mouth.

After earning a teaching degree I got married believing that this would bring fulfillment to my life. After only a few years of marriage and becoming a mother of two boys, my world began to fall apart. I was so disappointed in my husband and our relationship. Actually, we had no heart relationship as both of us did not have any idea what that was. My expectations, dreams and hopes crashed.

After the divorce I thought YES, freedom at last! How wrong I was as this so called freedom lasted only a few years. After a war for independence from Yugoslavia, we (Croatia) became a free and independent country. I started my own business and everything seemed to be going well. Suddenly my life completely fell apart. My business collapsed and after that, I could not find a job to support my boys. All doors in my life for new opportunities were closed. My father was fired from his job and could not help financially. I received word that my brother was addicted to drugs, which was the truth unfortunately. I became so depressed that I really thought I would die.

I was just wandering through my apartment in my pyjamas all day long, crying all the time. There was no hope in my heart any more. From a prideful, self-centered person, I found myself helpless and completely broken. The truth was, I wanted to die. So, one day when my boys went to school, I was lying down with my face to the floor, completely helpless and crying out to the “unknown “ (to me) God. I said, “O God if you exist and are real, please help me! I am so lonely and scared; I have no one to turn to anymore. Please do not let my children become orphans. Please do not let me go to mental hospital.” And a miracle happened! He, the “unknown” God, gave me peace that very day.

Although I did not have any religious knowledge, God put hope in my heart. Very soon after that, He helped me find a very good job and opened the door for finding help for my brother. Through this it was probably a kind of a religious awakening, which came to me. I felt like I must go to church.

At first I went to the Catholic Church, as it was the only church I knew that existed, because my country of Croatia is 90% Roman Catholic. Since I had never been to church I did not even know which door to enter, and how should I call a priest. For a year I really tried to become a good Catholic and almost succeeded. Through attending the church services, I met a priest who gave me a devotional called “Our Daily Bread” and encouraged me to read it daily. Meanwhile in me was rising up more and more different kinds of questions and curiosities and hunger to know God.

One day my boys came home from school and told me that they were invited to the birthday party of one family who were Christians but were not Catholic. I became very curious how could that be, and I sent a message through my children to invite the mom of their young friend from school to come for a cup of tea. I wanted to ask her so many questions. That is how I came in contact with a Christian family who attended a Baptist Church.

On one occasion, the husband of this lady opened the Bible, read few verses and asked if someone among us wanted to receive Jesus as their Savior. It was eight children and three adults in the room. I did not fully understand what this really meant. Yet, I just knew this is what I wanted and what I should do. When I lifted my hand to say yes I was in fact saying, “YES” to Jesus.

Soon afterward in 1998, God brought into my life Rob Clogg, a missionary with Grace Ministries International. He was teaching the Grace Life Conference in a nearby church. I attended the conference and through this man, I finally received real answers to so many questions I had.

After that, in March 1999, I received an invitation from the same missionary to attend the Workshop. During this time the Lord showed me that it was “I” who was still on the throne of my life. He gave me the desire to replace the self-life with Jesus as my Life. I wanted Galatians 2:20 to be real in my experience. I also came to understand that I was completely accepted by God. Also, that I now have a new past and future and that my old past of atheism, divorce and etc. is forever gone. This was so helpful to me because since I became a Christian I had been tortured by the feelings of guilt and shame and my past was always condemning me.

After all of that, I was still not prepared for the rejection by the people in the church of these truths and of me personally. This has been one of the most painful experiences in my life. Then, Rob, the missionary, invited me to attend the first Croatian Internship. It was a modular training where we met on Friday through Sunday once a month for many months. The intensity of the training was exhausting. However, it was worth any sacrifice to hear these truths, which have changed my life. In summer 2003, I spent two months in Grace Ministry International, Atlanta, GA to receive required training and to be fully equipped for the ministry. That was God’s direct provision to me.

Being apart from my boys for so long, however, was a major sacrifice, both for them and for me. In May of 2000, I received a call from God into ministry. How excited I was at that time. It was an experience of both joy and fear. I had many questions such as, will He send me to China, or, must I leave my family and other similar questions. I shared this call with a few friends who were believers. They did not believe that God would ever call a single divorced mom into ministry, and that even if He did I would have to wait till my sons were adults to obey that call. I became discouraged.

In my heart of hearts I knew that God was calling me. Yet, from the human perspective I wasn’t sure anymore. God is faithful! He confirmed and reaffirmed my call in many ways. Then He opened the door for me to serve on staff with Hope for Life- Croatia. This is a daughter ministry of GMI. The office and training center is just a few minutes walk from our apartment. Isn’t God awesome?

Oh yes, since I received Christ as Savior my mom and my sons, Luka and Marko, have also done the same. God opens doors of opportunity to share truth with many hurting people. Some visit at my home and many I meet at HFL office where I am counseling. This call into full time service still shocks me to the core of my being. Sometimes I ask myself the question, “Are you crazy?” To the human logic it seems so, to quit a job that provides for our family and raise the monthly support needed in order to be in full time ministry. I think Abraham may have asked himself this same question, “Am I crazy?” Scripture showed that he was not crazy and neither are we when we choose to follow God wherever He leads! I look forward with eager anticipation to the next phase of Him, leading me into newness of life with Him in His ministry.

February 2007

2007-02-20T12:19:00.000+01:00

November 2006

2006-11-11T12:17:00.000+01:00

May 2006

2006-04-05T12:16:00.000+02:00

April Newsletter 2006 Double click on letter

2006-04-04T18:05:00.000+02:00

March Newsletter 2006 Double click on newsletter

2006-03-01T20:41:00.000+01:00

February Newsletter 2006

2006-02-01T00:42:00.000+01:00

December Newletter 2005

2005-12-24T12:46:00.000+01:00

October Newsletter 2005

2005-10-01T11:44:00.000+02:00

June Newsletter 2005

2005-06-01T11:12:00.000+02:00