Hi Everyone! I hope this post finds you very well!
Let’s share the news of November. I can say that was the month of practical classes.
- Inner healing class
We continued with our classes. We learned about inner healing of broken hearts and even had precious opportunities to follow our colleagues’ inner healing sessions. Although only one person at a time undergoes inner healing, all of us have been ministered to and touched by God.
Our inner healing class is ending ☹. We still have one more classin December.
- Bible discussion
We’ve seen God’s move in the life of our mentor Mark Sulc. One day after the surgery he went home and recovered very well! He started with radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatment. He has ministered us a lot through his example of faith and trust in the Lord. Man, I want to be a woman full of faith like he is when I grow up!
The Bible study group continues. Some group members took it upon themselves to lead the discussion and prepare meals for the group. I keep asking for prayer for the life of Mark and his family, and for our Bible study group.
- Book reading
We read all the book entitled “Ministering Cross-Cul
turally – A model for effective personal relationships”. We learned how to consider the perspectives of each culture, especially putting ourselves in the place of learners. We must follow the example of Jesus, who let himself be an apprentice. He became a man and learned all about Jewish culture by living among them. We had great discussions about the book. In particular, the main lesson is: Try to understand what is important to each person. That way we will have more empathy and the ministry is more efficient.
- Masterlife class
We started the Book 2 – The Disciple’s Personality. We learned to follow the example of Jesus who lived by the will of God; giving the control of our lives to the Holy Spirit of God, who will guide us to the renewing of our minds and make us like Christ; and master your emotions. This last class was my favorite so far because I had a practice class taught by the Lord!
I will tell you what happened. I was helping a friend to move. She went to Brazil and had to sell or donate almost everything. He gave me some cool containers and I was happy! The other day, she asked the containers back, I got mad. I asked God to show me why is the reason for that anger. It didn’t make sense for me to be mad because of “simple containers”. The Lord made me see that the anger I was feeling wasn’t because of the containers, but because my friend was giving more value to the containers than to me. At this point I realized that I valued my friend’s appreciation. I felt the Lord saying I was helping her not for recognition, but because He wanted me to be there helping her and showing His love for her. At the same time, I asked God’s forgiveness for prioritizing my wrong values and declaring that my value is not in what people feel or does for me, but in God who values me for who I was. The anger passed and I was able to take the containers back to my friend! 😊
This was a simple lesson, but it taught me a lot. In the same week we had the Master your emoticons class, and I could learn that we have values. If someone hurts or agrees with our values, an emotion is generated (a brain reaction), which in turn generates feelings. Feelings can be bad in case your emotions are hurt, or they can be good because you’ve found someone who understands you. The point is that everyone has different values, and the change is in bringing Christ’s values into our lives.
Here’s a suggestion. When you feel angry (feeling), ask yourself why? Which value was injured? When you detect the wounded value, ask yourself: Is this value in accord with God’s truth? This is a very good exercise to align our values and I hope it helps you!
- Events
We spent our first Thanksgiving in American Style! And it wasn’t just 1 dinner, it was two! 😊 We got together on Wednesday at the Krajnak house (pictured below)…
And on Thursday at the Albrights’ house (photo below)…
We get fed up with food 😊
The food was delicious, and we had a lot of fun.
An experience I had during the holiday…
The hosts shared the Thanksgiving story. And as I told the story to someone, I started to remember every blessing this year! I felt the hand of the Lord in every detail, taking care of us and guiding us. At the same time my heart was filled with gratitude and joy, I felt so ashamed. I spent most of the year focused on what I needed and wanted, and I forgot to look at what God has already blessed me with. In many cases, I was blessed beyond what I expected.
I understood that Thanksgiving is the day to celebrate that the Lord has helped us so far (1 Samuel 7:12). But it is also the day to repent of our ungrateful hearts and cry out for a grateful heart, that sees the blessings of the Lord. Anyway, my heart was filled with joy and gratitude because I have a God, the Father in heaven, who guides us with his strong hand. And I think we should exercise this retrospective every day!
- Punctual teachings
I’m taking every opportunity I can to grow in the Lord. I attended the first day of the IFI National Gathering and learned that we can understand our calling by identifying areas where we have deep mercy. Areas that leave us with a deep desire to do something about it.
Another event I had the opportunity to attend was the Art of Evangelism Training. We spent 5 hours learning about it. I realized that my biggest weakness is in communication skills. I need to learn about this! If you, dear viewer 😊, have any material or suggestions to give me, I would really appreciate it!
This evangelism course created a question in my heart. What is the motivation for us Christians to invest our time and effort in evangelizing? I know Jesus gave us that command and everything, but I think God is trying to align my heart with His heart. Why is it important to the Lord that we make disciples? What is in the Lord’s heart? I believe that when I know these answers, my eyes will see how the Lord sees it, and it will be much easier for me to reach out to people.
I am finishing, I promise!
I am so excited what God is doing that I want to write every detail! 😊
In addition to the intense learning, I had opportunities to share what I learned with friends and help them. God is good!
I hope to see you next month! May God bless you!