- A family activity is picking wild blueberries and blackberries. I knew this, but the week emphasized how common it is to wander into the forest and spend hours picking and eating berries.
- It's quite common for children to swim naked.
- Trinactka was birthed in 2005 as a church plant off of another church in Prague. It started with 56 people. Today the number is over 200 - approximately 130 adults and 80 (or more!) children.
- We are full of compassionate people for each other. Throughout the week and since have been sharing and times of focused prayer (and fasting) for a woman in our congregation who has cancer and her family.
- A focus from leadership right now is how to welcome and engage new people (which to me indicates the desire to reach out and love others) and how everyone can use their gifts/contribute to the body.
- A few testimonies about how people came to know Christ. Unfortunately, they were all in Czech, so I only picked up a few pieces. :( But it's so fascinating to see such a large percentage who come from unbelieving families and to hear stories about how God drew them.
- Everyone is very patient with my Czech. Especially during meals, I sat with various families, not always knowing how we'd be able to communicate. Sometimes it was in English, but often it was in Czech and we always managed at least some conversation. :)
- God's grace is sufficient and his mercies are new every morning. Though there were many moments of high anxiety (who can I join for lunch? what should I do this afternoon and with whom? what else can I ask this family with my limited vocabulary? how do I get to them better when all I can do in Czech is small talk?), God provided courage and encouragement when I needed it and really, people at 13ka (my church) are great.
- Our spiritual program for the week focused on prayer (worship prayer, intercession, perseverance, spiritual warfare, listening to God) , and I think many came away encouraged and even wanting to continue this study and application.
And a few quotes from the week that struck me (from The Prayer Course) and I continue to process...
In commanding us to glorify him, God invites us to enjoy him. (yes, please!)
God speaks more often into our identity than our destiny. (how often do I look for direction, when God wants to affirm who I am so that I live can confidently, know his heart which will guide me, and experience grace when I turn the wrong way)
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| Be still and know that I am God |
Discern Satan's strategies or strongholds in your city and intentionally live the opposite (for example replace greed with generosity - what does this look like for me, now, in this context?)
You will never learn faithfulness unless you live through unanswered prayer. (how difficult, but reassuring)
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| Surrounded by trails, evergreens, birds singing, but otherwise stillness - I breathe, and my soul is at rest. |
