LITHUANIA
August 11, 2015
It is Tuesday morning 10:25 a.m. and our flight from Frankfurt to Vilnius is about to leave in 5 minutes. Boarding time is over and we are still waiting for Brother Vin and Timmy, who have arrived from Port of Spain this morning. We tell the people at the counter to hold the plane, because we believe that they will make it to the gate just now. Of course, they don’t believe us and are ready to pull our luggage from the plane and suggest that we should take the evening flight. But by experience we know that God is never too late! Brother Vin and Timmy make it just 2 minutes before the door is shut, and they get us all quick into the plane. So here we are now on our 2 hour flight from Frankfurt to Vilnius in the service of the Lord, and we are in great expectations for whatever God has in store for His Bride at this time.
By now, Brother Vin and Timmy are on the go for about 24 hours, while Burkhard and myself stayed already 2 nights in Germany and adjusted to the 10 hour time difference to Canada. Brother Vin and Timmy have a 7 hour time difference, and these things are not easy on our human bodies.
Brother Pavel Stepanenko, the hosting pastor for these 2 weeks of services and fellowship, together with a large group of believers from his church in Vilnius, is greeting us at the airport with their traditional welcome ‘Bread and Salt’. What a pleasant surprise!
From here we are driving to our assigned dwellings to get some rest and to get ready for the evening service at 6:30 p.m. Brother Vin and Timmy have their abode at Brother Andrew’s place, Brother Pavel’s son-in-law, while we are staying at Brother Valerie Rodevich, the song leader’s house. We have just enough time to drop our luggage and to have a little snack, and we are on the road again to church to participate in the song practice. The visit of Brother Vin is truly a very special and exciting event for the believers here in Vilnius.
Although we are all very tired, as soon as the song service starts, all the tiredness is gone and we are enjoying the rich atmosphere and each one of us has the opportunity to share a little testimony.
Brother Burkhard: God has called us, raised us and positioned us into His Kingdom for a time like this!
And Sister Doris encourages the believers to put on the royal apparel, but only what the ‘Chamberlain of the King’ appointed for them.’
Brother Timmy speaks about the widow with the little oil that she had, and how this inspires him for his own life and that this “little story” could be an encouragement for the believers.
Brother Vin testifies of how he met Brother Pavel’s father, Brother Nikolai Stepanenko in 1987, and how everything started in seed form at that time and has now become such a beautiful fruitful tree.
The most amazing thing to me personally is to hear, how God caused Brother Vin to be reminded on his own father, when he met Brother Nicolai Stepanenko the first time. Something just caused him to pay extra attention to that man, and from there everything started.
God has ordered our steps, everything in our lives is so meticulously planned.
When we look at each other, it might seem difficult, but when we look at God’s working, it’s different.
If you are an elect of God, then God ordained you to receive His Word, to see His promises in the Bible. God already planned your life, and we are all at a certain stage in our earthly journey. He planned our lives with the purpose and intention of revealing Himself in and through us. Nothing in your life is ever by chance; everything has a purpose. Even every hair on your head is numbered; not just counted. God is very specific; there is a time to be born, and a time to die. Things are not always written; it’s the unwritten things; that’s the mystery between you and God and the missing piece is inside of you.
You as a church have come to a season, where you need to understand, that it’s not just some blessings, but the workings of God among you. There are things happening among you; they are in infancy and you have to have that discernment. The church is moving into another place. I see a church on fire. I came like Moses; I turned aside to see that great sight; I fly and come and see!