Berlin Prayer

I have been reminded recently that prayer is an essential part of the Christian walk. Not that praying makes you holier than anyone else, but how else can we connect so deeply to the heart of God. Not only that, but the God of the universe, the one who holds this very planet in motion, bids us to come boldy before his throne of grace and bring everything to him.

Matthew 21:22 says "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith." Faith is another key component to our walk, we have to believe that God not only hears our prayers, but that he is on the side of His people and is doing work, He is working for our good and longs to answer our prayers.

I leave in just 25 days for my trip to Berlin, I want it to be true of me that I did my part and left God's part to him, and I believe that one of the best ways I can prepare is prayer. Here are what some of my prayers for the summer are. I would ask you to join me.

Open Hearts: That the students of Berlin would have open hearts to hear the gospel. That we the members of BERLIN '10 would have hearts open and willing to let the Spirit move, that we would follow His prompting be open to His leading.

Conversations: That Jeremiah 20:9 would be true of our lives, that we would have to speak. Pray that students are open to conversations, and that we would follow the Spirit's promptings in our conversations and that we would know nothing, but Christ crucified.

Boldness: That we would have the boldness of the early church. That we would be walking in the Spirit and proclaiming our LORD.

Spiritual Growth: That we would grow in our faith as we do things that we've never done before for the name of Christ. That we would take leaps of faith!

Safety: That we would remain safe during our travel and also as we live in the city, that we would be protected and that we would make smart decisions.

Health: that God our great physician would sustain our health while we are away and that no accidents would occur.

Brokenness: That God would break us for the Lost people of Berlin, but also for our friends and family members back home.

Team Cohesion: We are going to be living together as a team in Amstel Haus in Berlin (if you're interested Bilder means pictures). Pray that we would be one that the words of Ephesians 4:4-6 would be true of our lives. "There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call--one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Maggie: Maggie lived with our family for six months, and though we haven't heard from her in over a year, we know that she goes to school in Berlin. Pray that God would do far more than we can imagine in reuniting us and in her life and mine.

Support: I have raised all of my financial support! Praise God! Pray for the rest of my team, pray for their support to come in and that their families would offer support as well. (You're a big part of support through prayer as well, I really mean that!)

Gospel: Pray that the Gospel would go out, that the message of love and light and hope that can be offensive, pray that God would use us to spread his gospel.

Excitement: That we would be excited to use our summers for God's glory. Excited about what God is going to do in us, through us, around us, and in spite of us!

until next time...

Kimberly Nickel

how my adventure began

You are invited to be a part of the Ocean City Project 2009...

Those words were long awaited! Seriously, when I finished my application to project in December, over two months ago, I guess I never really had an inkling of what the Lord would have for me as I waited on him in faith. 

Why project? Why Ocean City? Very difficult questions and ones that I don't necessarily have a solid answer for. I have had the opportunity to see my friends come back from project last summer. What I got to see is what a summer did to them, a summer in the community of believers and one of trusting. What I observed in all was this growth. They knew Jesus more after they had returned. I wanted that then, and I continued to want it and as I asked the Lord if project was for me, I felt at peace to go ahead and fill out an application.

Ocean City. My original leaning was actually towards San Diego. Yes, sun, sand, and the whole manifest destiny thing. As I prayed and asked the Lord and did some seeking of wise counsel and people who knew me and dared to ask them, "Where should I go?" As I asked this question, I saw my heart towards San Diego start to change and go in the direction of Ocean City.

This was all before I even submitted my application.

Then, I finally submitted my application. That was quite an experience in itself. I remember feeling like screaming and throwing up and there were butterflies all around in my stomach. I was no longer in control. I was really going to have to trust God in this one. My prayer for project was "Lord, if you want me to go on summer project, allow me to be accepted, if you don't then I won't be accepted."

I will now fast forward a month to January. The first round of people were hearing back from their project directors and a record number of people from our region had applied, so the projects were all flooded with applications. A girl who had applied to OC as well, heard back that she was on the waiting list.

When I heard that news, I pretty much thought my hopes were over and really was ready wave my white flag and accept that I was going to be on project. Yet, I couldn't. The women in my discipleship group continued to encourage me to continue seeking the Lord until I heard for sure. During this time, our leadership Bible study had started Beth Moore's "Believing God" study. During the homework in my time of in-betweenness and foundering, we were asked to read Romans 4. 

This was no accident, what I found in there were two verses that I clung to and believe that the Lord gave me to grow my faith and trust in Him as I waited for Him to answer my prayers.

"No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." (Romans 4:20-21)

Then this week dawned, the week that I had called "The Week of Reckoning". Not only was I waiting to hear back, but so were a handful of my friends. I got a call from one of my friends that he had been accepted to project. Then, when I got home after a night of German conversation, I decided to check my e-mail, I mean what did I have to lose?

And there it was, my answer. As you can imagine, I was ecstatic, I immediately called my mom, but I was unable to have an intelligent conversation, thinking about all that it meant! I pretty much spent the next 2 hours on the phone rejoicing with all the people who had been praying for me and the ones I had talked to.

Praise the Lord that he answers prayers!