Dependence

The last month and a half have been full of adventures some fun, some not as fun.  April brought with it spring break.  Students and staff literally scattered all over the world.  We had two weeks of break which gave kids the time to go on a missions trip and still have a chance to go visit family. 

Salzburg

I had the privilege of having my Mom come and visit me for a week.   What a treat to be able to show my world here to someone from my family.  I was able to take my Mom to visit Salzburg for a couple of days.  We took a beautiful train ride through the Swiss and Bavarian Alps.  Train travel always brings with it adventures and together we figured out delays, trains, trams and buses, all in German.  My Mom was a great sport and a help as I tried to find my way and figure things out.  We had a wonderful time touring Salzburg, a truly beautiful city.   

Outside Maria's convent

We are in Salzburg!

 Ribeauvillé

We also visited (thanks to Laurel Olson) a small beautiful town in the Alsace region of France called Ribeauvillé.  It was the town that I took my French 1 class to and had wanted to return.  We had a gorgeous day and explored this picturesque small town getting to eat some French pastries and use our French.  The highlight of the day was “stumbling” across the Protestant church in town that happened to have its doors wide open.  We walked in to look and on the wall was a picture of a man I had studied in seminary – Philip Jakob Spener – the father of pietism.  He authored the book Pia Desideria and is credited with starting the movement known as Pietism.  Pietism was a renewal movement in Protestantism that swept through Germany and parts of Europe about a 100 or so years after Luther.  Christianity had become a religion and a part of the culture.  Spener and the Pietists believed that if you called yourself a Christ-follower one must be transformed from the inside out and bear fruit.  They started schools, hospitals, orphanages, cared for the elderly and the list goes on.  They played a significant role in influencing people like Zinzendorf who influenced the Moravians who influenced John Wesley who has had a strong influence in my life. 

What a sacred moment to stumble across the birthplace of a man who understood that there was more to Christianity than going to church.  He understood that if you love Jesus your life will be transformed from the inside out.  Following Jesus is not a call to a religion but a call to a Person who longs for a relationship with each one of us.

 Hungary

After a week together exploring Salzburg and the Kandern area my mom and I flew out on the same day.  She headed back to the States and I headed to Budapest, Hungary to spend a week with my cousins.  What a treat!  I am truly blessed to have family on the same continent and it was a real blessing to have two weeks in a row with family.  

Some of my favorite girls!

 Sickness

I got back the night before Easter.  Easter morning was able to celebrate the risen Lord at BFCF (Black Forest Christian Fellowship – international church that meets at BFA).  It was a great morning.  Little did I know that it would be the last time I would leave my apartment for eight days.  I ended up with a very bad case of the flu that had me in bed for a solid week.  I actually don’t know if I have ever been laid out for that long.  My roommates took good care of me and Jesus provided others who helped me get an appointment with a doctor in town and get some IV fluids in me as I had become severely dehydrated.  Several of my fellow teachers graciously stepped in for me and helped cover my classes.  I made it back the next week but was amazingly weak after six days with almost no food.  My students were great sports and were very well behaved and did some leg work for me.  Two weeks after first getting sick I woke up feeling “normal” and was so grateful!  What a blessed relief. 

Lessons Learned

I had come back from Hungary feeling rested, relaxed and ready for the last six weeks of school.  I felt like I could do this and was excited to finish the year strong.  It was nice to feel somewhat ready and to feel like I knew what I was doing (at least a little bit).  And then I got sick.  And I was not physically ready or academically ready at all.  Not only was I not ready – I was significantly behind after missing a whole week and then the next week being in survival mode.  To be honest, it was quite frustrating.  This year has been a year of complete dependence on Jesus for every day life.  And I felt like Jesus used this to make sure I kept my hands off on any feelings of , “Anna did it.  Because while Jesus has used me and helped me in so many ways – it is Him alone that has made way for me.  I can not touch the glory.  And I am thankful for the chance to end the year the way I started.  Feeling very very dependent on Him.  It is not a fun place to be but it is a good place to be and one that I want to be in.  Because you get to see Him work in ways for you that leave you speechless.  I want to publicly acknowledge His faithfulness to me this year and to praise Him for the privilege of following Him and seeing Him work each and every day in spite of me.  

“With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord; I will praise him in the midst of the throng.  For He stands at the right hand of the needy.” (Psalm 109:30-31)

“O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice, in the morning I direct my prayer to you and watch.” (Psalm 5:3)

“For not by your own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them.” (Psalm 44:3)

As we are in the last days of the semester I pray that He would continue to work and move in me and at BFA.