Jesus is the most wonderful thing in my life.
Jesus is the most precious of all things I have.
He is the Miracle Maker and the Light himself, he is the Bread of life and the Shelter in the storm. He is my Rock and my Salvation. He is my Lord and my Savior, my Joy and my Comfort. He is the Peace in my heart. He is my Rock.
I love Jesus.
#justsaying
Happy Easter everyone and Thank You Jesus!
With any donation to MfL made in December 2014, add your post address in the note field and
we will automatically send you a 3-pack of India-prayer bookmarks for free!
Also available to order as bookmarks or fridge magnets – pay only for shipping!
Order by emailing mailtomissionariesforlife@gmail.com
Christmas Cards are available to order until December 10th!
Prices are 2 USD pr card or 3 cards for 5.- plus shipping and any additional donations are welcome :)
All cards are double with blank insides, no envelopes available. All income goes to the upcoming trip to India.
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2014 is almost over and preparations for 2015 has already begun!
I’m currently spending my last few weeks in the US for this time and will soon travel back to Norway for Christmas. I was honored to speak at the Missions Brunch of Grace Point Baptist Church this morning and share of this years experiences in Serbia and the plans for next year.
If you want more details, you will have to subscribe to my newsletter ;)
Blessings!
I am so excited!
And happy to announce that I officially have a car :D
I’m so proud of the Užice plates and my Serbian registration card – it makes me feel local :)
After my fantastic time in Kosovo, I got really sick when I came back. After a bit of a turbulent clash with the Serbian health system, I ended up returning to Norway for medical treatment last week.
Turned out I had some serious pneumonia combined with an allergic reaction to the antibiotics I had been given. So after about a week on mom’s couch, with another type of antibiotics and whatever else they have been feeding me, I am finally starting to see the light in the end of the tunnel :D
Lounges are great! Especially when they are working! I have never realized how much I enjoy breathing before :)
So, I’m now working on the recovery and planning to fly back to Serbia next Saturday. Looking forward to come home :)
Now I’m home again, in Užice. After what have been the best days of my life so far. I’m not sure how to possibly describe what’s been going on in a way that can make people understand… But I will try :)
Gjakovë, Kosovo hosted this year’s Balkan Networks 
gathering. And I got to come to represent YWAM Serbia.
When I got there it turned out I had come to represent Serbia.
As a child, my biggest dream was to become a missionary. And anyone that had gone that path were my heroes. I read everything I could find of biographies and stories and some more than others, I just really wanted to be like them – lay down my life to follow Jesus and share Him with others.
Of course there were stories I didn’t want to identify with. You have horrible “missionary” stories of people that have abused and extorted, forced, threatened and ruled over people in the name of religion. But then you have the genuine Christ followers, the Missionaries that I look so much up to, the ones that have left everything and done just what Jesus told the rich man in Mark 10. They don’t bring truckloads of furniture from the land they leave and have their house rented out in case they need to return. They do like Abram did – they leave everything and follow God. They don’t look for wrongs, and they find jewels! They’re not picky, they embrace the Treasure of the people and the culture that God has entrusted them with!
Now you can be as disagreeing as you want and try to convince me that many excellent missionaries get their favorite candy imported – I’m not saying that! I’m trying to describe my heroes. The people I look up to more than anything in the world, the ones I want to be like and would be honored to be in the same room with!
This week in Kosovo, I got to be more than in the same room with missionaries like that from all over Balkan. Over 40 missionaries and pastors from churches and organizations working in the Balkan region were gathered. I was so humbled to be in the presence of so many people that carry such honor in my eyes. These were not just random volunteers or missionaries in the sense that I am used to meet around the world. These were all people in the category that I have just tried to describe. These were not people that are used to talk. They were people that are used to work. To happen and make things happen. One guy has been in Albania for 18 years. Alone. Obviously he’s not alone anymore, because people are coming to Christ and he has believers to take care of, but he has been a missionary alone for 18 years! And when I quietly mumble that I’ve been in Serbia for two months, he smiles and hugs me and start telling me not to despise small beginnings and how much great there is to look forward to. I just think it’s awesome to spend 3 days with someone that has been a missionary to Albania for 18 years and not hear one negative word. Another one have been praying for the Balkans for 35(!) years. And now, finally, God has called him to come and live and work here as a missionary. And he’s so excited to finally get to be part of what he’s been praying for to happen for so long, that he’s more or less dancing around as he talks… I love it when people are excited about God! And I think we all were this week. I just got more and more humbled by who I was surrounded by the longer I was there…
And no one was there to promote their own ministries. They were not there to raise support or gather names for their lists of prayer supporters. They were there to offer their support for whatever God is doing in other parts of the region. I was approached so many times during these days, by people that I do not consider myself worthy of asking for a minute of their time, and they came to me asking What can we do to help Gods work in Serbia? How can we connect you with people and organizations that has what you need to do what God has called you to do? How can we pray for you and the church in Serbia? And not just for me, but between all the countries represented… this was the reason why we were there.
I don’t know about you, but this was my first time visiting a country that has road signs for military tanks. And the first time I’ve been told to stick to the paved roads because there are still land mines in some places. It’s the first time I have visited a country, representing the nation that has caused so much damage, destruction and despair in it. And I have never felt so loved in all my life.
I don’t even know how to start to describe the presence of God in such a place. When I sat in the car to drive the hour and a half back to Prishtinë, tears were just pouring out of my face. The thankfulness for being allowed to just see something like this happening… For someone as insignificant as me to be part of something so great that God is doing… To hear Kosovar pastors that have lost close relatives in the war, pray for the country that killed them, forgive and bless… To be hugged and through tears be told This is for Serbia. We love them. We bless them!
Traveling back towards Serbia I got a lift on the highway, by an Albanian man. A Muslim government official that by the end of the drive, after realizing that I’m a Christian missionary and when he had gone as far north as he was allowed to drive with his vehicle, told me Thank you for helping my country and our region, we need you!
So humbled. So blessed.
And so eager to advance the Kingdom of God in this city, in this nation, in this region…
…and to the ends of the world.
Some people have ministries that revolve around physical miracles.. They pull people up on stage and it’s easy to see that the man that was blind can now see, or the woman with the tumor that deformed her face no longer has a tumor… It’s easy to get excited over a little boy that has never heard or spoken and now he’s making his first sounds because Jesus has touched his mouth and ears!
And in this excitement, we realize that God is truly with the minister. The preacher is anointed and the power of God is with them!
But what when those miracles happens inside your heart..? What about the ministers that don’t stand on a stage yelling in a microphone? But they minister the most precious miracles of Heaven into the deepest places of people’s hearts.
Sometimes I hear cocky preachers speak about those ministers like they have no anointing, no power, no real life with Jesus. And I cry.
I do believe in physical miracles, and I love them!! Especially when they happen through me :D But when people are so blind that they think that is the only way God ministers to people or shows His great miracle working power… then I feel so overwhelmed by their ignorance that it physically hurts.
Some people can not share their full testimony because the people that caused them to need one are still around. And a part of their miracle might be just the part where they no longer hate and want to hurt, so they don’t want to let the world know and possibly by that come to hate… They don’t want to put someone they have now received the miracle to forgive, in the situation where they will have to answer for their sins publicly.
So they rejoice in silence. They thank God from the depth of their hearts every time they wake up, feel happy, think a happy thought or fall asleep with peace in their heart…
God has done great miracles but no one saw how horrible it was before He did and now no one knows how much He has done. No one except God himself, the person in question and the minster that made it happen.
Sometimes I think of the Bible verse that says “What worth is it to gain the whole world, if you lose your soul?” And sometimes I wonder what worth is it if your body is healed and your heart is still sick..?
Obviously we want healing in all areas! And the awesome thing is that we can have that :D
But don’t be so blind that if you see someone that serves God and don’t have a cloud of visible miracles around them, you immediately wonder if God is with them at all. They might be seeing more powerful miracles than you have ever seen, but not be at liberty to share them.
God is awesome! And He works in so many levels and in so many ways. Don’t be limited by the ways you know. Love them and praise God for them and live them out to the fullest!
But don’t judge others.
(I think that’s even biblical ;))
I wake up early one morning with a picture in my head… I’m not sure if it’s something I dreamed during the night or if it’s something that came to me in the seconds after I woke up. But it’s very clear; There’s an elderly lady sitting on a bench along the river. She’s got tears in her eyes. She needs Jesus.
After breakfast I run some errands, make a phone call and answer some emails… The day runs away from me, but the picture is still clear in my head. In the afternoon I go for a walk. Needing some fresh air and to get out among people… I’m not the only one enjoying the nice weather! In the square they have put up trampolines and jump castles for the kids to play in. Skaters have taken over the stairs up to the library. The street dogs are sun bathing in the flower gardens… All benches, parks and street cafes are full of people. Even down by the river there’s lots of people. All the benches are taken. But on one, there’s only one person. An elderly lady.
My heart is beating a little harder than normal when I sit down beside her. She looks over at me as to ask what I want. “Good day”, I say in Serbian and smile as pretty as I can. She looks down, shakes her head and say something I don’t understand. But before I get the chance to tell her that I don’t understand, the dam breaks… For several minutes I just sit there, understanding absolutely nothing of what’s being said, but at the same time being completely positive that I am exactly where God had planned for me to be. The woman cries and explains and inside I just think that God is amazing… I don’t know what she’s telling me, but I do know that God has sent me to her, because He wants to meet her. And I’m just the intermediary. I try to look as understanding as possible when you don’t, and when she seems to be calming down a little and might be coming to an end of her explaining, I ask her gently if it would be ok if I pray for her. She takes a firm grip of both my hands and nods with her whole body. I pray some in Norwegian, some in English, some in Serbian – and I even think I prayed some in Amharic… Snot and tears were wiped with her hands and with mine, I’m hugged and kissed and hugged some more…
When the lady is gone, I’m the one sitting on a bench by the river with tears in my eyes. “For God so loved the world…” …that He sent me to a park bench today. To meet a woman that I don’t even know the name of…
People on the benches around looked a little strangely at me. I nodded and smiled and went on my way.
Užice will get to know Jesus – one heart at a time…
I heard rumors, all the way from Norway, that these girls had started praying…
Katarina and Milie in Norway, two of my faithful prayer warriors
Since I came to Serbia almost 7 weeks ago now, I have lived at the YWAM housing a little ways outside of the city we work in. This location is aimed at housing visiting teams, running training programs etc and is excellent for that purpose. But for those of us that want to live here long term, work in the city and be present among the people on a daily basis, it’s necessary to find other housing in the city. I have been looking for an apartment effectively for the past couple of weeks and had one that fell through in the last minute. I have been praying and asking God to lead me to the right place and the right apartment… at the right location and a good price – all in His timing and according to where He wants me and how He wants me to live.
A couple of days ago I started to get a little impatient and was so encouraged when I got the greeting from these two precious girls in Norway! They had been praying, not only for me to get an apartment, but for the exact same things I had been praying, specifically, without knowing at all that those were in fact the same words I had used in my prayers. They prayed for two days, and the next morning I was very excited to text them that I had got my apartment – and everything in their prayers had been answered :)
Prayers are so powerful!
The best thing you can ever do for someone is to pray for them! Not out of obligation, not as a necessity on your ‘shopping list’… but to lift someone up to the throne of God in prayer.
I know there are many out there praying for us, and I want you to know that we so appreciate it! We so love you for the time and energy you invest in us and in the kingdom of God!
I’ve spent this afternoon in my new apartment, filling the rooms with prayer and worship, dedicating it to be a place of refuge and peace for anyone who enters these doors, praying that this apartment will be known for the presence of God and that people will come here to meet Him.
The view from my new apartment on the 5th floor, overlooking the main square of Užice
We serve a fantastic God that answers prayers and move mountains like they were dust…
katrine.drevon 