The Path

Damaris translating my testimony.

Today I shared my testimony at church in Nusfalau, one of the Gypsy villages. It was translated by a beautiful young Romanian girl, Damaris who I have had the pleasure of spending quite a bit of time with this summer.

   I expected to simply get up, share a few highlights of my life journey and let the people know how glad I was that God led me here. However, when I got to the part of my testimony when I first heard about Romania, I became emotional.

 I had no idea when I was 13 years old sitting at church camp on the banks of a lake in the middle of Kansas, that God would place such a love in my heart for the people of Romania.  I really didn’t know who they were.  I didn’t know when I would come. I certainly didn’t know the impact that missionary’s pictures and stories would have on my life.

What I did know was: they needed to be loved with the true love of Christ and hear the truth of His Word and salvation. I knew that I wanted to be a part, however small, of bringing the truth and love of Christ to the people in this country.

  Standing before them today sharing how the love, that could only come from God, was placed in my heart for THEM, the very faces before me…well, that moved me to tears. I don’t think I always understood the love I carried in my heart for them. Sometimes I was distracted and thought my future was headed another direction. BUT, always, always I loved them. Always my heart cried for them to know the joy of being a child of the Most High God.  Always I dreamed of the day I would come here and touch their hands, see their faces, share their lives.

  Today I realized more than ever, that the dream which sprouted in my heart almost exactly ten years ago had truly come true. As I sat down the leader asked the congregation if they wanted me to come back after this short trip and serve here. Then I was asked to stand and look around…every single hand in that sanctuary was lifted high in affirmation.

amazed…baffled….awed…humbled 

All I could do was say thank you as I quietly sat down and pondered how God could chose a 13 year old girl to love these people. Yet, as I was reminded by my very own testimony:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6  

And I realized: Only the Master Creator could have designed such a path for my life.

The congregation @ Nusfalau