Wings spread

The clock ticks on. Only a week and a half to go before we hit the road again.
These last few months before departure have been quite filling. The parental home is pretty much empty. Contracts and subscriptions have been cancelled. We are really unplugging. The stuff we still keep can be stored with family and friends.

Despite the rush, we are even taking a course on deliverance. Not something we would come up with ourselves, but God often comes up with wonderful things. And how special this came our way:
Following a conversation in the Bible study group about deliverance through Jesus, Amanda prayed that night that she would like to learn more about this topic from Christians who have more experience in it. The next day, Arjan came home and said he had been invited by people just like that to take a course on deliverance. How wonderful to have a heavenly Daddy who hears! And so fast too! We couldn’t ignore this turn of events, despite the filled months.

Many people are bound with all sorts of problems and ailments, mental and physical. The secular world is quick to slap a label of a syndrome, schizophrenic, etc. on them. But if we put the Bible next to it, we learn that there are often evil forces behind these problems, which need to be dealt with.

How wonderful it is to know that Jesus is the solution to that too. And that together with Him we may lead people into that freedom and deliverance He paid for.
We fight not against flesh and blood but against powers… It is a spiritual battle. A battle between light and darkness. Truth and lies. And how wonderful to be on the winning side!
As always, the Lord knows what He is doing and this will surely come in handy on our next adventures.

But just looking back at the time in the Netherlands. We have been further equipped and our spiritual ammunition replenished for the next mission. We have learnt many new lessons and met wonderful people. The valleys and highs have matured and shaped us further and our relationship with the Lord has grown closer.

On 4th of November, we will hand over house and home to new owners and since we will be ‘homeless’ by then, we will leave for warmer places on the 5th. The mission description is still pretty blank, but the first destination is the metropolis of Sao Paulo. There lives a friend Marcelo, whom we know from an earlier short visit. He told us, that he had already planned a conference in mid-November even before he heard we were coming. Also, another pastor heard of our coming and has already figured out that we really should come to his church during a special service on 9 and 10th November.

The first doors are already opening in this immense country.