After we returned from the outreach last week, 'normal life' started again on Monday (daily lessons from 8:00 am - 12:30 pm and dinner prep in the kitchen, Monday and Friday worship and Wednesday family night). This week we were taught by Donna McGown about 'Fear of the Lord'. This does not mean that you should fear God or anything, but that you see God as the Lord / Master of your life.

“Fear of the Lord is being more concerned with God's reaction to your attitudes & actions than men's reaction to your attitude & actions.” This leads you to hate sin & evil.

Many people hold on to the rights they think they have. Right to freedom, money, food, privacy, time, comfort, family, friends, reputation, etc. But if we want to be a disciple of Jesus and really respond to his calling for our lives, it is essential not to to cling to those rights, but to lay them down and trust God. As it says in Mark 8:34, "Whoever wants to come after Me should deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me." A mindset that we don't 'deserve' to own money, because we've worked hard for it, that we don't have the right to eat well, etc. but that we realize that everything we have is already from God, we just give it back, "lay down" our lives before God, say He can control it and trust that He gives the right things and shows them at his right timing. And what a great freedom that entails !!

After all, Jesus also laid down all his rights when He came to earth to serve us and to deliver us from sin. Even the right to be born in a decent house with a normal bed, while He already had the right to live the most comfortable life here on earth; After all, he was God!

I am also reading the book 'The 7 habits of highly effective people' (Stephen R. Covey). I'm halfway through now, but it's really changing my life! That's how I'm really growing in the area of integrity. For example, as you may have seen in my vlog a few weeks ago, my sleeping place was (always) a big mess and I was not very strict about my intentions. BUT since 2020 I am so much more 'intentional', for example with where I put my stuff (so I don't have to make any effort for the weekly room checks to quickly make everything a bit presentable). Previously, I had a lot of trouble keeping quiet time every day (reading the Bible and praying), but since January 1, 2020 I get up 20 minutes earlier every day to start my day with God and man… .. what an amazing difference to start your day!

A nice quote from Stephen Covey reads: “Sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny. ”

Being aware of the things you think and do is essential. It is super fun, interesting and helpful to make your own 'mission statement'! If you find it interesting, you can go on it this webiste read more about it.

Friday we went to Mission Beach with Hannah, Zach & Franklyn! Although we had rented the cheapest car, we were allocated a super luxury SUV! Great road trip where we visited the National Park, beach, waterfall and tropical rainforest!

As is undoubtedly known, there are currently a lot of wildfires raging in Australia. Fortunately, although we have seen some burnt-out forests, there is no imminent danger in our immediate vicinity. We pray a lot for the fires and next week we go to war by fasting for 3 days.

This week we got our visa for Papua New Guinea, where we will go in 2 weeks! Because 2 teams are already leaving next week, next week will be dominated by the outreach preparations! I'm excited!