(Church Planting in Croatia)
When the communists came into our country at the end of the second world war there was awful killing and destruction. It was worse even than the evil that we had to go through just recently in the 1990's. In the main square of our main city, Zagreb, was a large statue of a warrior on a horse. The day the communists came into the city the statue simply disappeared. There were of course all kinds of rumors but no one really knew what happened to the statue.
In 1991, our country declared independence from the communist Yugoslavia. The day after the declaration, back in the main square in the city, our warrior on his horse appeared again. The story unfolded. Someone had taken the statue and broken it down into pieces and hidden it underground for 50 years. When independence was declared he got the statute again and it was beautifully restored and put back in its place. The statue was not absent just hidden.
This is my experience over the last months. God has been hidden but not absent.
I have been so tempted because of the lack of support to give up and return to the business world. My old company have offered me a position to be the lead executive of new initiative based in China. The financial rewards would be significant.
But God. But God. But God..
I have been up in the mountains wrestling with God and when I came down the mountain I could only say once again I must press on in this work. The need is so great the opportunity is even greater.
I have a women's group in Zagreb that I am teaching and the fruit of seeing the scriptures bring hope and strength to their lives is quite wonderful.
Here in our town in the north we are coming to the end of the summer and will be planning out what the future of the small fellowship will be in this area.
To supplement my financial situation I am selling vitamins, but this is just a side project to try to stay afloat. In the meantime I applied for other additional part time job but the interview will be in middle of September.
Please keep praying for me as I wrestle and think and pray about the coming year in terms of teaching, counseling and evangelism. I sense that fresh wind is blowing and that God begins doing something new and beautiful here.
Thank you so much for your constant care, support, prayers and partnering me through the excellent, good and bad times. Your emails bring such a blessings!
( Church Planting In Croatia )
I was at a conference in the south of the country this week by the sea. It is a city that is very active this time of the year. Lots of tourists from other countries who have so much money to spend and then our own people who spend such large amounts of their income trying to look rich like the foreigners. It is humorous to be at a Gas Station and see a smart young person get out of their car, nice clothes, designer sun glasses and then go and put one gallon of petrol in their BMW that they are buying with a 15 year loan.
Being away I felt so strongly the presence of loneliness. Loneliness is a horrible experience. Often I would look out to sea and think of God as a companion and friend and yet I am so aware that God has created us as people who need people, as well as a people who need God. Life really is a balance between accepting our own humanity whilst at the same time throwing ourselves upon the Lord.
I visited a small house Church and heard the stories of those who have come to the Lord through the trials of life. Broken and beaten down people who are being built as Lively Stones into the new temple of God. Some of these stones were very lively. It is incredible how messy life is and how our mess touches other peoples lives in a negative way. The good news is that God specializes in cleaning up our mess.
Being with this group reminded me of our own Fellowship in Varazdin. Broken lives being healed by the Lord Jesus through the Word of Truth and Grace by the Spirit. I mean this when I write this, there is something absolutely wonderful when that which is broken by sin is made whole by the Cross.
In one sense there is still loneliness but in another sense there is such a wonderful sense of belonging in being with the people of God. We press on striving for the balance.
Lord help us to accept ourselves with all our humanity whilst reaching out and being conformed to your divinity.
"You also, as Living Stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" 1.PET 2:5
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Pride is so interesting as there are two sides to it. A short while ago someone referred to me in a way in public that made me feel very unimportant and actually what they said was not true. But what God was concerned about was not so much whether the person was stating things correctly but rather my reaction. My pride wanted to jump and make a correction. My heart was saying don't they realize who I am ........ etc etc In that sense Pride is dreadful as it places so much emphasis upon our humanity and our flesh.
In another sense pride has a positive aspect to it. My boys have done very well in school and Luka has done so well against all odds in qualifying for university with grades that are stunning. So as his mother I am proud of him. The difference is that with this kind of pride I am not focused upon myself, despite the fact that actually I have had to bully, beg and blackmail him along life's way. Incidentally, my surname Vlajak means rolling pin, I can see the cartoon in my head as I write............
Then there is another aspect of pride also positive. In our Church-plant we have one sister who has had a terrible time with disc trouble in her back. She went for surgery and has spent months trying to get better. The pain has become worse but the hospital said there was no more money in her case file to get further tests. Incredibly, through a Christian doctor we were able to get an MRI without cost. The problem is she has no money for rehabilitation. Our small Church raised nearly $350 to give her as a gift for rehab.
You hear stories like this in America, but not here. There simply is no culture of giving within our churches. As I reached out and gave her a card and envelope last Sunday on behalf of our small fellowship my heart swelled with pride. We did this on our own. We have turned love into action. The Angels watched, nodded and then smiled. This is something to be proud of.
Anita Valjak
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One of the real joys of Church planting work is the diversity of experiences that one has with people. There is an elderly lady in my apartment block who is coming, quite rapidly to the end of her life. I took some food to her and sat down next to her. Her face with all its character lines said more about the life she had lead than any stories she had to tell. She had been a religious woman and probably would get a good merit medal if the church handed them out. What was striking though was the sense of total loneliness. A cold, sad and empty loneliness. Sometimes I feel lonely as a single mother. In fact the loneliness can really become a side track that has to be cast on the Lord, or I can become too self focused. But this dear soul was experiencing a level of loneliness that can not easily be understood. I tried to reach out but her pride was so deep that the barriers to be loved were very high. In the end I held her hand and together we recited the Lords prayer. When I think of her I realize that there are no easy answers to so many of the deep issues that we face in peoples lives.
Then this week one of our Church members was in hospital with Pneumonia. She is in her twenties and has been a heroin addict since she was thirteen years old. Unlike the old lady she was like an open book.....sometimes like an open wound....... but so desirous to be loved and guided into deeper spiritual reality. Sitting by her bed and praying with her created within me the sense of mystery of it all. Here was a big sinner with a wide open heart soaking up whatever I could give her. in comparison my dear elderly friend was a good person by the standards of religion and yet she was so closed.
Then I come home to another reality. The refrigerator that was full just hours ago is now all but empty. How can two young men consume such large amounts of food and still manage to walk down the street. When I try to talk to them about budgets the look on their faces tells me that I am better off communicating to Pharisees and sinners. I look out of the window and smile.
1Peter 2:5 You, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Anita Valjak
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I did something rather unwise the other morning, I prayed something like, "Lord use me as an instrument of your love in peoples lives today". It seemed that the phone did not stop ringing until about 11 pm that night with people, many really hurting people, and God continued to answer that prayer over the next several days. Now my prayer is, " Lord, I said today but that was a week ago and the phone still will not stop ringing", then the verse came to mind, A day with the Lord is as a thousand years........ Oh dear, I am in trouble.........but joking aside it is wonderful yet hard to follow God in touching others lives.
I have been meeting with K. for some time who really struggles in life. She has been suicidal for years, going to occult practitioners looking for help, always under a heavy burden and somehow really a victim of so much sadness. Yesterday as four of us visited with her she prayed to receive the Lord into her life. All the frustrations of the last few days melted into the glory of joy of someone who has been so lost was found by the Lord Jesus.
K. is an extreme example of many of the people I meet with. On Wednesday night about one hours drive away I was teaching a group of about 8 women all who have stories of rejection and pain. Humanly, there is nothing within me that can solve some of these deep, very deep problems. Super-naturally, there are unlimited resources in the heart of God for such ones. It never ceases to amaze me how the Word of God touches lives in pain with the healing love of God.
But life is not these just joyful highlights, it is cleaning up the mess of a teenage son who gets sick for three days with stomach trouble, it is a flat tire far from home without the tools to fix it, it is juggling schedules that then get canceled, it is the price of diesel always going up and never down, it is waiting in line in the bread store. This is where victory has to be won not just cleaning up the mess of spiritual darkness and sin. But to be honest we have no other option than to start the day again with, "Lord use me as an instrument of your love in peoples lives today"....... may it be so.
1Peter 2:5 You, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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Anita ValjakLife is filled with extremes. Sitting down for hours with endless cups of coffee listening to a young woman who has been a heroin addict for ten years who is a part of our small Church; Then switching to go and share communion with an 80 year old woman who can not get to our meetings but radiates joy at being together for fellowship.
R. comes from a deep pit that she has lived in for 10 years. She came to us after professing Christ at a Christian drug rehab centre. Now the task is discipleship. Decisions are wonderful but that is all they are. It is now a long walk through pain and trouble with the scriptures bringing spiritual nourishment and moral correction.
Zdenka is a different story. A lonely widow who lives for the times of spiritual refreshing that come through Bible study and fellowship. I thought we were going to loose her just a few weeks ago as she was put into ICU after a heart attack. God has been good to us to let her be with us for a little longer.
Then I come back home from the highs and lows of ministry to be greeted by my two teenage boys complaints that the dinner is not what they wanted. I smile........outwardly. Inwardly I am angry as I eat dinner and then find myself agreeing the dinner is not so good..............I realise that the battle of planting a Church in the nations spiritual graveyard creates conflict at many levels. I encourage myself with thoughts that I could have been sent to Sodom or Nineva ...... well maybe Varazdin is not so bad.
1Peter 2:5 You, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Anita Valjak
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