Sandra

Have you ever been in a season of waiting? A season where it seems quiet and deserted, like a desert?  I ended up there after I took a step of faith, and everything in my life changed as a result. At that point, I didn’t realize I was in a waiting season yet. I had never heard of it or dealt with it. I became impatient because I thought, “Okay, Lord, I have taken a step in faith and left this period behind me. What are we going to do next?!”  I’m not really the type who likes to sit still; I’m always busy and messing around in my house or doing stuff. I believe today’s society expects us to be busy. Everyone is busy, so you have to be busy too and meet all kinds of expectations.  But, we are no longer of this world, and we serve a God who certainly does not follow the “rules” of this world! I always find it so beautiful how God also uses my dear friend to speak to me through her. And she is not afraid to tell me what God puts on her heart, even though sometimes they are things I would rather not hear. God also spoke through her about the season I found myself in: “Maybe you should just do nothing at all, but rest.” “Take some rest?!? What do you mean? I don’t have time to rest!” I had no idea what that looked like. What does a person do during “rest”? I didn’t understand any of it. I started to look into it and pray about it. “Okay, Lord, what now? What should I do now?”  God had pointed out a number of points to me months before: Renew your mind (Romans 12:1-2), sow the Word in your heart, meditate on the Word, make time for Him, and make your body a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2), and at that moment He reminded me of these points again. During a season of waiting and not knowing what God wants you to do, He seems silent, and you don’t know what next step to take. I want to encourage you to wait. We are so tempted to keep going like an express train, but stand where you are and wait until you hear from God; until then, just keep doing the last thing He spoke to you. For me, that meant staying in the Word, continuing to renew my thinking according to the Word, making time for Him, being good and healthy with my body, and getting some rest. When we think of waiting, we may quickly think of being silent and passive, but a waiting season with God is not passive but active! Try to continue to develop, grow in your relationship with God, and serve in your church or community, and above all, don’t think God needs your help because you become impatient! “He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others.He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.” — Daniel 2:21 This season won’t last forever! /*! elementor – v3.20.0 – 13-03-2024 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} Don’t give birth to Ismael I once heard in a sermon, ”don’t give birth to Ishmael.”  We all know the story of Abraham and Sarah. God promised them a son, but when this had not happened after years of waiting, Sarah took matters into her own hands and urged Abraham to father a child with Hagar, Ishmael (Genesis 16). Now we know that was not a very good choice and certainly not God’s intention. Waiting can sometimes feel uncomfortable; you can feel lonely and forgotten. It can be confusing, and you may become impatient and tempted to give God a hand and want to make decisions for yourself.  I want to encourage you; don’t go out, and “birth an Ismael”. Take it one day at a time and keep doing what God last spoke to you.  Embrace the season of waiting, take time to develop and grow in your faith. Discover what your gifts and talents are, go to college or do a Bible study, and serve other people. A breakthrough may be closer than you think Only God knows how long your waiting season will last, but never think of it as a waste of time. With God, nothing is wasted, and He uses it for good. He sees you (Genesis 16:13), is with you, and entering the new season, might come sooner than you think!

Before I met Jesus, I was extremely insecure. I always thought I was too fat, couldn’t make my own decisions, and thought too little of myself. This was, of course, not good at all, but this had to do with very old patterns and ways of thinking that I could not change on my own. I always looked for validation from others; I asked for help with every decision that had to be made, and I always asked myself what I looked like. Whether my make-up was good and whether my clothes did not make me look fat. I also expressed all this uncertainty very often. Recently, I was reminded by God that I actually didn’t do this anymore! As much as I used to be concerned with my appearance, especially in a negative sense, I am no longer concerned with it at all these days. I still like nice clothes and make-up, but I no longer look at myself negatively. God has gradually freed me from this! What a relief to no longer be insecure about not only my appearance but my entire identity! I have been able to learn from God that it is only important how He thinks about me and not how people think about me. I have been able to re-evaluate how He sees me, and see myself that way. To be honest, I didn’t have to put any effort into this. I think because I put God first and was only concerned with Him, He started working with me and restored this to me without me even realizing it. God is so good! /*! elementor – v3.19.0 – 28-02-2024 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} “Seek first the kingdom of God and all other things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33 Words have power! The Bible teaches us that life and death is in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). With this, God points out to us that we must be extremely careful with what we say about ourselves and others. But in this blog, I just want to focus on the words we say about ourselves. All of this involves knowing that you know, that you know, that you know, and that you know who you are in Christ. No, this isn’t a typo, LOL. It is knowing in the depths of your soul what your identity is in Christ. That is, by far, the most important thing! Because this makes all other opinions of people or your own negative opinion of yourself pale into insignificance. They are no longer important. But we also need to become aware of the words we say. We are so quickly inclined to say negative words, words of illness and ‘death’. “Everyone has the flu, so I will get it too. I cannot do this or I can’t do that. That is too ambitious for me etc.” You can’t imagine anything so crazy, and we speak things out, not knowing that we are actually cursing ourselves and giving the enemy a pass into our lives! Return to Sender I prefer not to give the enemy a platform, but what I mean by this requires some explanation. The enemy is powerless in the life of a born again Christian for we have the authority of Jesus. “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” – Luke 10:19 He can only do something if we give him permission to do so or accept his lies. I am a visual thinker, and what helped me enormously was the image of the enemy standing at my door with a package in his hands. He rings the doorbell, and I open it and see that jerk. Included in that package is probably nothing good, since he can only bring trouble. It must be lies, disease, poverty or something like that. He wants to give me that package, but what am I going to do? Well, do not accept the package, right? Just keep your garbage with you; I don’t need it. This is how he comes into our lives with his mess, lies and misery. Only, do we accept it, or do we return it to sender? He has different tactics and often he starts with lies in your head in the hope that you will say them out loud. Once you say these lies, you are essentially accepting his package. You give him permission; you come into an agreement. Lies like “you can’t do that, you’re not good enough, you’re ugly, you’re too fat, everyone has the flu so you’ll get the flu too” you name it, he can come up with all kinds of things. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 When you know who you are in Christ, you also know how to distinguish the lies. You learn this by simply spending time with God and staying in His Word. “Keep this book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” –Joshua 1:8 It’s like a domino effect: you go from thinking — to speaking — and then you see things manifested in your life. But the good news is; it works the same way with speaking words of life! Hallelujah! To become aware of what you actually say about yourself, you could think or say “Just the way I like it” behind every thought or everything you say about yourself. I’m sick again, Just the way

There have been several moments in recent years when God asked me to take a step of faith. But it took some time before I realized that was what He was asking of me. Maybe you recognize it. You pray for a while for a certain situation, but not much happens yet. It may frustrate you, but you might also wonder: What is God asking me to do in this situation? I found, and sometimes still find, that it is so difficult to hear God’s voice. Although I notice that things are getting better, God speaks in different ways, and fortunately, I am starting to recognize more and more typically when He wants to say something to me. /*! elementor – v3.20.0 – 13-03-2024 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} Small detail Taking a step of faith can sometimes be so terribly scary. This is how I experienced taking the step to register for the mission trip to Brazil. After the penny finally dropped that God wanted me to do this, I had to take the step. It took a long time, and it started with a longing in my heart. This is how He typically works: He brings a desire to your heart.  And after much prayer and many confirmations, it was finally clear to me that this was what God wanted me to do. I was happy and extremely excited, but I just had a few problems.  The biggest obstacle was that I didn’t have money for such a trip (small detail, lol). Okay, I thought, I needed to start building my faith with the Word and started reading the Word about how God provides when you are obedient to what He asks of you. You don’t have to be afraid; He will provide. I came back from the information evening of the trip and felt deep in my soul I’M GOING TO BRAZIL! So, I took a step of faith, signed up for the trip and immediately the next morning I received confirmation in a very special way that God would provide. I received a message from a person. She had told another person that I was going to make this trip and that lady decided she wanted to make a donation. At that moment I didn’t know how much she wanted to donate, but that didn’t matter, it was the first confirmation for me that everything would turn out fine.  The Foundation that organizes these trips requested that you bring “blessing money” of a minimum certain amount. We would spend this amount of money on the spot in São Paulo on the people who needed it there.  Okay, I thought, how are we going to make this happen? I prayed about it and decided to believe God for 5x the amount that was needed. In the end, 7x the required amount was received! How I ended up paying for the trip is still a mystery for me.  I had heard testimonies from people before that God had provided in a special way, but afterward they had no idea how it had actually been made possible. That’s exactly how I experienced it. In any case, it was miraculous.  Finally, I prayed to God, “Okay Lord, I am super grateful that You are sending me, but in addition to believing that You provide, I am also going to believe that I will not be completely broke when I return home😊. I am going to believe You that when I return I will not have to notice financially that I have just made a mega expensive trip.”  And so it happened! The trip was paid for, the blessing money was more than sufficient, and I did not have to live on dry bread and water upon return LOL. “Let it be done just as you believed it would” (Matthew 8:13) Not lacking in anything When we walk in His will, He will also ensure that you do not fall short in anything, and you will get to the place where He wants you! Jesus sent out His disciples in Matthew 10: 9-10, and they were not allowed to take anything with them. This was to show that He would care for them if they went out in His Name. And in Luke 22:35, we also read that they lacked nothing. He not only takes care of you in your daily needs, but He also takes care of you when you go out in His Name. He is our Provider, Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. His disciples also had to take a step of faith and take Jesus at His word that He would provide for them.  Perhaps they thought, “Just drop by the house quickly to take some things and food,” but Jesus simply asked them to go, and gradually they would discover that He cares for them. But they had to take that step themselves first. How scary that must have been! In those days, they didn’t have shops or gas stations along the side of the road, where you could quickly get a meatball sandwich when you were hungry. They were sent into the wilderness with nothing! There were no roads; they had to do everything on foot, and anything could happen along the way. But they set out, trusting that He would provide! Taking steps in faith can sometimes be very scary. But when you let yourself be led by the Holy Spirit, He will make it clear to you which direction you can go and when it is time to take that step.  Even though in the natural world you cannot yet see where you need to go, or it seems impossible, we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).  Do you trust Me? If you are currently in a situation where you need to take a step of faith, I want to encourage you to trust God, Trust Him, and take the steps in a direction that

I think the Samaritan woman, is such a beautiful Bible story (John 4) and is therefore the source of inspiration for this website. A broken woman who is ignored by society. People gossiped about her and didn’t want anything to do with her. She had not made very smart choices in her life, and she actually didn’t want anything to do with anyone anymore. She even went to the well in the middle of the day, the hottest part of the day, because she knew that the entire village gets water in the cool of the morning. Not only that, but she didn’t feel like being confronted by people. The less she was in the picture, the less there could be gossip, she thought.  I can imagine that she might also have been disappointed that she saw a Man sitting by the well in the distance. I must honestly admit that I sometimes have moments of “not feeling like confronting people” because I may not be feeling well. Not the best way, I know, but you can have those moments sometimes, right? She arrives at the well and probably doesn’t want to exchange a word with the strange Jewish Man sitting there, maybe even avoiding eye contact. But that Man started the conversation! What courage, because He is a Jew and she is a Samaritan! They did not talk to each other; they avoided each other. But the unknown Man asks her for water. “Okay. Strange,” she must have thought. He then told her, that He could give her water, and if she drank it, she would never be thirsty again, He claimed. As I read the story, I could almost hear her thinking, “Why does He talk in riddles?” When the Man finally says things about her life that no one knows, the penny drops. “You must be the Messiah!” she says. Suddenly all burden and shame falls away from her, there, in that place, and at that moment, her eyes opened, and she knows Who she is looking at! All her sins, sorrows and shames fall away, and she is immersed in His love! She runs back to the village, shouting, “Come see a Man! He knows everything about me; he must be Christ!” She even left her water jar behind. It was an image for me that she dropped everything from her hands and left it behind her. She then candidly told all the people in the village what she had experienced there at the well, which caused many people to come to faith. There, Jesus breaks all the chains that bound her and deals with her past. Jesus is waiting Everything about this story touches me, but especially how Jesus waited for her, where she was and in the state she was in; broken, frustrated, and sad. The world turned its back on her, but Jesus did not. He was patiently waiting for her.  How moving, and what an encouragement for us too. We often want to run away from Him out of shame, but that is not what He wants at all. He chose that day to sit by the well and wait, just as He chose to wait patiently for us to turn to Him, too. Because when we do that, He can show who He really is and what He wants to give us. No matter what we have been through or what wrong things we have done, Jesus is still waiting for us. He already knows everything about you and your past, and He still wants to talk to you and give you His love and His living water. And once you accept it, you will not be able to remain silent! And you want to let the whole world know who He is and what He has done for you. Invite Him into your life, and see what He can do!

Today, while painting my nails, I listened to such a beautiful song: “If I got Jesus” by Ben Fuller. The moment he sang the words that anything and anyone can be stolen from him, as long as he has Jesus, it struck me for a moment. This is exactly what has happened to me in recent years. When I chose Jesus, I still had a relationship and plenty of friends. Early in my walk with God, I went to church occasionally and started reading the Bible and some other great books. But at that time, I mainly lived with one foot in the world.  I grew in my relationship with God, became hungrier for Him and the Word, was baptized, and attended all kinds of conferences. God slowly changed me, and it became more and more visible to the outside world. I have never been ashamed of God, and I proclaimed to everyone who would listen (or not; I had quite a bit of difficulty with dosage) how beautiful a life with God was and what He had already done for me up to that point. But in the environment I was in, no one wanted to know anything about Him. It was tolerated that I had come to faith, but nothing more. For a long time, I held on and tried to show them the love of Jesus. I prayed and prayed for them, but I still saw nothing happen. Of course, nothing is impossible for God, but we still have our own will, and God does not touch our free will. Meanwhile, God changed me completely! Sometimes, when I look back at how I used to be in life and how I was, I can hardly believe that I was like that! People who don’t know me from that time cannot imagine that I really was that person when I tell them about it. A proverb here in the Netherlands says “having a short fuse,” which is meant by someone who “explodes with anger” at the slightest thing. Well, I can tell you, I had no fuse at all. It was an immediate explosion for me when something didn’t go the way I wanted. I could curse like a construction worker. I was not afraid to show people the “prettiest” finger on my hand if they bothered me on the road. And if someone was tailgating with me, that person would have a problem! I would stop the car in the middle of the road to walk up to that person and ask “kindly” what was wrong with them? Or all the times when the copier at work didn’t do what I wanted, then the whole office knew about it. No, I wasn’t an easy one. I wanted to have my way with everything, and I had certainly never heard of patience. In addition, I was as impulsive as I could be and did things first, then later thought about whether it was the right decision or not. Yes, I was a charm. Lol. Knock the dust off your feet God began to change me, to mold me, to shape me and everyone around me saw it happen. My children, my then-partner, friends, family and colleagues. People started to alienate me, and I was once even told, “I think you’re such a nice girl, and you’re so sociable and fun, but that (referring to my faith) is something I don’t like about you.” It didn’t even hurt me when the person said that to me; it just reminded me of what Jesus said in Luke 23:34: “They know not what they are doing.” It is ignorance that makes people, who do not know God, react this way. They no longer recognize you, and they lose a partner, a friend, a drinking and party buddy, or perhaps even a family member. God apparently changed me so much that people around me said, “You look the same on the outside, but you act different; you react differently. It’s like I have to get to know you again.” This, of course, was a great compliment for me, and confirmation that I was on the right track in my walk with God. But while I was finding myself more and more in Him, the people around me lost the person they thought they knew in me. But despite that, we must continue to hold on to God because, ultimately, He is the one who is most important and His will for our lives. He chose us and paid us with a price beyond price: His Son. The least we can do is live for Him. I continued to grow in my walk with God. I continued to pray for the people around me and even beg for God to change them. But instead of them repenting, they slowly disappeared from view. I have often thought about what Jesus says in Matthew 10:14. He wanted to help the people, but they did not want to listen. That is your sign to remove the dust from your feet and keep going. People have their own choice and their own will, and when they remain so stubborn, it can sometimes be a sign for us to knock the dust off our feet and get on with our lives. We can continue to pray for them, but our walk with God must continue. If I got Jesus While I was busy painting my nails nice and red again, listening to the lyrics of the song, I thought about the past years, how much has changed, and, above all, how many people from my old life have disappeared. There is honestly no one left from that time. I shed a tear for a moment, but soon I was filled with joy! Because even if I had lost everyone of that old life, I got Jesus! I got Jesus instead, and everything and everyone could be stolen from me, but Jesus will never leave me nor forsake

I can still remember so clearly when I was a young girl visiting my grandmother. I really had the sweetest grandmother. My grandfather was admitted to a nursing home at a fairly young age, where my grandmother visited him several times a day. My grandmother lived independently until her death and was a strong, little woman with a great sense of humor. Grandpa and grandma both loved the Lord very much. I went to grandma’s very often. I would help her with the garden and then get a cup of tea with a chocolate, and she would often give me a little pocket money. Or I went there to have a nice chat. Her Bible was always on the cupboard in the living room. Many times I would pick it up and leaf through it and try to read something. But I really didn’t understand any of the words I read. Grandma told me a lot about Jesus, I loved the stories, but I didn’t understand them. Grandpa and grandma have both been with the Lord for many years now and have not experienced how afterward both my mother (their daughter) and I came to faith and are now so full of God, but I do believe that it is partly thanks to their prayers (James 5:16). I am grateful to them for always including us in their prayers. One of the Bible texts that grandma loved was John 11: 25-26: “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Beautiful! In Him there is life, and we find everything we need. From unwanted by the world to be loved by Him, from sickness to healing, from sins to forgiveness and from brokenness to beauty in the ashes. We find everything in Jesus, and thanks to Him everything is made possible. He truly is enough. John 8:36 If you are set free through the Son of God, you will be free indeed While I was thinking back to grandma and therefore reading through the Bible book of John, I also read John 8:36. Again, such a powerful text. When you choose Jesus, He will set you free, and you will truly be free! What that means is often beyond my human brain. Foremost, He will set you free from all sin and shame. He takes all of that off your shoulders, and instead He gives you His righteousness! Jesus gives you His spotless white and sacred coat to wear, and you can give your dirty and broken coat to Him! The gap between you and God will then disappear, and you can simply come into His presence! He no longer sees your sins and mistakes from your past, instead you have been given a whole new life in Him (Psalm 103:12, Corinthians 5:17). Wow!! The beauty of this is beyond description, but it doesn’t stop there, this is just the beginning! Jesus also takes over all the worries, bondage, brokenness and cares of this world and places you under the blessing of Abraham. Everything God promised him now also belongs to you (Galatians 3:13-14)! He sets us free from every sickness and disease (Isaiah 53:4-5). So every illness, including the common cold, He has already borne for you and you no longer have to bear it. We no longer have to suffer from the economic crises and poverty of this world. Everything is becoming more and more expensive, house prices are skyrocketing and people can hardly provide for their families. But as a child of God, you don’t have to be afraid of that either. For He cares for you (Matthew 6:26-27, Psalm 23:1-2). Jesus takes over the lies in our thinking, fears, doubts and worries. We may submit everything to Him and take His yoke upon us (Matthew 11:29). The world judges you on your appearance, your qualities or your shortcomings. But God doesn’t look at that at all. He looks at the new you that you are in Christ. And when He looks at you, He sees His Son! He gives us His joy and peace so that we can rejoice and remain at peace in every circumstance (John 14:27, Nehemiah 8:11).  The Holy Spirit our friend In addition to so many promises and blessings, He also gives us His Spirit (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit who will guide, teach, comfort and help us in everything throughout our lives. He is the friend who will always be with you. Don’t all these promises transcend your entire human thinking? But this is what it means to “be truly free” as John mentions in chapter 8 verse 36. With God, you will rise above the cares and brokenness of the world. Float like an eagle I once read a beautiful comparison with the eagle. When a storm arises, the eagle uses the wind of the storm to soar above the clouds. There, where it is calm and quiet, he will float and rest his wings. This is how life is when you choose Jesus. On His wings, His blessings and promises, may you rise above the storm in every circumstance. Flying to calmer heights! Do you also want to get to know Jesus and invite Him into your life? Open your heart, and say this to Him: “Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Come into my life. I acknowledge You as the Son of God, and I believe that You died on the cross for my sins and that You rose again on the third day. Forgive me for my sins, I want to know You as Lord of my life and Savior of my soul. Thank you, Jesus!”. If you have declared this with your mouth, and believe it in your heart, you are now saved (Romans10:9).  Now one more task remains. Find a local church or ministry where you can be baptized, that is extremely important.