So what have I learned this week? So much. My brain and heart are constantly being filled with new ideas and information that all help me grow deeper in my faith with God. It’s amazing. So amazing in fact that I wish each of you could go on a DTS to experience and learn what I am experiencing and learning.

This past Sunday, a couple of us made it to church in the morning. It was in German, but they kindly translated it all for us. It was incredible to see firsthand how two languages can unite together in order to praise one God. Luke and Magdelena, a couple who is part of the staffing team for my DTS, also bring church to us on Sunday afternoons, where we watch it with a projector online. We started a series called “Better” last week, and the second sermon was just as solid as the first. I have been challenged through those sermons, and in the daily lectures, in my art, in my prayers, in my friendships. The challenges keep coming, and while it is exhausting it is so beneficial for me to be pushed to be better. And to be better with and for God is my ultimate goal.

Now, on to a different note. I want to tell you a story. It is about a lost pen. The other day, I lost my pen. No big deal, right? Except that this pen was my favourite of all my pens and I do all my best art with it. It was outside talking with God when I realized it fell out of my pocket and I wanted to go back inside and look for it. But God said “No, you are spending time with me.” I argued with God, because I didn’t want to end up not being able to find my best pen. He eventually won the argument and I stayed outside and spent time with him. This was a good time for him and I, so I am glad I did stay. On the way back I started to look for my pen on the ground, thinking it might have fallen out of my pocket along the way. But then I heard God say that I didn’t need to look for it, because it was in the bathroom inside the castle where I must have dropped it. I kept looking outside anyways though, just in case. God urged me to stop, to trust him that he knew where my pen was. Long story short, I looked inside the bathroom later on and wasn’t there. I was really disappointed. I needed that pen, and I thought that God was wrong in telling me to trust him to know where my pen was. Because the pen wasn’t even there, so how could I trust him? I went back outside to look for it, yet before I really started looking, I stopped in my tracks and had this thought that it was something I should sacrifice, or give up. I should just trust God that he would provide me with my pen again, when I truly needed it. Besides, it was only a pen anyways. Turning around was a lot harder than it should have been, because it really only was just a pen. So I did not continue with my search. While I am so sad without my pen, and it takes a large amount of strength to not go out and look for it, I know I need to trust that his will for me without my pen will be what is best for me. I am so disappointed that it wasn’t actually to be found in the bathroom, but God must be teaching me a lesson of obedience and trust through this. The end.

Great story, eh? This actually did happen, and while you are probably thinking that I am juvenile for struggling so much over a simple pen, but that pen really was important to me. And this lesson can be applied into many areas of my life. I think God is just trying to teach me this lesson in a smaller way right now, so that my strength and ability to trust and obey him with grow. Maybe someday my pen will be returned to me, or maybe I will get a pen that will better suit me, but that is all in God’s timing. I hope I will be able to use that pen again, but I still treasure the times I was able to hold it in my hand and use it.

So even in the little things I am learning much, and it has been going well. I am feeling quite exhausted in every way, but I know that this is all going to be worth it. I will keep running the race and continue to strive for the end. I miss home a lot; it is the hardest on Sundays. But I am thankful that I have a home that I am able to miss. I am also sorry that I have not posted much in the past week. I have been very busy and the internet is unbearably slow. If you have any questions about what I am up to or what I am learning in a more specific way, email me at [finamurphy18@gmail.com] and I will do my best to reply and might even post up some answers on this blog (if I find the time that is!) 

I am hoping that Canada is still as awesome as ever and that all are you are well. May God continue to bless you! I will be in touch. 

Love always, 

Fina

Hey to all of my family and friends and followers: )

I am so glad you have taken the time to read this blog where I will share my heart and thoughts with you. I hope that through my words you can be encouraged and blessed and that I can truly show the love and awesomeness of my Lord and Saviour to you. This new blog is a part of my DTS training during my lecture phase and I am looking forward to how sharing my progress with all of you will really push me to be better.

I titled this blog as “A Better Beginning” because I really feel that God has brought me here to learn more about him and just find my whole identity in him, so this is my chance at a brand new start with God and my faith and to also learn to go for the better which is found in him. While I had other opportunities that I could have chosen to follow, but God lead me here in order to really discover this better beginning that he has planned for me.

In just one week of being here in Herrnhut I have already learned so much and God has revealed himself to me in ways I have never experience before already, so I am just really excited about what he will do here in my heart and in the hearts of my new friends. I have so much more to learn and this fact scares me and excited me at the same time, for I am afraid that I will not be able to soak in all the wonderful things that will be shared with me. But I am also truly looking forward to how God will shape me and how he will use me to shape others.

Our first speaker for our lectures of January MOTA is a man who has great talent in photography and helped found this YWAM base here in Herrnhut. His name is Jan Schlegel and his words were incredibly significant to me. He talked to us about passion and how being passionate, not only in your relationship with Jesus but also in every area of your life, can get you out of the trap of this dull and boring life that we live. Having passion will draw people in and it allows you to have the chance to be really successful in life, all for God’s glory. But passion comes with a high cost, for it demands sacrifice. In order to be passionate, you must be willing to give up the things that are no longer important and to only hold onto the hope and faith that you have in Jesus Christ. I have really been struggling with this concept because while I want so desperately to serve God and to live solely for him, I do not think I am strong enough to be able to sacrifice all that he asks of me. While I know that with him all things are possible and that life with him is much richer and better, if I am being completely honest, I do not think I am ready to be able to sacrifice enough to get there. I am working on this with God and in my heart I am wrestling with what he wants for my life, and as I struggle with this I know he is with me in every step.

Jan also presented the question of what kind of Christians does this world need, and he shared with us that we need passionate, happy, hopeful and loving Christians. Love is the most important aspect to that, for what is anything without love? (1 Corinthians 13) He encouraged us to really find out what love is and to really live that our in our everyday lives. God commands us to love everyone, even those that are more difficult for us to show love to. Jan told us to think of the person that you have the hardest time loving, and the amount of love you have for that person. That is how much you love God. When that idea is realized, the choice to love everyone becomes so much more important. I was challenged by this; to find out what love is and to truly love everyone.

Many thoughts are swirling in my mind; for example, how to listen to God’s voice and know his will for my life, and whether I can be strong enough for him, and how to be more like him in love and in my actions and words. Then all the other happenings of the day such as intercession and worship and Bible reading and my art projects and my own personal devotions and dedicating time to others both here and back home in Canada and to myself and to God and finding that balance and even my work duty, with all of these happenings my mind is constantly working. I made that a run-on sentence on purpose to demonstrate that I am quite busy, but I am enjoying it. I am being stretched to my limits and God is pushing me in new ways in my walk of faith and I am appreciative of this opportunity.

So to my loved ones back home, know that I am keeping busy and am doing well. I still miss home a lot but I will be home before we know it! I hope life in Canada is going well and may God challenge and bless each of you!

I will be posting on this blog regularly so you will be able to keep tabs on me here:)

Take care; I will be in touch.

Love always,

Fina