God has been showing me so much in the last couple months! First with working at City Camps with kids this summer and again last night when I got to play with some refugee children. On Thursday nights I have the opportunity to participate in an event called Cafe Hope. It's a time to fellowship with and meet refugees that live in a camp near Gießen. They usually come from Iran or Iraq but last night there were also some from Eritrea and Ethiopia.
Anyways, there must have been some new families there because there were some kids that I have never seen before. There were a couple of boys from Iran (including a pair of twins), two girls from Iran, and a boy from Iraq. Their ages ranged from about 6 to 10-years-old.
When I arrived at Cafe Hope the kids were just roaming around bored. Then one of the other helpers suggested I take them to a play room and just keep an eye on them till it was time to eat. At first they were really shy around me and I was not sure if they spoke any German or English so it was really hard to communicate. But something that I learned in China is a smile goes a long way. So I just continued to smile and attempt to play games with them. Then one of the twins, who was pretty outgoing, decided he wanted to teach my how to say "give me five!" in Farsi. When I had kind of got that down I went around to all the Iranian children and tried my new phrase out. Their eyes became really wide and they started to smile. It was a perfect way to make friends! The rest of the evening I had a little crew around me. The kids wanted to go wherever I was.
What I have realized is that God has given me such a love for children! I could spend every minute with them. Just loving them and playing with them! My heart and soul are so content when I am doing this. The thought of anyone hurting little children hurts me as well. When I see pictures of hungry children or children who have no one to love them I cry. I know that this love for children is from God. I also know that in my life I will be content wherever God has me if I have children around me that I can love and care for. I need nothing else. I don't need nice clothes, a big house, or money. I don't even need to be married. I would just be content to work with God's precious little children no matter where I am and no matter the circumstance.
Here in Germany it is so easy to get caught up in material things. There is a shopping center only 5min by bus and 10min by bike away from where I live. I could be clothes, earrings, and whatever I wanted every day. I have cafes where I can go drink coffee and read. I have so so much. My prayer is that all these THINGS that I am surrounded with do not get in the way of what really matters. I want to minimize the amount I have and maximize the amount I love other people. I am coming to realize that to truly find joy you must think only of others. Focusing on yourself only causes you to be more and more dissatisfied with life. To find the joy and peace Christ offers others must come first. I want a pure heart that hungers after holiness. I want to become more and more like Christ in every area of my life. I have so far to go. I am still filled with so much vanity and selfishness. But God is good and He is here with me. And I know that it is only through His power that I can do anything.
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