2013 - New, new, new

I know it is already quite far into january but since it has been a while since I have update anything, vlog or blog, I thought I'd go back to the start of this year.

Over the past few months things have all been changing for the best. Especially in this year I have gotten so much closer to God. Am really growing more and more into the woman He wants me to be.  Now even though there are still challenges I am going through, especially in school, I am flying high, and get to look down upon my troubles with God by my side.  For once I can finally say, that things are going great! There were some bumps in the past year, and major lessons that God has taught me, but I can look back and see how I have grown and learned!

I can honestly say that though I have been walking with God ever since I can remember I continue to be amazed at his wonderful and amazing He is!  This year will also be filled with changes, finishing school, potentially doing a gap year, universities, jobs, church, more leading worship, translating etc.etc.etc. but I cannot wait!

One thing that I have have been finding more and more, is christian contact here in Dresden. I have my international church, and endless friends and family that give me spiritual growth and support but there is even more which I have been looking for.  I have found over the years, that being a young christian in Dresden not always easy, since there is not such a huge young christian community here, however I have been finding more and more young christians here at home in Dresden which has been such a blessing.  Just going to worship nights and seeing other christians who live in the same city as I, is such an encouragement!

I am looking forward to seeing the next steps which God has prepared for me. Could use a lot of support with prayer for wisdom for this upcoming time in my life. thanks.

"May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace."

New beginnings

It has been quite a long time once again since I have done an update, so here I go!In the past few months there have been different things in my life that I have needed to go through, with family and friends, but I can say with full confidence that God is good, and no matter what, I know that He is in control of all things. I am so happy and just in general really excited for things in my life to begin. I only have a few more short months left in school, and will then be free, so at the moment my main focus is graduating with the grades I need to eventually get into the universities I want to.  I know that in my last update, I talked about the university I want to join, however there have been some changes since then. 
I still definitely want to do a gap year, and in that time do a DTS, and earn some money.  However I have now finally decided 100% as to what I want to eventually be studying, and in what country.  I am hoping to move to the UK in 2014 and study International Relations, Political Science.  I had a great difficulty at first deciding this, as politics is one of my interests that I enjoy so much, however I also was considering studying Creative Arts, where I would have been studying Music, Theatre and Dance, which are other great hobbies of mine.  But now I have come to my conclusion and am so excited for my DTS and University to start, and for school to finally finish, and to be able to get on with my life.
Due to the fact that I am so close to graduating and need to be working like crazy and studying as much as possible, I get to enjoy a great lack of sleep, which does eventually take its toll, and I find myself falling asleep at the most inconvenient times.  The only thing keeping me “motivated” or to some extent, is being so close to completing it all. I feel like I can see the theoretical “finish line” of this part of my life, and I am just now trying to sprint, and give it as much as I can at the moment. 
In the last few weeks as I said, there have been old chapters coming to an end, and new ones starting.  When chapters come to an end, and when you have to leave people behind, it can be difficult and I have to admit, it hasn’t been something which was easy for me.  However the comfort that I have is that throughout this, I just felt God lead me, and show me that ending this one aspect in my life was something that He had actually been putting on my heart for a few months.  I finally decided to listen.  Now even though it was difficult, God gave me such peace over everything, and new joy, showing me the new possibilities now in this newly started chapter. 
I am looking forward to my future, and the things which are now to come.  God is good!

Drowning yet soaring high!

       So being in my last year of school, what else is there to expect other than mountain loads of work, that really do let you drown under the pressure! In a way it is surreal that now slowly the end of my school life is coming to an end, with only a few short months to go.
       My routine has gotten so full that I leave for school early in the morning and arrive sometime in the late evening with more hours of work awaiting me.  Okay yes it isn't fun, and I really have to put a lot of effort into it, but with all these things around me, I still feel so close to God.
       I am really enjoying life at the moment! I enjoy work, and time with family and friends.  Even thoguh there are so many things that could me pulling me down, I just see how God lifts me up above difficulties, and gives peace and joy and new life.  He really is a faithful God!
       So in my busy life, with school, projects, church, theater, sports, dancing and so much more, I managed to find time to actually start my Youtube channel, which I had promised ages ago.  So here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXPpmfaJrV0&feature=plcp
I am completely new to vloging, so bare with me, I am still learning.
       So one thing which God has been showing me in the past few weeks as well is that, through focusing on Him and having Him as my stronghold, nothing can shake me! I have a tendancy to worry about all and everything that I possibly can.  And God is teaching me to really put all of my trust in Him, and through doing this, Hes lifts me up from the troubles of this world, and I can live freely with Him.
           Matthew 6:33-34
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things."
       In this verse, Jesus says just that! Don't worry! We are looked after by the King of Kings, and all we need to be doing is seeking His face, and longing to be closer to Him.  See this longing is not something that is difficult to find, for once you start looking and find a climpse of His great love, you will not be able to do otherwise, other long to be closer to this AMAZING God. His grace is never ending and love always remains the same!
       That is something that I wish people would understand more! Who God really is! I wish more people would see how He is real and can change lives.  All we need to do is let Him in. I am seeing it just with my everyday life, that in all things, big or small, I can always see Him moving and how He is directing my path.
And all that I can say to this wonderful God is:
                                                        Thank you!

New Strength, New Confidence & New love

     With summer break being over for a couple weeks now, I have had a full calender with school and other things that are all taking up a lot of my time.  However I still wanted to take some time to update my blog since the summer, and actually start writing more regularly.
     S.O.S. was an amazing two weeks and I am so glad that I got to go and meet so many new people that have now become such close friends to me. At the start of the camp I had made a rather long list of expecations I had towards God, and things I wanted to experiance with Him during this time, and it was amazing to look back and see how God had given answers to every wish I had.  During those two weeks I got to really fall back in love with God see new sides of His glory and love in ways I had not yet experianced.  I really felt myself grow closer to Him in so many ways and learned to really follow when the Holy Spirit lead me and to trust that He gives strength in my weakness. It was such a great time,  I could end up writing a book about the things I experianced with God, and about the great new people I got to meet.
     The list of great experiances goes on and on, from having 24 hours of worship time (Burn), dancing in the streets of Berlin, being able to "preach" on the streets, having teachings and an all round really fun time. However some of the most meningful things that happened would be in the small conversations with people.
     In Berlin I got to meet Sophia for the first time, and before long we had become close friends and were able to talk about God and how he has and is moving in our lives. One of the things that we bother "realized" during a converation is something I also want to share with you.  It was something that really encouraged me, and I think that it will do the same for you.
     We started talking about challenges that we face in our own lives, whether spiritual or just in different situations, and found that God never gives you more than you can handle. And from that we found that there is no reason to fear anything that God asks of you, since He knows that you can handle it.  This made me think of
     Philippians 4:13
 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
     This is such a famous verse, and one of my favorites, but the meaning is so often not really understood. As children of this most high God we can do ALL things through Him. This shows that we have been given such strength through Gid who loves us so, and we don't need to worry about things that we face, for as simply said in the verse; we can do it!
Then another verse came to mind which was
     2 Timothy 1:7
 "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
     This then just confirmed it to us, that fear of the future and of troubles is not of God and that there is no reason to fear, but that we can face challenges and things that may seem to be difficult, with full confidence and power in the name of Jesus.
This was encouraging especially in a time where we were all overcoming challenges for God in Berlin, but not just for then but for every day in every moment. I love how these are just small reminders of God that show that we don't need to fear, but with trust in God can walk with confidence in worries and in hardships.
     Psalm 23:4 
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."
     Finally this verse, one that I remember learning off by heart at the age of 7, is of such importance because it pulls all of these other verses together, and just shows that God is there for His children and that we don't need to fear of evil, or that we are to weak or that we cannot do something for God, because He says we can!!! He proclaims that over my life so that I can walk through my life and through every day being confident in the fact that God is with me and that He is guiding my steps and giving me strength no matter what!
-Katya

Update, Berlin & Future Plans

   So I am just a couple days away from going to Berlin for two weeks for the S.O.S. camp.  The name stands for "Summer of Service", meaning that for 14 days I will get to serve God and the people in Berlin through prayer and outreaches in the streets in the amazing metropolitan city.  I will be staying at the YWAM base during this time and get to meet loads of new people and see those again who I met there in the previous year. I am so excited to see what God is going to do this year, and just remembering the amaing time I had in 2011 makes me look forward to how He will be moving again this summer.
   One thing that I have a heart for, and love to see is how the youth of today are so on fire for God and eager to serve Him.  I love seeing how God moves in the midst of young people, and seeing amazing things He can do through us as a generation.  God has such amazing plans for this generation!!!
   Over the past two weeks, I have had several talks with people about school, and what I want to do when I graduate.  Now I have just under a year until I will be done with school forever! Yay! However then the question arises: "what do I do next?".   For about 8 months now I have been asking God and hoping He would show me what to do, whether it is go to university, like many people expect of me, or take a year off and do a DTS or a year of ministry. And through countless people now God has been showing me what options I have for the future.
   Since it is still unclear to me what I want to do, one thing I do know; which is I want to serve God through missions, dance, theatre, worship and reach young people and families across the globe.  I have now decided that I want to take a year off, and get to know God's heart even more, and what He has instore for me.  Now all I need to do, is wait for God to open a door for me and see where he leads me during this year.
A bible verse that comes to mind, when thinking about my future, and how to trust in God is
   Proverbs 3:5,6
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path."
   This is a very well known verse, however I think that the meaning is often overlooked.  The bible tells coulntless times that we should trust in God, and that He is the one looking after us.  But so often, in times of difficulty and worry, we forget that its all in His hands, and all we need to do it trust and have faith.  The part which says "lean not on your own understanding" is what right now means a lot to me, because when moving forward in life, I tend to try to deal with things myself, and forget to let God take control.  It reminds me that if I follow Him and trust in Him with all my heart, He will be the one making my way straight (like it says in other translations) and leading me so there is no reason for me to be worried about what the future may hold, because I am a daughter of the most high God and He is looking after me.
-Katya

Welcome to my Blog

I thought that I would start off by saying why I decided to call my blog the way I did. Life is a journey, and each day is filled with experiences and moments that can change a person.  I want to be able to share the things that move me and the things that I have a passion for.  To be able to share about my relationship with God and my journey in learning to trust in Him everyday a new. I want to be able to give testimony of His goodness to me, and share the amazing things that he does and is doing in my life.  Along with this blog I will also be stating a YouTube channel, where I post vlogs, of thoughts and ideas that are encouraging and of things that I am doing, and how God is moving in me, and in the people that I am with.
I am starting this blog at a time in my life where I am clueless as to what steps God wants me to be taking now.  At a time where I am learning to fully trust in Him, and not to try to take things into my own hands but let myself completely go in His arms and rely on Him that He be carrying me through difficult times, just like He has always done in the highs and lows of life.  Being in a moment in life where I feel almost lost, but I still can say with full courage that I know that God is still there by my side, and in the end He will have been the one to help me get to where I need to be, even if right now I cannot  say what the future holds.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
"For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."
This was a bible verse that God put on my heart recently, and it shows that the Lord's thoughts towards us are countless and that they are good wholesome thoughts, thoughts of hope and of a future.  Here He also promises to listen when we have need and seek His face.  The Lord of heaven and earth listens!!! He is alive and well, and in hardships I will choose to praise His name, for His mercy is everlasting!
-Katya