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