“Dit is mijn verhaal” en “Hier ben ik”

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Agape Ontmoetingsconferentie 2013, or Agape Family Conference 2013.  All staff and family members from each branch of Agape Netherlands gathered this past weekend at a monastery in Southern Nederland.  Student Life, Family Life, Media, and Athletes in Action came together to refocus ourselves on 1)God, 2)Our Mission, and 3)Our Stories.  By using our personal stories, or testimonies, of what God has done in each of our lives, we can help introduce others to Christ as we work to fulfill our mission of reaching Dutch people for God.  We were trained in how to and encouraged to write our own stories and share it either on video or in writing to be put on a website, mystory.me, for basically anybody to access.  The theme of the weekend was “Dit is mijn verhaal” (This is my story).  

In addition to writing out stories, we had the privilege of having a famous Dutch artist, Kees Kraayenoord, perform on Saturday evening.  His show basically presented the Gospel in a very moving way, ending with a powerful statement: “Hier Ben Ik”, or “Here Am I”.  My prayer since coming here, whether I knew it or not, has been this: “Here I am, God.  Use me!  Reach the Dutch, the student at Tilburg University.”  Two of the songs we sang portrayed my feelings exactly:

               

“Here I am.

I bring my heart, my hands, my feet

To share Your love with those in need

Let it be my song of love for You

Use my voice to tell Your story

Use my arms to hold the Lonely

Let that be my song of love for You.”

(I tried to upload a video of Kees singing the above song at our conference, but I couldn't get it to work.  Here are some pictures instead.)

This is the other song:

“We lift our hands, fully surrendered.

Our lives are yours, no matter what the cost.

We will follow no matter what the cost.

We will follow no matter what the cost.”

There are a lot of questions and unknowns about the next year and beyond.  Who will we talk to?  What fruit will we see?  Where will I be and what will I be doing next year?  What is my dream and goal in life?

What I do know though is that I will try to continue to say to God this:

                “Here Am I.  Use me.  I bring you everything.  Take it.  Use it.  I’m fully surrendered.”

What are you saying to God?  Are you turning away from Him, rejecting Him?  Are you saying that your goals are more important?  Are you telling Him you’re scared, nervous, anxious, sad, upset, angry?  Tell Him.  Then, I challenge you to simply say “Here Am I” and sit silently in His presence.  Just listen and enjoy HIM.  It can be challenging, I know, but just say it, “Here Am I”, and see what happens.