 |
| Brittany, Ben & lovely Eowyn |
Our friend Brittany has written this piece. She, husband Ben & two year old Eowyn moved to Helsinki from the US a few months ago & have become great buddies of ours. We're grateful to God to know them! I'll let Brittany tell more of their story. She's a great writer & a super photographer...
Hello! Happy fall to you! My name's Brittany. Ben (my husband) and I have been a part of Kev and Lydia's church plant for the past five months. Kev and Lydia have given me the opportunity to share a bit of what God has done here and I was delighted at the chance to share personally how we've seen God at work. It's a real pleasure getting to share with you. Thanks Joneses for the opportunity.
Back stateside my husband and I [the planners that we are], wanted to find a church home before we moved to Helsinki. I searched a lot of web pages, but was lacking all sorts of peace with the search. We were ending our nights a bit discouraged and had a rather bleak outlook of what we would find in terms of Christian community once we arrived here in Finland. One night, I was searching for ‘Helsinki mom blogs’ (because moms know all the hidden gems, right!?) and google randomly led me to the very blog you’re now reading. How’s that for Divine appointment?
I remember reading through page after page of this blog and turning to Ben and saying “I found it!” I wrote a comment on the latest of Kev and Lydia’s posts asking for more information and then a few weeks passed. They were out on Holiday, but despite the silence I was pretty set in my resolve that we need not look further. We found our people. We got a lovely response shortly after and our relationship began. We started corresponding amidst boxes and packing slips, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief that Jesus found us community before we even made it across the pond. I kept thinking “God is clearly the God of Helsinki.”
About a week after we moved, we had our first meet-and-greet with the Joneses. The day itself turned out to have its own epic tale that foreshadowed the wild, yet clearly God-ordained friendship that would continue to grow over these next several months. Our interactions with the Joneses have continually made our hearts rest easy, regardless of the fact that we have several kids to wrangle and that our deep conversations are often patch-worked through toddler mediation and English vs American-English translation (Like Pants vs. Trousers!) Good thing Kev has such a good wit. Needless to say, we’re a lively bunch.
Yet, God has carried us. God has used the Joneses in countless ways, even in redeeming the ‘wait’ that we struggled through preparing for Finland. (We were waiting over a year, and had major bouts of discouragement during that time.) To discover that the Joneses wouldn’t have been here if we'd moved when intended and to see the way God used the delays for our good has caused my heart to be slow to assume I know how a story ends.
On that note, a little back story: When I was 16, I had a prophetic word spoken over me that I would get to speak to dignitaries from all over the world. Back then, I was planning on majoring in Global Relations and this important prophetic word fit like a puzzle piece in my 10 year plan. Years passed, and here we are in Helsinki, Finland. A few weeks ago, we got to participate in the NEW Europe Weekend; a conference hosted here in Helsinki. My husband and I got the pleasure of meeting so many of you and many of your children loved on our little girl. It blessed us. Thank you.
 |
| A glimpse of God's family; friends from far & wide joined together, worshiping & dreaming of mission in the nations |
I never did major in Global Relations, and in many ways, I forgot that prophetic word spoken years ago. Then, on Sunday, after meeting so many of you from Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, the UK and so many other nations, I felt God remind me of that word and say: these are my dignitaries. It has been a deep pleasure to get to mingle with Joneses and so many of you who read this blog. You are God’s chosen people, his royal priesthood, his dignitaries being sent all over the world. I’m humbled to be able to be in community with you. I’m glad to learn that the way I predict a story’s end is often so different from God’s reality. The prophetic words that a teenage girl interpreted to bring glory to self, was rather fulfilled much more beautifully by God’s glory in his loving community. I like that story better. Getting to see how God has used time, and place and even struggle as crucial aspects to His design in bringing His Kingdom has brought so much hope to my heart. I especially love how He uses His people.
 |
| Prayer for many church planting & pioneering situations happening across Europe |
The Helsinki Church plant is still in its early stages, and while I think God has clearly placed vision of where He wants to lead His people here, I also am encouraged by Kev and Lydia in their wisdom in waiting to see how God reveals His story for Finland. I’m excited to see if perhaps even a few of you reading this are about to be a part of this story here, and I’m eager to see and hear the ways God writes His BIG story of bringing all His people to Himself.
I'm learning the beauty in God creating a culture of remembrance throughout the Old Testament. Hearing and seeing of the ways God has shown up past-tense gives me hope in the present that he'll keep doing just that. Hopefully as the days get darker and we struggle through winter, church planting, or just living lives in a fallen world, we'll make a practice of remembering the chapters God has already written in our stories and the ways he's already redeemed. May we be sharp at remembering and quick at retelling of his works.
From what I’ve seen so far, it really is a beautiful tale.
Follow on twitter: @Kevin_J_Jones
Wow, what a fantastic post. The best post around. Thumbs up
ReplyDeletecustom tour Helsinki