kollmansinsubmission

Waiting on Him

2010-10-04T11:36:00.001+02:00

Waiting. This is what the Lord is teaching us how to do right now. Our lives seem to be in a waiting period currently as we wait on many different things. The most obvious is our waiting for Michèle's arrival, which is becoming more and more difficult at least for this pregnant mommy. We are also waiting for the arrival of family who will be coming to help us. We are waiting to see how the Lord will continue to grow the relationships with which He has blessed us. We continue to wait on Him to show us how we are to better serve the people of our city. I am not very good at waiting but it continues to be a theme of our lives, so I know that the Lord has much more to teach me about waiting on Him. This morning, He reminded of Isaiah 40:31 which states: "but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint." I am so encouraged to hear that it is the Lord who renews our strength and that all we need to do is wait patiently on Him. As we wait upon the Lord, I want to learn as much as I can from the waiting experience. Thanks for praying with us as we wait on Him.

Aromas!

2010-09-27T14:41:00.001+02:00

The Lord has been recently speaking to my heart quite frequently about the aroma of our house. I do not mean if it smells good due to a candle or after mopping the floors with Pinesol (which I truly enjoy both of the fragrances), but instead if our house is smelling sweet to our Lord and to those who enter into it. The verse which comes to mind is 2 Corinthians 2:15, which states: "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." So often, we allow our circumstances, bad attitudes, stresses of life to destroy the aroma of our home. I find myself having to stop on a daily basis and ask the Lord to refresh the aroma of our home. We want to exhibit the sweet smelling aroma of Christ to all who enter into our home and to the other family members who share our home. We pray that our home will be a sanctuary where the Lord will draw people to Himself, for this reason we must stay focused on keeping Him as the fragrance of our lives and our home. To this end, we are very excited about this coming week, because the Lord has graciously allowed us to have three different opportunities where we will be opening up our home to others. We covet your prayers for each of these times.

2010-09-15T13:55:00.001+02:00

We thank you for your continued prayers. We continue to be reminded of the Lord's faithfulness in answering our prayers. Some prayers are answered very quickly and some we are still waiting on responses, but He continues to remind us that it is all in His perfect timing. I continue to be amazed by how He chooses to use us to share His love and message with others. I feel so inadequate and undeserving when I think of my sinfulness, and yet He continues to give me opportunities to share His message with others. It always excites me when He uses my struggles to teach other people His truth and faithfulness. He chose to use my weakness this morning to hopefully draw someone closer to His kingdom. As Grace and I were walking back from taking the boys to school, I was praying and asking the Lord to guide and direct our steps and asking Him to forgive me of a sin which He had shown me. Later in the morning, I was on the internet when I had a friend who lives in another European country begin a skype conversation with me. I was so thankful to the Lord that I was able to share with her some Truth that the Lord had just reminded me of this past weekend and then later in the conversation I was also able to share more of the Gospel with her. I praise the Lord that He used me to share with her what He had just taught me. I continue to be amazed by His perfect timing.

This past weekend, He gently reminded me that He knows the plans that He has for us (Jeremiah 29:11). He spoke to me after the third word, that's all He needed to say and then we stayed at that place in Scripture for a while. Life can be very uncertain at times, but He reminded me that He is still the One in control and that His plans will be established. In the midst of these uncertainties (language school for Chris, Michele's birth, etc) I can still find peace because He is the peace giver. He did not give me peace this weekend by giving me an answer to all of my questions, instead He gave me His peace by simply reminding me that He knows His plans for me. This may seem completely obvious to you, but I needed to be reminded of this truth once again. May we continue to be hopeful and patient in Him!

His faithfulness in every detail

2010-08-31T15:08:00.002+02:00

I just wanted to share how the Lord once again surprised me by His faithfulness. I know that I should not be surprised, because He has proven His faithfulness to me so many times before, but once again, I was amazed by His goodness and faithfulness. Here's the story: I had an appointment for my last ultrasound in Brussels, but my husband had class about thirty minutes away for our home and would be there until about an hour before my appointment. So, I had made arrangements for a friend to come and watch the kids so that I could take the train and meet my husband in time for the appointment. Well, my friend told me early last week that she was not able to watch the kids, so things began to get a little crazy. I began to stress out, because I did not have any other options and I knew that I would not be able to take the kids with me on the train by myself, especially since it involved changing trains and dealing with a stroller and lifting a three-year old on and off the train. I really began to panic! What was I going to do? I forgot that the Lord is always in control and that I just need to trust Him. So after, thinking through various scenarios, my husband graciously planned on missing some of his class to come back and pick all of us up and then drive us to Brussels. I finally thought that we had a plan. I forgot that God is in control and that His plans are always better than our plans. Yesterday morning, my husband called me and told me that he had wonderful news for me. His class was ending early and he would be able to come home and have plenty of time to pick us up and take all of us to the appointment. You may think that this is a silly story, but I am once again reminded of how GREAT and MIGHTY my God is and how much He cares for me. I just wanted to thank Him once again for His faithfulness in every detail!!

2010-08-24T11:53:00.000+02:00

the wind and the waves

2010-08-10T14:04:00.002+02:00

As I was reading our morning Bible story to the kids, I was once again reminded of our disobedience and our need for the Lord. The Bible story was about when Jesus was in the boat with the disciples and the huge storm came up. They were all very scared, but Jesus was sleeping. He had nothing to fear. As the story goes on, the disciples woke him up, because they were scared of drowning. Jesus calmed the storm by His words and the disciples were amazed. The passage reads: "In fear and amazement they asked one another, Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."
Obedience is a topic which comes up very often in my house, since we have three little children who do not always want to obey. As we were talking about the story, I reminded them that all of nature obeys Jesus, but we so often do not choose to obey Him. I am amazed by our disobedience and our lack of submission to our Creator. We are quite arrogant to think that we do not have to obey Him, even though all of His other creations obey Him. I was also recently reminded of this truth as I read David Platt's book, Radical. He states, "Everything in all creation responds in obedience to the Creator... until we get to you and me. We have the audacity to look God in the face and say, 'No.'" Unfortunately, we do this every day. We, as the creation, think that we do not need to obey our Creator. How foolish are we?
May we learn to obey Him just as the wind and the waves do.

Exalting in our inabilities

2010-07-24T14:52:00.001+02:00

One blessing which we received was the book, Radical, by David Platt. He was our speaker last year and has a wonderful heart for missions. As Chris began reading the book, he asked me to share with you a portion which was especially meaningful to him. We pray that the Lord would continue to be exalted in our inabilities, so that He may be glorified.

"In direct contradiction to the American dream, God actually delights in exalting our inability. He intentionally puts his people in situations where they come face to face with their need for him. In the process he powerfully demonstrates his ability to provide everything his people need in ways they could never have mustered up or imagined. And in the end, he makes much of his own name."

This past year has been filled with experiences which clearly demonstrated our inabilities, but I know that we did not always thank the Lord for allowing us to experience them so that His name would be praised. May we begin this new year on the field praising the Lord for all of our inabilities and thanking Him for showing us that we desperately need Him. May He alone receive the glory for our weaknesses.

Thought: What inabilities has the Lord placed in your life for His glory?

What a year!!

2010-06-28T15:37:00.001+02:00

It's time to celebrate!! This coming Friday marks our first anniversary in Belgium. We want to truly take time and praise the Lord for the triumphs and trials which He has brought us through this year. So, here we go...
We thank Him for each of them, because we have learned to love and trust Him so much more deeply because of each of them. We thank you for being with us and encouraging us during this journey. We thank the Lord for the people which He has placed in our lives, for the two homes in which we have lived, for the three supervisors which we have had, and for all of the illnesses which have invaded our bodies. We thank the Lord for the use of the metro system and our wonderful van. We thank Him for the churches which we have been able to worship in and the fellow believers which we have met and grown to love. We thank Him for broken bones and new babies. We praise Him for the language acquisition which He is granting to all of us. We thank Him for teaching us that He is all that we need (this is a lesson that we are continuing to learn). We thank Him for wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ, living life here in Belgium with us. We thank Him for technology which has allowed us to see some of your beautiful faces through skype. We thank Him for airplanes which have allowed loved ones to come and give us hugs and kisses when we needed them most. We thank Him for allowing us to share His name with some who have never heard anyone speak of Him in the way that we do. We thank you for your prayers. We thank you for lifting us up while we sleep. We thank you for loving the people of Belgium and wanting them to come to know our beautiful Jesus. I think that I could go on for a long time, but I will end my list here. I know that there are some many more things for which I could praise Him.

Please take time this week, to reflect on what the Lord has taught you this past year, month, or week. And reflecting on Him, praise Him!!

We thank Him for what He will teach all of us this coming year. We praise Him for His beautiful faithfulness and sovereignty.

Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Our move!

2010-06-21T13:25:00.002+02:00

We have moved to a new city, so I have been quite busy with unpacking, getting settled, finding new grocery stores, new schools and everything else. We are very excited about our new city and the blessings that the Lord has in store for us here. I will update you very soon on what the Lord has been teaching us as we moved here and begin to get settled into our new life. We are so thankful to be on this crazy and challenging adventure with our Lord!!

Our idols

2010-05-06T09:38:00.002+02:00

Tomorrow our crate is finally arriving after being stored away for over a year, we are going to see our stuff. Things which will remind us of our previous homes and hopefully make this new house a home for us. As we have been preparing for the crate's arrival, I have been praying that we would not begin to love or worship our stuff. I want to make sure that we remember that it is only STUFF, and in the end it does not truly matter. I have been praying about this because I know my sinful heart and how it can lead me astray. I do not want the next few days or weeks to become all about our stuff and that we lose sight of our very purpose in life. I started reading the book of Jeremiah yesterday and it has been very convicting. I was reading in chapter 2 this morning, and found some verses which truly spoke to me. "But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols." Jeremiah 2:11"They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves." Jer. 2:5b I am not going to bow down to my things when they arrive tomorrow, but I must guard my heart against loving the things of this world more than my Maker and Savior. I must constantly keep my heart and priorities in check with my devotion to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I cannot do this on my own, but by His power and strength He can change my sinful heart.

A blessed week!

2010-04-14T17:08:00.002+02:00

We have had a beautiful two weeks and we have been so blessed to have Chris' parents here with us. We have all enjoyed having them here with us. It has been so nice to have extra help around the kitchen and extra people for the kids to play with! We have had lots of fun introducing them to Belgium and to our new culture. Since they do not speak French they have enjoyed having Daniel as their little translator when they have gone out shopping. Chris and I have enjoyed going out on a date! We plan to go out on another one at the end of this week. What a blessing to get to spend some time just with my husband! We were definitely very spoiled when we lived so close and we could have babysitters very quickly, but now it is much harder to find extra help, so we have been very blessed these past two weeks. Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of family. We are so grateful to have two sets of parents who love, support and encourage us so much! Thank you, Lord for these wonderful blessings in our lives.

Open our eyes, Lord.

2010-03-30T10:26:00.000+02:00

We trust that you are having a blessed day in the Lord. We hope that this coming week each one of us will be able to focus on remembering what our Lord and Savior did for each of us and that we will be able to share that amazing gift with others. We praise the Lord for the gift of eternal life and for our eyes being opened to the truth of the Gospel. As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across another story of someone's eyes being opened by the Lord and I thought that I would share it with you.

2 Kings 6:16-17 "Don't be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O LORD, open his eyes so he may see." Then the LORD opened the servant's eyes and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

May the Lord open our eyes to see what He sees and to see people the way that He sees them. May we not lose sight of the Lord and His plans for us. May we earnestly yearn for Him to open our eyes so that we may see His plans and His people all around us. If we have His eyes we will be victorious and the enemy will not be able to distract us. With opened eyes let us fix our eyes on Jesus, no matter what is going on all around us.

A Couple of Updates!

2010-03-23T10:09:00.004+01:00

Well it has been a long time since I last wrote on here. My how time flies! It is amazing to see what the Lord is continuing to show us each and every day! He is so faithful!

Well, as the title suggests I have a couple of updates since the last time I wrote! Daniel did find his hat the next day at school, which was such an amazing blessing, because he was able to see that the Lord does answer our prayers and that the Lord is faithful. It was also great that he found it, because I was able to tell his teacher that we had been praying about it and that the Lord had answered our prayers! It always a special treat to insert some truth into her life! So, thank you Lord for answering our request and showing yourself to our little son.

Well, another exciting piece of information is that the family is expanding! We are pregnant with our fourth child and due in late October!! We are very excited and looking forward to experiencing a Belgian birth! The Lord is so good and so faithful to us. The kids are very excited about the new addition to our family. Joshie asks me on a daily basis if I still have a baby in my tummy and then always seems a bit confused, but he is excited. Daniel is very excited and thinks that we need to girl. He says that it would make sense to have two girls and two boys. He is praying to the Lord about it and I told him that we would see what God has planned for us. We are so thankful to the Lord for his provisions and blessings in our life.

We go back to the doctor in a few weeks for another ultrasound. We can't wait!!

A lost hat

2010-02-26T10:28:00.002+01:00

Yesterday Daniel took his only baseball cap to school. On our way to school I told him to be very careful with it, because his Bop had given it to him and it could not be replaced. Well, when he got home from school, there was no cap with him. He told me that he had lost it in the cafeteria yesterday morning. So, this morning I went with him to look for it, but to no avail. I was very discouraged and almost began to cry thinking of the picture of him and Bop wearing their matching hats when he was only two. Then, the Lord spoke gently to my heart and asked me a very difficult question? Am I as concerned about all of the lost people around me who do not know about Jesus? Is the loss of a material possession making me sadder than the lostness that is all around me? How have my priorities become so confused? May I praise the Lord for this lost baseball cap, because it reminded of a much more important truth! May I seek hard after the lost of our city. Thank you for this uncomfortable lesson!

Thriving, not just surviving!

2010-02-11T11:44:00.001+01:00

To be perfectly honest with you, the weather here in Brussels is grey and cold today and I feel that this is representative of how we feel right now. We are tired. Over the weekend, we were blessed to go see some colleagues in another city and this was a wonderful excursion for us. Daniel got to play outside in a yard!! It was a wonderful time for all of us. As we were having conversations around the table the topic of thriving instead of just merely surviving came up. These days we feel like we are just surviving, but we do not want this to a way of life. We WANT to thrive here where the Lord has placed us. We want to display His glory and it is most difficult to do when you are barely hanging on, or is it? Is it when we are barely making it that we learn to shine for Him the best? As I was reading my Bible this morning, I was struck by a passage which I have read countless times before but the Lord gave me a new perspective on it. Psalm 9:1-2 states: "I WILL praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I WILL tell of your wonders. I WILL be glad and rejoice in you; I WILL sing praise to your name, O Most High." (emphasis added) As I was reading, it was like the Lord was telling me that it is a conscious decision that I must make each day to praise Him. I must set in my heart to praise Him no matter what may come. This may seem very simple to you, but it was exactly what I needed this morning. When days are incredibly dark and difficult, I must determine to praise Him and when days are joyful and light, I must determine to praise Him. My praise of Him should not depend upon my circumstances, He is the same and thus worthy of all of my praise.

School adventures!

2010-02-03T11:25:00.002+01:00

This morning, Daniel's class had a special crepe day, so we all went to his school, except for Daddy. When I say we all went that means that I was carrying Grace and holding hands with Joshie as we walked. Daniel was a big helper and held Joshie's other hand as they walked together. We have a huge double stroller and I did not think that I would be able to get into the school building with it, so at the last moment I chose to walk while carrying Grace and holding Joshie's hand. We were definitely a sight walking down the sidewalk. I always get lots of strange looks when I push the double stroller, but today I got some strange looks because of all of the children that were walking with me. We took up all of the sidewalk, but praise the Lord we arrived safely to school after having to cross the road three times. It was fun to walk with all of the children and we did pray for safety as we were walking. This is the second morning this week in which Joshie has joined us for our morning walk. He enjoys being a big boy and walking, though it is not always convenient. I think that the Lord is teaching me to be patient as I slow down to walk with Joshie. This morning, we arrived to school and went to the cafeteria where I was able to sit with some other parents and begin getting to know them a little better. I always appreciate any opportunity which the school allows for me to be able to come and meet other parents. I thank the Lord that I am able to communicate either in French or English with the various parents from the school. I was also able to watch Daniel interact with the other children in French. I am amazed at how the Lord is opening up his ears and mouth to this new language. Grace and Joshie enjoyed eating a crepe (Grace even sat at the table like a big girl) and then we were on our way back home again. We will now pick up Daniel from school, because he only goes during the morning on Wednesdays, but this time, I think that I will use the stroller. Enough exercise for one day! What a privilege to walk and talk with our Savior!

walks and talks with Daniel

2010-01-13T13:25:00.000+01:00

One of the blessings of living in Europe is that I get to walk our oldest, Daniel, to school every morning. I love these times because we always pray for his day and for his teacher and Daddy's day. Some of the conversations that we have are so precious to me and I hope to never forget them. This is a very special time for the two of us, because it is basically the only alone time that he gets with me. We hold hands and walk and talk with our Lord. Some walks have been in the beautiful sunshine, some have been in the rain, but this morning's was in the snow. It was snowing so hard that we could barely see, none the less, it was quite memorable. I love these walks because we get to see our city as it is waking up and all of the shopkeepers who are beginning their day. We pass by many people rushing off to work or parents rushing to get their children off to school. It is just a very special time with Daniel and the Lord. I pray that as Daniel continues to grow up he will continue to want to walk and talk with me; I know that the hand-holding will not last forever, but more importantly, I pray that Daniel will walk and talk with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ all of his life. I pray that as I am walking with him that he will see how important my walk with Jesus is in my life. May this be the legacy that I leave to him.
Thank you, Lord, for these walks and talks with you. I love you!

What a difference a week makes!

2009-12-16T21:24:00.000+01:00

Last Wednesday night as our family was enjoying a meal with a friend we did not know that the rest of our evening would not be as calm. After we had had an enjoyable meal, we decided to put our boys down so that we could continue talking with our friend. As I was putting medicine in Daniel's eyes, because he had pink eye, I heard Grace begin to scream. I immediately thought that she would calm down as soon as I held her and that she was just mad because I had not been holding her from the beginning. After trying to comfort her for a few minutes and her screams continuing to intensify I called the doctor and explained that her shoulder was red. He immediately told us to go to the ER. Our friend stayed with the boys as we prepared to get to the hospital. Chris did tell me on our way to the hospital that Daniel and Joshua were praying for Grace as he entered their bedroom. We are very blessed that the hospital is only a ten-minute walk from our apartment. I held Grace very tightly against me as she seemed to be more comfortable and we walked in the cold air with the beautiful Christmas lights sparkling all above us. When we arrived in the hospital we saw a tiny waiting room crowded with many children and adults. We gave our information and then waited for our turn. The room was crowded with so many different stories. There were many concerned faces in this tiny room. I tried to interact with a few and find out what their stories were. There were so many sick children. As we waited there in that tiny room for two hours, I was so thankful that Grace was sleeping and that the Lord had placed us there so that we could pray for these people. I felt so privileged to be able to pray for these people, who did not know me and did not even know that I was praying for them, but the Lord had placed us there so that we might glorify His name through prayer. When it was finally our turn, we were directed to a room at the end of the emergency area. After discussing Grace's accident, she was given some pain medicine and we were told to wait and see if that helped her to calm down. We became a little frustrated because we knew that she was in pain and we wanted to stop her pain immediately, so we prayed for wisdom and the doctor finally agreed to an x-ray. Moments later we found out that she had broken her collar bone and that the nursing staff was looking for a small enough splint to keep her arm and shoulder stable. The nurses were wonderful and bandaged her up nicely. As we were leaving we were blessed to find out that our doctor is a believer. What a blessing from our Lord! He is so good! Christians are hard to find in Belgium and the Lord blessed us with a Christian doctor on a night when we needed encouragement. As we walked home from our first ER visit, it was now past midnight, but we were stregnthened and encouraged by our great God! The Lord blessed us with unimaginable strength. I look back and think what a week, but the Lord is so good and so faithful. Throughout this incident Grace has had so many people praying for her and we have been able to give God the glory even in this accident. Grace is doing great with the harness that she has to wear for another two weeks, but each day she seems to be feeling more and more like herself. I am so thankful for the past week and the strength that the Lord has given us. Tomorrow my parents arrive and we cannot wait to see them and have some extra help! What a mighty and sovereign God we serve!

Waiting...

2009-11-19T10:45:00.000+01:00

Waiting seems to be a theme in my life recently. It seems as if I must wait everywhere I go. At Daniel's school before I pick him up, at the post office, at the grocery store, for the elevator in our building and for the plumber to come back and fix our tub. Waiting, it is in every part of my life. We are waiting on several packages which are coming from the States. Some have important documents in them and some have goodies in them, but no matter the content we are still waiting on them. I am still waiting on my official papers to be finished here in Belgium, so that I can recieve an identity card. This is a very long process which has numerous steps involved. I am still waiting on some paperwork, so that I can advance to step two of the process. And just recently, we have added to our waiting list, medical results. Chris has been very sick for the past couple of days and today we should get back his results. We hope to find out something so that we can proceed with a treatment to help him feel better soon. It sounds like he may even get some antibiotics, which are not commonly given out in Belgium. I think that one has to be very ill before they will prescribe an antibiotic. So we wait patiently for the doctor's call. I know that in all of this waiting the Lord wants to teach me how to lean more on Him and not be impatient. Some days I do better than others. I pray that as I wait for all of these things that I have mentioned that I will not miss out on what the Lord wants to teach me while I'm in the waiting process. I know that when I am waiting it makes me more dependent upon Him and not myself; this is always a lesson that I need to continue to learn. So, here I am waiting, trusting in the One who is always faithful, knowing that He is still in control and knows what is best for me at His perfect time, not mine.

Living in weakness!

2009-10-21T15:20:00.000+02:00

It has been such a long time since I have written anything on here, but the last month has been difficult. Daniel came down with the chicken pox, much to our surprise, since he has been vaccinated twice against them. He had a mild case (only about 40-50 bumps) but he missed about a week and a half of school. We expected the other two children to get the disease, but the Lord spared them this time. We are still baffled by this. Sickness has just been a part of our lives these days. Chris has been constantly battling a sinus infection which medicine does not seem to help. I had the flu last week and Grace continues to have a cold. Josh got sick earlier in the week, but is doing fine now. To be honest, we are just very weak and tired right now. As I was crying out to the Lord this morning, I was taken to Psalm 21, and the Lord did not let me leave the first two verses. "Oh, LORD, the king rejoices in your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give! You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips." As I was pouring out my heart to the Lord, He reminded me that I must rejoice in my weaknesses, so that His strength can be made even more glorious in my life. I must surrender each day over to Him. He is the One who is in control. He has brought us here for a purpose and we must continue to be obedient even in the dark and confusing times. He is our ultimate source of strength and hope. Psalm 18:32 states "It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." Even though these days are hard, I will continue to trust in Him and in His faithfulness.

Growing up in the Presence of the Lord!

2009-09-07T21:48:00.000+02:00

As I have been reading through the book of 1 Samuel, I was struck by the verse which states that "Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord." (1 Samuel 2:21) What an amazing thing to grow up in the presence of the Lord! As Daniel started school last week, I have seen before my eyes how he has been growing up in many different ways, but especially in His faith in the Lord. Starting school for the very first time is always a huge challenge and being in a school where he does not speak the same language as his classmates has presented some more challenges. I can thankfully say that I have seen his little faith in the Lord truly blossom this past week and I am so thankful to the Lord for allowing him the awesome privilege of growing up in His presence. May we all seek to grow up in the presence of the Lord as we seek to completely place our lives in His hands and rely on Him for everything. It is truly an amazing process to watch and I praise the Lord for allowing my family to be stretched so that we may all grow up in the presence of our faithful and mighty Lord!

Trips to the park

2009-08-26T22:01:00.000+02:00

A new daily routine in my life is our trips to a nearby park. When we lived in Virginia the boys could play outside in our yard, but now that we live in an apartment, we must go to find open spaces to run and get rid of some energy. We have found one park which we enjoy and we try to go there as often as the weather permits. We have been blessed to have some beautiful days and we have all praised the Lord for them. The boys look forward to the park so that they can slide and swing, but I see it as an opportunity to meet people from many different countries. As we walk to the park, I am always in anticipation of who the Lord will place in my path today. I have been so blessed to meet some wonderful people. I thank the Lord that He uses such simple things, as going to the park with our children, as wonderful ways to spread His love. He is amazing and He continues to amaze me by His faithfulness! May we continue to go to the park, not for our enjoyment but for His glory.

Pictures from Belgium

2009-07-19T22:59:00.000+02:00

Rejoice in God's Grace!!

2009-07-19T22:44:00.000+02:00

1 Corinthians 15:9-11
"For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed."

During this week, this verse has stood out to me. I am learning that only by His grace did I come to Him and only by His grace can I do anything to further the Kingdom for His Glory. I continue to learn that I need him because I cannot do anything without Him but I want to make sure that I always first rejoice in the grace of salvation that was given to me. John Piper(pastor/author) states about Luke 10:20; "Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." He states from a book that:
"But. Let this not be your first joy or your root joy or your indispensable joy. Rather, 'rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven." That is, rejoice that you are enrolled in the redeemed. Rejoice that you will go to heaven when you die. Rejoice that God has written you among the elect. Rejoice that you are saved. This is the greatest thing. Not ministry. But knowing God, seeing God, enjoying God. The greatest thing in the world is to be saved. Because it is being saved to enjoy God forever."

What does this have to do with anything, well for me is that I am reminded by Paul that I am saved by grace and I am who I am by grace so I pray that this grace that has been given to me is not in vain but for the glory of the Lord. I am reminded from Piper that I rejoice first in the grace of my salvation before anything else that the Lord has graciously given to me or to our family. I need to rejoice in the Lord for the grace of salvation first before rejoicing and thinking about things that pertain to different grace given by the Spirit. I might need grace in writing to make sense of my thoughts but these two things stood out to me. by Chris Kollman

Praise the Lord for small details!!

2009-07-16T00:38:00.000+02:00

Praise the Lord, we are doing well and we are in week 2 of everything. We are getting used to everything, which is a great learning experience. The kids are doing great(PTL) and we are doing well also by His grace. We praise the Lord for being a God of details. He answered our prayers by allowing the Tech. Service Man to come early today to hook up everything so that we can write this blog tonight or early this morning. We are starting to make new friends, which is a blessing as well and will see where the Lord leads with these relationships. Thank you for your prayers and following us as we are not doing well in keeping you posted but we will do a better job. Please let us know how we may be praying for you all!!

Under construction!

2009-06-14T20:38:00.000+02:00

The Kollman Family is creating a blog for the first time ever! In the next few days, we will be working on our blog! We hope that you will join us in our adventure with the Lord!