The Journey is the Destination

    Sometimes waiting can be one of the toughest things to do, yet getting to experience what you’ve been waiting for makes you realize it’s been more than worth the wait! I’ve lately been able to experience this in my life and I’m more than excited to share with you with what God has been doing! So let’s go back to the beginning of 2011…

   I had a dream one night of my friend Theresa and I. We were on our way to go to a house that had previously been a brothel but was turned into a house of restoration, healing and discipleship for the girls and people that had been a part of the brothel. Human trafficking and prostitution and bringing justice to these subjects are ingrained into my heart so it was cool to see God confirming things through this. In my dream, we were crossing over train tracks and there was a huge black train coming towards us. We floated from one side of the train tracks to the other and weren’t concerned whatsoever of the train coming towards us. I felt like God was saying through this, “Don’t worry, even when things try to come against you as you step deeper into this area, it’s not even going to effect you. I got your back.” Another detail in the dream was a huge mountain on the other side of the train tracks. I woke up from the dream excited for what God was wanting to do. Then began the waiting process.

A couple months after having this dream, I was living here in Germany.  One day Theresa and I were driving down the road and she pointed to the left and said, “Hey there is the big brothel I was telling you about…” and then she proceeded to say, “and then next to it is the train station….” And then I look to my right and there was a huge mountain….and I started flipping out realizing THIS WAS EXACTLY MY DREAM! The house, the train tracks, the mountain…all there in front of my face!! WOAH! After this happened, I felt like I needed to take action and go inside the brothel and show Jesus to these girls. Prayer is amazing and I know that so many people have been praying for this specific brothel (which is legal here in Germany and it is a huge castle-like building and is very well known in our region) but I felt like I needed to take the next step. So in December, me and my friend Tabea baked cookies one night and went to go hand them out to the girls in the brothel. Talk about getting crazy looks when we’d ask if they’d want cookies haha!  There were many girls that were surprised we would be coming to them, telling them how much Jesus loves them and giving them cookies. I was so surprised at how open the girls were and how simple it was! We didn’t need to do all of these crazy preparations and pray for 10000 hours beforehand but God says to go, so we went J  How cool that He wants to use us RIGHT where we are at NOW! After Tabea and I were there, the sentence that was on repeat over and over in my head was, “God, you know them ALL by name! I want to know them by name, too!” My biggest prayer is to build relationships with the people there and tell them who God says they are…not what this world has shown them who they “need” to be.

So this week, my friend Gela and I went back J Again there with cookies, we were able to hand them out to the prostitutes and even the pimp! The main “boss” of the brothel came up to me and Gela and asked us super nicely, “So what exactly are you guys doing this for? Are you looking for money donations or what exactly?” And we just said, “ No…we just love Jesus and He loves you guys so we love you guys!” And then the words that followed blew my mind. He goes, “Yeah I think that’s really cool of you! The girls are a little big shy at first with the cookies but if you started coming back more often and building relationships with them it would be really awesome and they’d probably be even more open to you.” Ummm…WHAT??!!? Here is the pimp, telling us it’s good what we’re doing, and that we should build relationships with the girls. WOW. Exactly what I’ve been praying for…and there we are, standing there getting crazy favor from the “boss”. HA! Many people have told me this is not normal at all for how open they are at this brothel. Most of the time they won’t even let girls into brothels and here we are being invited to come back and build relationships with the girls. I’ve never experienced the Lords favor in such a crazy way! God is so good!

So now after waiting 1 year after the dream I had…I’m beginning to see the process of this dream coming true. It’s been SO worth the wait! I feel so blessed that God would choose me…ME??…to send to Germany and be a part of this crazy story of what He is doing here! Your prayers are greatly appreciated! I encourage you to press into the process you’re in…and wait for the BEST because that’s what God wants for you! Not just good…but really the best! 

So I was trying for the 26^th  of April to leave America and embark on my journey to Germany. God had other plans. My flight was cancelled until the 27^th, which bumped my connecting flight in London off. After rearranging flight dates and such, I was really on my way on April 27^th. Me, Selena, going back to Germany!!! My heart was overwhelmed J God had started stirring up a passion for this country last year when I had been here for my DTS so it was surreal that I was on my way back! I stopped to see a friend in London for the day, which was amazing! It was so awesome to see the ways God is using him there! (Yeah, you Seth!) And being there the day before THEE Royal Wedding was an experience in itself.

  Now I sit here in this incredible country that God has embedded in my heart. Germany has become home quickly J I’ve learned so much in this last week and due to language barriers…God has been teaching me more and more that it’s really not about me. It’s not about me always being the talker but really having to sit back and let God completely take over with some situations. Challenging, but so good J It’s been amazing building relationships with these selfless people and I can’t wait to see what else God has in store for me here. I’m so exited for the community here and know that God has HUGE plans for them! I am honored that God wants to use me here in Germany…and being completely open to whatever way that looks like! I feel so so blessed to be back here, you have no idea! Selena + Germany is like America + Burgers. Haha. But really…thank you SO much to all of you who have supported me through all of this. It means so much to me that you see the process God has been taking me through and are in on it with me! Dankeschön!!!

Love God. Love His People. This is our command.