Many times in life we face situations which we think are too big for us to handle. I think we often forget in those moments that we have a loving father on our side for whom nothing is too big. When God gave me the vision for what we are doing now I was thinking that it was not possible to do. But then I reminded myself about how faithful God was in the past and how the things He spoke started to become a reality. Yes we faced obstacles along the way, yes things looked different then I thought they would look like, but reality is things started to come true the way God said.

But even sometimes things are not as big as the ones mentioned above, like encouraging a neighbor, starting a brunch for neighbors, they still need courage.

But how do you keep your courage up even in times of hardship? Like I said before you have to keep remembering who God is and how faithful He is. One great thing to do that is by reading the Psalms. When you go through that book you will notice how many obstacles and tough situations the writers faced, but how God came through at the end.  Psalm 23.4 Even though I walk through the valley of shadow and death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…
This Psalm is just one of the many examples.

We want to encourage you to read through some of your favorite Psalms this week to build up your courage!

Hey our friend

We had a wonderful sunny week here in San Francisco. We hope you had some nice weather too so you could enjoy the beauty of Gods nature. During our week we had a yearly event for the neighborhood association which was a lot of fun. We meet a few new neighbors from our hill through the event which was awesome! We also shared with a team from Korea on how to love on their neighbors and neighborhood. Preparation for the conference this week also took up a good junk of time. Please pray with us that this conference will encourage and challenge YWAM’ers from all over the world to make an impact in the different areas of there cities.

Remember this week to read your Psalms!!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

For the last 2 weeks we looked at forgiveness to others and forgiveness to ourselves. Today we look into what forgiveness is and what it is not.

1. Let me be clear on this Forgiveness doesn’t mean that a relationship will be reconciled.  Sometimes it will not be able to be rebuild because the person might have died or it might not be a healthy relationship to be involved in.
2. Also forgiveness is a process. Its not a once and done deal. Its also not a feeling, it’s a choice.
3. Forgiveness doesn’t mean you forget what happened.
4. It doesn’t mean that what the other person did was ok.

All this things are steps towards You becoming free. Joyce Mayer said once: Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.  It reminds me of the story of Corrie Ten Boom and how she shared in Munich Germany after the war about forgiveness. A prison guard from the Concentration camp she was in comes to the front and asks her to forgive him. It was really hard for her to do but she did. And when she did she felt a warmth of healing flow through her (read more of the story under this link). Yes in forgiveness she freed him but in turn she freed herself.

We like to challenge you today to choose freedom for yourself through forgiveness! Here is a prayer that we learned out of book at a seminar:

Lord, I forgive (name the person) for (verbally share every hurt and pain the Lord brings to your mind and how it made you feel).

After you forgiven every person for every painful memory then finish this by praying:

Lord, I release all these people to you and my right to seek revenge. I choose not to hold on to my bitterness and anger and I ask you to heal my damaged emotions. In Jesus name I pray. Amen

Hello friend

We hope you had a great week!! Jen and I were on vacation and it was so refreshing. We hiked and just spend time in the wonderful nature God created. I love being there and seeing his creativity. This week we will be back in the full swing of things. If you could pray for us to start of well. Thank you!!

We want to invite you to partner with God and us to bring community to people and through that Gods love in a way they never experienced it before. Right now we are in need of $1.300 more on a monthly base to cover all our cost. Pray about joining our team in this way! You can do it with any amount you would like. Find out more on how by clicking on this link. If you personally cant join us in this way could you share it with family and friends who might be interested in joining. Thank you for your help. Thank you to each one of you who is already part of our team. You are a true blessing!

Spend time with God this week to see if there are still open wounds in your life and ask him to help you forgive!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen
https://youtu.be/dAp9JJjwkFY

This video shares the story of Corrie Teen Boom in her own words that I shared on the top.

Last we week we wrote about forgiveness and how we are called to forgive others. But one part of forgiveness is to forgive ourselves and receive the forgiveness of the father.

I read a series of books about a guy who was really rich and started an organization which had the goal to support nonprofits. He gave away tons of money and helped many people through it. But later on in the books you find out that he mainly did it because he was holding himself responsible for an accident that happened years ago. He was trying to do good things to feel better, but the main thing he needed was forgiveness. He had to forgive himself for that accident. But as soon as he did it, it changed his perspective on things and he was able to totally do everything out of love instead of guilt.

This was just a story, but it’s true for so many people. So many people can’t believe they are worthy and loved because they carry around this hidden lie.

Why? If we don’t forgive ourselves, we walk through life with a feeling of guilt and a feeling that we are not worthy to be loved. Sometimes that makes us do good things just to show that we are worthy. We believe that His forgiveness is not good enough for us. It reminds me again of that quote of Brennan Manning that I wrote about A few weeks ago: “God loves you unconditionally. He loves you as you are and not as you should be. Because none of us is as they should be.”  We need to come to a place where we can receive Gods love and in turn it enables us to forgive ourselves.

Ask yourself those questions:

1. In which areas of my life do I have to forgive myself and believe God has forgiven me?
2. If you haven’t done so ask God for forgiveness and also receive his forgiveness!
3. Ask him to show you his love for you personally in a new way!

Hello friend

How was your week? Send us an update on your life!! We had a bay area YWAM Meeting this week and talked more about a conference that we are hosting in April. People from all over the world will come to learn and exchange ideas with each other on how to bring Gods love to their cities and make an impact. It will be a great week. Pray that the right people will come. This week Jen and I will be on a little vacation. We are excited to just be refreshed!

We want to invite you to partner with God and us to bring community to people and through that Gods love in a way they never experienced it before. Right now we are in need of $1.300 more on a monthly base to cover all our cost. Pray about joining our team in this way! You can do it with any amount you would like. Find out more on how by clicking on this link. If you personally cant join us in this way could you share it with family and friends who might be interested in joining. Thank you for your help. Thank you to each one of you who is already part of our team. You are a true blessing!

Don’t forget to start forgiving yourself!

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen