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Posted in General Articles
by Megan Kroeger
on 8/15/2008
The time for me to leave for Africa is quickly approaching. My team will be meeting in Georgia for training camp in just 24 days. We will spend a week there getting to know each other, physically and spiritually preparing for the 9 months in Jeffrey's Bay. As the time gets closer, my excitement (and nerves) continues to grow. I know that God has such big things in store for this trip and I can't wait to join Him in the work He is already doing in South Africa. However, before I leave I must have 60% of my funds for this trip in my account and 40% in pledges. At the moment I have $2,100 in my account and $1,300 in pledges which leaves me $3,600 short of what I need. Without the funds in my account, I will not be able to leave with my group. I know that this is where God wants me so I know that He will take care of all my needs. I just ask that you will allow Him to use you in this ministry. Your gifts will go directly towards my trip which covers living costs and the ministry tools needed to help the orphans, widows, and AID patients we will be working with. God is at work in South Africa and I ask that you would prayerfully consider joining with me in ministering to the people Christ himself would have ministered to. If you're interested you can click the support me link on the left side of this page or e-mail me to get the form you can mail in by clicking the contact me link on the left side of the page. Thank you for allowing God to use you to meet the needs of those that are hurting in South Africa.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27
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Posted in General Articles
by Megan Kroeger
on 8/7/2008
I spent last week with my Church and many other Churches from around the US in Buffalo, New York. We went with an organization called World Changers. This is my favorite trip of all the trips we go on every year. It's just an amazing opportunity to share your faith by serving.
The one thing I love most about the organization is that it puts the focus of missions exactly where it needs to be. As Christians, we so often lose sight of the greatest commandment. John 13:34-35 says "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." We are called to share our faith through love. People should know what we believe by how we love one another.
During the week, we are put on different crews assigned to homes in the area that need work. We show our love for Christ by giving of our time and money to work on someone's house that can't afford it. You can only imagine the reactions you get to telling someone you paid to roof someone's house for a week. It shocks people to hear that someone would pay to do work for someone else and as a Christian that worries me. This is exactly what we should be doing, people shouldn't be shocked by the actions we do in love. We have been blessed to be a blessing to others. Christ has showed us love so that we may show others. As the Church, we should be doing more. We should be living our faith out daily by loving and serving others. It's about so much more than going to Church, singing the right songs, even saying the right words to people. It's about being the Church, worshiping with our lives, and loving beyond what words can do.
We learned a song in Buffalo that has become my prayer for not only myself but the Church...
God of Justice, Savior to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served
Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
We must go
Live to feed the hungry
Stand beside the broken
We must go
Stepping forward, keep us from just singing
Move us into action
We must go
To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in everyway
Walking humbly before You God
You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord
God has filled us up and continues to fill us up so that we may go. We should be constantly pouring our love, blessings and being into others. It's an everyday, everyway thing. We need to start acting upon what we believe and what we sing. Do we live life like our chains our gone? Do we live life like God is our King? Do we live life like were pressed but not crushed? Do we live life like He reigns? How can we expect others to know God and love God, if we don't love them enough to tell them with our words and our actions?
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Posted in General Articles
by Megan Kroeger
on 7/3/2008
"Your destiny is not something that is left to chance or fate, it is the product of wise choices."
I read this quote earlier this week and it has stuck with me. My destiny is the product of wise choices; not just the choices I make after college that will determine my career but the daily choices that will affect others and my eternity. The choice to talk to the guy in the ice cream shop or leave with no impact, the choice to have a Christ-like attitude or let my situations determine my mood. Everyday we are given opportunities for impact and by making wise choices in my own life I can capitalize on these opportunities.
Too often I don't think about the little decisions like if I should call a friend to see how they are doing or whether I should take an extra fifteen minutes to have a quiet time in the morning. It scares me to think that I can be too comfortable in my schedule and surroundings that I am missing what God is doing. God is working; the issue is whether or not I will choose to be a part of His work. These "little" daily decisions ultimately add up to my destiny. I'm not going to end up in Africa or any other nation doing missions for the rest of my life by chance, it will be the product of fervent prayer and choosing to follow God's leading. I'm not going to make a difference on anyone's life by fate; it will be the product of allowing the Holy Spirit to work through me.
I want to make a difference in this world. I want to impact lives for God's glory. I want to see the nations reached. However, I won't be able to do any of that without choosing daily to pick up my cross and follow Him. It is such a simple principle, to deny our selves but it is so hard to choose to do. I believe that without daily making wise choices, beginning with denying our self and declaring Christ Lord, our destiny will be bleak. I want to stand before the throne and hear, "Well done good and faithful servant" but I know that won't happen by chance. It starts with the little decisions like having a good attitude and investing time into friendships. God has put the options in front of us; it is our responsibility to make wise choices.
If a house were on fire with many people inside would you stand outside and watch it go down in flames? I think the obvious answer for everyone is NO! Then why are we so willing to stand by and watch as millions are condemned to eternity in hell? We should want to set the world on fire until they see Christ’s light burning. We need to start with the “little” daily decisions if we want to end up at our heavenly destiny surrounded by those Christ chose to reach through us.
Update: With pledges accounted for I am close to having 50% of the funds needed for this trip. God is constantly affirming that He wants me in Africa and that He will provide. In a little more than 2 months I will be on my way and I'm excited about everything God has in store. Continue to pray for the people we are going to meet and that everything will fall into place, including the rest of the funds. Thank you for your support through prayer and giving. God is going to change lives as a result of your support!
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Posted in General Articles
by Megan Kroeger
on 6/23/2008
I don't know where to begin. I just got back from a mission trip with our college group in Mazatlan, Mexico and God did so many amazing things. For starters, I'm really not much of a Spanish speaker but God showed me that He is a God of every city, nation, and tongue. God is and always will be bigger than any obstacle put in our way, including language barriers.
During the trip, we spent the mornings handing out gospels with invitations and during the nights we held VBS and movie nights. In 4 days, with less than 50 people, we handed out over 8,000 gospels and had close to 800 attend the movie nights. That blows my mind every time I think about it. 8,000 people have the word of God in their home. We will never know the impact that handing out gospels had but I know that when we trust in God, He does amazing things.
We prayer-walked every street before doing anything. Every house was prayed over before they recieved God's word. Even though the trip was about planting seeds, God gave me the oppurtunity to see just how important one conversation can be and just how powerful prayer is. I was walking down the street with another student just praying over the homes and the converations that were going to be had. We prayed for oppurtunities to have conversations that would change lives. We prayed for open hearts and minds as we handed out the gospels and we prayed that God would bless our human efforts. God did just that. I walked up to a rotiseree chicken store where a young man was and handed him the gift. He took it and began to ask questions about what we were doing and where we were from. He spoke really good English which was helpful because my Spanish is poor. We talekd to him for over 10 minutes and God just led the conversation to many important issues. He asked challenging questions but God provided us with the words to say and at the end of the conversation Victor accepted Christ. Every prayer that we prayed over that street was answered in one conversation. Victor was so excited and we were blessed by him. I gave him my Spanish-English Bible because he wants to learn more English and I know he will be more likely to read it than the one that has been sitting at his house untouched. God just showed me that when I follow His leading, amazing things will happen. I was able to see a life changed and God changed my life during this trip.
We should pray before doing anything. We should have hearts that are open to what God has in store. We should allow God to use us in daily conversations with everyone we meet. We should be on mission anywhere and everywhere that we go. We didn't take God to Mexcio, He was already there working in their hearts and still is. I'm not going to take God to Africa, He is already there and will be there long after I leave. God is the God of every city and every people and I'm just called to love them and to go. That is what I want to do.
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Posted in General Articles
by Megan Kroeger
on 6/5/2008
I believe that God does not waste our hurts. There have been many situations in my past that have caused me great pain but I know that there is a plan bigger than my capacity to understand. God has showed me first hand that my hurts can be a testimony to others and an encouragement to those in need. There will be pain in everyone's lives because sin is prevalent in our world. However, that does not mean that we have to live in the pain.
God has brought me through the worst times of my life and I know that I am a better person because of my past circumstances. Even though I wouldn't have chosen the situations for myself, I'm able to say that because I live for an amazing God I was able to conquer the pain. I believe that there is hope for every heartache and healing for every wound. The key is to fall into the arms of the one true Healer and trust in His timing.
I've been taught so much through the many struggles in my life and I strongly believe that each situation I was put in was to teach me a lesson. I've learned to rely on God's love and friendship through losing friends. I've learned that in order to be in God's will I must first surrender my hurts and desires by struggling to do things on my own. The most important thing I learned is that everything really does happen for a reason. God showed me that by using the brokenness of my family and my desperateness for healing as a means of bringing me to my knees and experiencing the beauty of surrender.
I've been shown that in order to truly enjoy the calm, you must first experience the wind and the waves. In order to soak in the beauty of the sun, you must first experience the rain. It's easy to get caught up in the bitterness or sadness when we're put through trials but we wouldn't understand the meaning of grace and peace if we hadn't first experienced sin and pain. . My past has shaped me into a firm believer that there is a light at the end of every tunnel and that light is the radiance coming from a God who is ablaze in beauty.
UPDATE: Preperations are constantly being made for the trip. God is showing me that I don't have anything to worry about because He is in control and He is directing everything for this trip. I need 20% in my missions account by Monday and I have 20% accounted for. This doesn't include the price of the plain ticket though. I'm excited about what God is doing and I look forward to updating you more on how He is providing and also the things He is doing in and through me now.
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Posted in General Articles
by Megan Kroeger
on 5/22/2008
It has been a busy past few weeks and I often find myself getting caught up in the busyness and not allowing myself to really soak in God's beauty that surrounds me. I went on the budget retreat with my Church at the beginning of the week and it allowed me to see that I need to slow down. I spent two days just relaxing and soaking in my surroundings and God has used that time to rejuvinate me.
I've never been to a lake before this week and I've never really been fishing so it was an experience to remember. Let's just say fishing isn't what I'm best at but it wasn't about that. Sometimes I think we just need to be taken away from our daily schedules to see everything that we are missing. I got to enjoy laughter and friendships just hanging out in a full moon attempting to fish. What is so cool is that God made us in His image and if He made the moon and lake and the sky that beautiful how much more beauitful are we to Him? And how much more beautiful is He? I was able to gain a new perspective of God's beauty this week when I was able to just sit back on the boat and soak in the beauitful weather on a lake.
Not only was I able to see God's beauty this week but I have seen another glimpse of His power and His glory. On the way home from the lake, we got stuck in a scary hail storm. The rain started pouring down and the winds started raging. The stop sign we were at was twisting and shaking from the weather and I was scared for my life for a few minutes. Hail was smashing into our van and the noise alone was enough to scare me. We prayed for safety and we went on our way and God protected us, the hail stopped and the winds calmed. At the time of the storm I wasn't thinking how Glorious and powerful God was but to look back on that and see that He can make the storm and He can calm the storm in minutes is just amazing to me. Scary, but so amazing. I don't have the words to describe His beauty and His might, His glory and His power, His love and His mercy all I know s that my God is so great that there won't ever be words that will do justice in describing Him.
This song sums up my thoughts better than I could...
Indescribable, Uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God.
All powerful, Untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees and we humbly proclaim,
You are amazing God.
)Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go,
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow?
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light,
Yet conceals it to give us the coolness of night?
None can fathom...
Incomparable, Unchangeable,
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same.
You are amazing God.
God is truelly ablaze in beauty, we just have to take the time to see His beauty that surrounds us.
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Posted in General Articles
by Megan Kroeger
on 5/6/2008
It still hasn't sunk in that I will be spending at least 9 months in Africa! I'm so excited about the trip and everything that God is going to do. This is something that God has been preparing my heart for over the past few months and it's so cool to see how He has been working things out all along...
Missions has been a part of my life since middle school and it's something that I've always loved to be a part of. Through the many missions trips with my youth group, God has developed a passion for His people within me. Until recently, I never thought I'd be a missionary but I knew it is something I still wanted to be active in. However, God used the 30 hour famine to completly change everything in my life. Before the weekend my Church participated in the event, I had been at my breaking point. I'd been stressing over picking a major, struggeling friendships, and letting go of past hurt. I expected the weekend to be one in which we helped raise money for the children around the world that were hungry, I didn't realize how much it would impact me. We held a prayer service that God used to break my heart. He showed me that I was trying to do too much of this on my own and I needed to just let go. Through that service, God showed me the true meaning of surrender and how important that is in the life of a Christian. I gave it all to Him; my past, present, and future. Since that weekend, God has spoken life back into me. I am at peace with my past, I have a new joy in the present and He has given me a glimpse of His amazing plans for the future...
Instead of figuring out a major and finishing school, God has directed me to Africa. He has also showed me that missions is going to be my life and I'm excited about everything that He has in store. I don't claim to know what is to come after Africa but I know that I serve an amazing God that is so much bigger than I can even imagine. I'm just looking forward to what He has planned.
As I continue to prepare for this trip, I ask that you will pray for me. Pray that nothing will hold me back from giving God everything that I have and everything that I am. Pray that my heart will be broken for the people that I meet and that I will be able to serve them in humility. Also pray for the group, that we will be unified in Christ and our love for one another will be an example of the love of Christ to everyone we meet in Africa.
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