Gud er God, Hele Tiden

 To the dear people who are reading this blog, Merry Christmas! I wish that I was able to travel back to the US for Christmas, but I got to go to Germany instead, which has been a big blessing.
 I have talked a lot about my life in Norway so far, what living with a multitude of other people is like, and what we do in YWAM Skien. But now, I want to talk about what God is doing Skien; how He is working in the city through us. 
 In general, the Norwegian people are open to spiritual things, whether it is the Holy Spirit or not good spirits. I think that this is one of the reasons why God has met many, many Norwegians in what we would call a supernatural way. Before I go on and share some stories of what God has done, I want to say something about the core of miracles, signs and wonders, etc. The heart behind the supernatural is for a person to encounter the love of God in a tangible way. Praying for people is another way to visibly demonstrate God's heart, His love, and His compassion. 
 Okay, story time. One Saturday night in November, a lot of us from the base went out to evangelize. My group and I got to pray for a man with stomach problems. Not much happened after we finished praying, but when another group met the same man and asked if they could pray for him, he said that God had already healed him.
 On my last team week, my team and I went to a Baptist church in Skien to hang out with the youth group. While we were there, we got to pray for a girl with a sore throat and God healed her.
 Of course, healings are not the only things that God is doing. Another area that He is working with is divine appointments. Let me give you an example. One cold, dark night in November we had a fire drill just as the cafe that we run on Thursday nights was closing. The parking lot which serves as our safe meeting place in case of fires is right next to the disco club across the street from the prison. I guess a large group of people, some wearing pajamas, standing in a parking lot late at night looks funny because people from the club started to come outside and ask what we were doing there. When the fire drill ended and people started to go back into the prison, Melanie, a fellow DTS student and I started to talk with a girl who came out from the club. The girl shared her story with us and we had an opportunity to speak life into her life. Melanie is still in contact with this girl. I have no doubt that it was God who orchestrated things that night to reach this one girl. 
 There are many, many more stories of how God has healed people inside and out and touched the lives of the people in Skien. These are just the events which I have been privileged to witness.