This is an encouraging email we got from Liliana in Spain:
Dear Jeremy and Karen.
I hope you are well, enjoying the blessings of the Lord in every area of your lives. Around here, we are working hard day to day, some days more enthusiastically, others just putting faith in God and believing that he is in control of all of our circumstances.
The truth is that all this last year has been a lot of work …. tiredness, and getting worn out …. In fact, two weeks ago, I fainted in the middle of a service …from a rise in blood pressure …. but I’m not here to write about our battles (I know you have your own too!)
How did things go with the consulate? Did you get your visas?
Look, speaking of that, let me tell you something. You need to know that it is for this time that God has called you to come to Spain… Knowing this you can be sure that the devil will put all kinds of obstacles for you not to come. We have been working for years in this land, we’ve been through all kinds of times (good and more difficult), but in recent times, more than ever, we believe that at last a time of numerical growth of God’s people is on the way and that God will be known in Spain …. and the devil knows that his time is short … and more than ever “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” …..
Spain in general is going through a time of social and economic crisis, on the other hand, it is becoming fashionable seek spirituality, so that the doors to get to the message of Jesus Christ to the people, are more open than ever before (either because people have need, or because it is popular). I wholeheartedly believe that the harvest, as Jesus said, is great and more than ever we need workers to help harvest the crop.
Those of us here are seeing a very strong opposition as all kinds of obstacles are popping up everywhere, to discourage, dry our resources, waste our time, block us with disease, pressure or sin… whatever it takes, to take us out. The battle is still intense and the only thing that sustains us in the midst of all this, is conviction (and I never use the word no feelin, because more than once, from personal experience, my feelings have been inconsistent and demoralizing), but as I say, what keeps us going, is the certainty that God wants to do something big for the salvation of those who are still looking, here where he has planted us.
So I say that the most important thing is to be strong in your conviction that God wants you here, because that is what will sustain you in the midst of the battles that may arise ….. and from that certainty ….. move forward, determined, although the doors appear to be closed, because when your noses touch the door, it will open …. that’s what we’re seeing here again and again .
For our part, we are praying that God’s will guide you in these times ….. and it is, we want you to know that what ever happens, we know wherever God has put us we will work together building His Kingdom.
We love you guys!