My Journey to Germany

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It was during Christ for all Nations’ training camp in Orlando, Florida where I first learned about the ministry, Nights of Hope in Germany. Nights of Hope was the last initiative shared about at the training and as it was being shared, I immediately felt a push to go. After finding a one-way ticket for $287 to Freiburg Germany, I booked it and was ready for my first mission trip.

As I got to Orlando International Airport to begin my journey, I was a tad nervous - navigating buses and trains in a foreign country by myself was completely new to me. Nonetheless, I got to the airport excited for the adventure ahead. (My dad reminded me, "It’s about the journey, not the destination"). I remember sitting on my first leg to London Gatwick Airport just praying the journey would go smoothly and for the Lord to provide help along the way should I need it.

Just before I arrived at London Gatwick Airport, I mentally prepared myself as I had to take three separate train rides to get to London Stansted Airport for my second leg to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport. Fortunately, I navigated the airport, got my train ticket, and followed the signs to the platform I believed took me to Stansted. As I waited, I became more and more worried as to whether I was standing at the right platform or not. I preceded to ask three groups of people for help (all of whom told me they had no clue how the train situation worked) before asking the last girl standing on the platform. She had her large Apple headphones on, so I didn’t want to bother her, but I had no choice. I leaned over and said, “Do you know if the next train is going to Stansted?” She smiled and laughed saying, “Yeah, are you going to Stansted?” Turns out this girl was not only going to Stansted, but she lived in Orlando just like me! We journeyed together over the next three train rides, and I couldn’t stop praising God because I really didn’t think I would’ve made it on time without this girl. Thank you, Jesus!

Once I arrived at Stansted Airport, I was sitting by the gate waiting for my second flight to Frankfurt-Hahn. It was here where the Lord answered my prayer yet again. As I was waiting, another girl came up to me and asked if she could sit next to me. It turned out she was visiting her friend in Germany whom she had met years ago, and actually thought her friend was going to the same event I was serving at, Nights of Hope. She couldn’t remember the exact name, but the location and dates lined up perfectly. I took this as another God wink and thanked the Lord again for being so dang good…

I finally arrived at Frankfurt-Hahn Airport but had to take a bus to Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof to catch another bus to Freiburg, Germany where my friend Angelika was picking me up. (I can’t believe how many planes and trains and buses I took lol). As I was waiting outside for the FlixBus to Frankfurt, I realized my iPhone battery was at 10%. With no adapter and no battery pack on me, I sat there wondering what I would do if I didn’t have a cellphone to use with another ten hours of traveling ahead. I sat there thinking, “Man, Lord what the heck do I do??? And why didn't I bring that freaking battery pack…” About five to ten minutes later, ANOTHER girl came up to my table and asked if she could sit with me. We started chatting and I found out she grew up in Texas (wild because my dad is from there and I lived there for two years) and was now going to school in London but was traveling throughout Germany for some of her summer break. As we boarded the bus, my iPhone battery was now at 2% - you could say I was a little worried ha. I turned to the new friend I made and said, “Hey, you wouldn’t by chance have an iPhone adapter, would you?” She rummaged through her bag and said, “Ah, no I’m so sorry I only have this one!” My hope was completely gone, so I started thinking of all the places I could buy an iPhone charger in a foreign country late at night. A few minutes later my friend tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Wait! I have this one. Does this work?” Turns out this girl had an adapter that fit my freaking USB iPhone charging cord that plugged right into the bus… I sat on that bus in complete shock and awe of God. By the end of that bus ride, my phone was 100% charged…

As my friend and I departed ways at Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof, I had about four hours of waiting to do before I boarded my final bus to Freiburg. The hours were slowly and painfully ticking by. I stood there asking God why in the world I decided to book the later bus instead of the earlier one. It was about 2:20 in the morning at this point with only a few stragglers left. I decided to whip out my Bible and read through Psalms as I continued to wait. I had about one hour left before my bus arrived when I noticed a man sitting on the floor. I could tell something was wrong because he seemed to be in agony. As I discreetly watched, I began thanking the Lord for protecting me while simultaneously asking if I should go over and pray for the man. I was one of the only women in the bus station and I didn’t think I got a response, so I decided against it. It wasn’t until about fifteen minutes later when I saw out of the corner of my eye that same man LIMPING and shuffling across the parking lot with moans and groans. This poor man could barely walk. I was shocked he was trying to walk at all. When he finally reached the curb on the other side of the lot, he mustered whatever energy he had in himself to lift his left leg onto the curb and it was at that moment I said, “Ok, Lord I’m going to pray!!!” and ran across the parking lot to meet him.

I slowly approached the man and could immediately tell he was suffering from severe pain in his legs. This man spoke little to no English, but I did my best to converse with him (my phone only worked with WIFI at this point so no Google Translate for me). I asked him what his name was, where he was from, and what happened to him. When he told me what happened to him, I believed he said he fell from the roof of a house and landed on his legs??? I asked him if he had any pain in his legs and tried acting it out like a game of charades. He nodded yes even though I didn’t think he understood me. I put my hands together in the praying position and asked if I could pray for him. He repeated, “pray?” and then said “yes, yes.” I stretched out my hands, placed them over his legs, and said, “I command you to leave spirit of pain and I command full healing in Jesus’ name.” I stepped back, asked him if his legs felt better, and then motioned for him to walk. Nothing... Nothing changed. I said, “Ok! I’m going to pray again!!” He laughed and stood there but gave me permission to do so. I prayed a second time commanding strength into his legs and for there to be no more pain. (I will remember this next moment for the rest of my life). As I was praying the second time, I kid you not I felt his legs supernaturally elongating – his legs were literally gaining back their strength. By the time I said amen this man had said, “WOAH” over and over again. He looked up at me with huge, wide eyes that were literally bugging out of his head in pure and utter shock. He began walking around NORMALLY. He didn’t know what to do. He kept looking at me stuttering with his words. He said, “Before… I was… I was… (imitating himself limping) and now… now… (showing himself walking normally).” He walked past me and as I turned around, I saw him fist pumping the air with tears in his eyes. He grabbed my hands and kept saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I said with tears in my eyes, “It wasn’t me; it was Jesus!! Thank Jesus! Jesus healed you!!” I pointed up to the sky and pointed to Jesus’ name in my Bible. It was after this unbelievable miracle that I realized the whole reason God had me book the later bus and the reason I had waited all these hours was because Jesus wanted to meet this man in the street and heal him from his pain.

As I waved bye to the man, I boarded my final bus ready to see my friend Angelika to giddily tell her everything that happened during my journey to Germany. I arrived at the bus station in beautiful Freiburg about three hours later excited to serve with her at Nights of Hope.

My hope in illuminating these small glimpses of my journey to Germany is that they strike you with how wildly magnificent, phenomenal, and REAL God is. These stories aren’t about me or my travels or what I did, but they are about Jesus and how good HE is. As I re-read this, I can’t help but tear up with complete bewilderment at how incredible He is and how much He loves His children. I hope one of the things you understand from reading this is that no matter where you are in the world or where you are in life, the Lord goes before you. He is with you every step of the way whether you think, feel, know it or not. He is waiting for you. Just talk to Him and He will answer.

Jesus, you get all the glory!

-Brooke