Somewhere

I started reading Ray Comfort's book "My Friends Are Dying" last night. As I crawled under my warm covers, I wondered why. Why do I, a 21-year-old young lady living in the United States of America, have plenty of food to eat, a comfortable bed, a loving family, the joy and peace of knowing Jesus Christ, and so much more? Somewhere else not very far away, there is a 21-year-old young lady living in the United States of America starving because she uses all of her resources to buy drugs that she cannot stop using, sleeping in the wind and rain without a blanket, no one even caring that she exists, and completely without hope of escaping the downward spiral that she is caught in until she commits suicide, dies from disease brought on by her lifestyle, or is murdered. Just a simple turn of events and our places would have been switched. Why?

They might not be in MacArthur Park anymore, but they are somewhere--probably somewhere much closer to you. Don't take what you have (and I don't just mean material things) for granted. That could just as well have been you. And don't hold back what you have (and I don't just mean material things) from them. God has put you here "for such a time as this"!

Books

I finally have a preliminary version of my “books” page up (thanks to a migraine :)! It was hard to decide how to lay the page out and I hope to eventually add some short reviews/descriptions on some books and further divide them in to sub-categories. But for now, use this link or click on “Books” in the tabs at the top of my blog. This page will be updated as I read new books, so check back. Enjoy!

5: Count Zinzendorf 's Affect on the World

One day while Count Zinzendorf was eating dinner at the coronation of King Christian VI of Denmark, he noticed a certain servant. After investigating and talking to the servant, Count Zinzendorf learned that he was from the island of St. Thomas and that he had become a Christian recently. He had a brother and sister back on the island that he desperately wanted to hear about Christ, but he could not go, for you see, he was a servant. Count Zinzendorf then decided that his community needed to be active. His community sent two young men as missionaries to the island of St. Thomas. Other people followed as missionaries to Greenland, the Guinea coast of Africa, St. Croix, Russia, Holland, South Africa, the United States, and many other places. I appreciated these quotes by some men who went as missionaries:

"If it was good enough for the Lord Jesus to become a servant so that we might be saved, it is a worthy calling for us also. I leave it to the good judgment of the congregation, and have not other ground than this thought: that on the island there are still souls who cannot believe because they have not heard."
- Leonard Dober, missionary to the island of St. Thomas

"Never forget that we have come here resting upon Christ our Savior, in whom all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, not on the principle of sight, but of faith."
- The covenant of three missionaries to Greenland

Count Zinzendorf was banned from the Saxony because many people thought that he had gone too far - a person of his class should not stoop to become a Lutheran pastor! Many, many years later, his banishment was lifted, though, as they began to see the good impact his community was having on the lives of people. Count Zinzendorf himself went as a missionary to St. Thomas and the United States, although he was in charge of keeping order at the two original communities in Germany. Count Zinzendorf accomplished a lot during the nearly 60 years he lived. At his death he said (speaking to his son-in-law), "Now, my dear friend, I am going to the Savior. I am ready. I bow at His will. He is satisfied with me. If He does not want me here anymore, I am ready to go to Him. There is nothing to hinder me now." Count Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf died Friday, May 9, 1760 at 10:00 p.m. The headstone for his grave read: Here lie the remains of that unforgettable man of God, Nicolaus Ludwig Count and Lord of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf. Through God's grace and his own faithful and untiring service he became the honored Ordinary of the Brethren's Unity, renewed in this eighteenth century. He was born at Dresden on May 26, 1700, and entered into the joy of his Lord on May 9, 1760. He was destined to bring forth fruit, fruit that should remain.

This is the final post on Count Zinzendorf. My prayer is that his life will touch you the way it touched me and I hope you have enjoyed learning about him as much as I have sharing about him!

4: Count Zinzendorf's Family

Count Zinzendorf's wife Erdmuth bore him 12 children in all, although many died young.
Christian Ernst, August 7, 1724 - November 1724
Benigna, July 1726 - (don't know the exact date she died, but she was alive at her father's death in 1760 with a husband and daughter of her own)
Christina Renatus, September 19, 1727 - May 28, 1752

Christian Friedrich, September 18, 1729 - October 1729
Theodore, October 1730 - March 1733
Johann, March 19, 1732 - May 19, 1732
Christian Ludwig, March 20, 1733 - August 31, 1737
Anna, August 7, 1734 - December 1738Maria, November 6, 1736 - (don't know the exact date she died, but she was alive at her father's death in 1760)Johanna, August 4, 1737 - 1743David, October 22, 1738 - 1742Elizabeth, April 1740 - (don't know the exact date she died, but she was alive at her father's death in 1760)

When his wife, Erdmuth, died on June 18, 1756, Count Zinzendorf grew lonely and sought comfort in prayer. Erdmuth had been his helper and manager these 24 years and now he did not have her. His son-in-law and some others advised him to marry again, and he did. He married Anna Nitschmann, leader of the single women's group, who was now 42.

(to be continued)

3: Count Zinzendorf's Life in Dresden

During the next few months of his life, Count Zinzendorf spent much of his time in the royal court at Dresden. These days were dreary ones for him. The only thing that kept him going was his new wife and his Sunday afternoon fellowship meetings with other believers. During this time, he wrote many hymns, in which he also found solace.

I learned this hymn on the violin and we sing it as a family. It really has some beautiful words!

Jesus Still Lead On

Jesus still lead on,
Till our rest be won,
And, although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless;
Guide us by Thy hand
To our fatherland.

If the way be drear,
If the foe be near,
Let not faithless fears o'er take us,
Let not faith and hope forsake us;
For, through many a woe,
To our home we go.

When we seek relief
From a long-felt grief,
When oppressed by new temptations,
Lord, increase and perfect patience;
Show us that bright shore
Where we weep no more.

Jesus, still lead on,
Till our rest be won;
Heav'nly leader still direct us,
Still support, console, protect us,
Till we safely stand
In our fatherland.

As the Moravian community developed on Count Zinzendorf's estate, many different people came to find religious freedom. He soon realized the need to bring some order. He solved this by setting up different groups of men and women and groups to minister to the needy. The leader of the women's group was an 18 year old girl named Anna. They also started a 24-hour prayer chain that lasted over 100 years!

(to be continued)

2: Count Zinzendorf Hears God's Call

When Count Zinzendorf got out of school at age 18, he traveled around Europe for one year just a every son of nobility did in his time. He was not particularly interested because he felt God had a special call on his life, but he went anyway. While he was touring, he visited a gallery of paintings. One that caught his attention was called "Behold, the Man". It was a painting of Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head, and on the bottom the painter had painted the words, This I have done for you, What have you done for me? After seeing that, Count Zinzendorf was more determined that God had a special call for him. He went home and took up his jobs in the royal court, wrote hymns, and attended meetings on Sunday. At last the answer came. He inherited his father's money, and with it bought his grandmother's castle. One day, a man named Christian David came to him and told him about a group of persecuted Christians in Moravia, just south of Saxony, and asked Count Zinzendorf if he would be willing to make his estate a community where these Christians could flee to. He agreed, and plans were made. Just before the first family came to settle there, Count Zinzendorf married a daughter of nobility named Erdmuth.

(To be continued)

1: Count Zinzendorf's Early Years

I recently finished reading a biography on Count Zinzendorf. I was greatly inspired by his life, so I thought I would share a bit about him with you.

For all of you who do not know Count Zinzendorf (I will try to be brief), Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf (known as Count Zinzendorf) was born in Germany on May 26, 1700. When he was young, his father died and his mother went to marry another man, so he was raised by his grandmother, aunt and uncle. One of my favorite stories about Count Zinzendorf is one from when he was 6 years old. He was reading the Bible and praying one day when Swedish soldiers stormed in to raid the castle. They stopped, looked at him, and then at each other. Then they quickly turned and left. They said they could not raid a place that God watched over. When he was 10 years old, he went to a school where he first saw and talked with a missionary from India who was visiting the school. From that point, he decided he did not want to follow his noble birth and become Count of the Saxony, but he wanted to dedicate his life totally to God.

(To be continued)