Update on Declan: 4 months in the thick of it
Let me start off by saying I’m not perfect. God doesn’t use perfect people. He did once, but that man was more than just a man. A broken pot was handed to me last Monday, filled with honey from Yellow Waters, Ukraine. Ukraine’s honey is known for being some of the best, and I was being handed a massive jar of it, that happened to be leaking and cracked and broken. That’s how we are, aren’t we? Broken vessels filled with the most delicious honey, but our brokenness allows the honey to seep out and pour out onto others. Well, that analogy isn’t the best because the honey kinda makes a mess, but you get the point.
I started this journey believing it would end after just 2 or 3 months, and here I am 4 months in, with no foreseeable end. When the war in Ukraine started, I felt it in my heart there was no other option but for me to go. The spiritual road through Ukraine was difficult, but God made a way. I was certainly bitter at times, tired, and beaten. My focus wasn’t always on God or serving others, I’ll be honest, but that little hope and faith inside of me kept a light in my eyes to burn through the deadly trials and frozen winter that I found myself caught in.
God certainly grew me a lot. As the days progressed and the weeks went on I saw more and more and more and more. God kept opening my eyes to little things, then big things, then back to little things, then little again, and then big, big, bigger, small again, and so on. One after the other the lessons came in. It was as though He had brought me out there, moved the heaven, and settled the earth into position just to perform extensive open heart surgery on one of His sons. Boy was it the most difficult time I’ve ever been through. Don’t get me wrong, He still did a lot for others around me, sometimes through me even, but at times it seemed He was focusing on me a little more than the others.
I’ll be the first one to tell you, I don’t entirely know what I’m doing, but the results seem to reflect a skilled professional who knows creation like the back of His hand. Must be God using me. There were quite a few hundred people receiving Christ from the handful of sermons I(really just God through me) preached on the border, countless more receiving Christ as I interceded for The Holy Spirit to touch hearts, and then many other lives changed as I prayed over people and blessed them in the name of The Lord. I saw people receive physical healing, and spiritual healing alike. But like I said, I don’t actually really know what I’m doing. I just kinda haphazardly throw things at the wall that feel about right, and most of the time they stick, unless I get arrogant and think that it’s all because of me it’s working out, then God humbles me and things stop sticking.
A lot of times I was kinda blindly following God, going by His peace and the gut feelings He gave me. It’s a miracle I didn’t die traveling to some of the inner cities in Ukraine, but I mean God is good so I was fine anyways. Now somehow I’ve ended up in Germany continuing to seek The Lord, and it’s been equally as crazy, growing, and at times difficult while still being beautiful and amazing. It’s really incredible how one thing leads to another and looking back I can so clearly see the hand of God on my journey. His hand has always been evident in my life, but The Lord has highlighted Himself in a special and beautiful way these past 4 months traveling throughout Europe.
I’m Germany, my time has been a peculiar mix of things. I’ve had a good amount of time to relax, reflect, and learn. Using the wisdom I gained in ministry in Ukraine, I’ve grown more in my ministry as a whole. Prayer is a powerful thing, so much so that if there was only one task I was allowed to do for the rest of my life, I would choose for it to be prayer. More than that though, God has had me focus on this one topic in particular, which we often read about in 1 Corinthians 13: Love. I could write whole books about this (even 66 books). To make a long story short, God took the knowledge and theology about love(specifically His love and our relationship with Him in that), and sank it right into my heart where it belongs. It’s such a moving thing, words can’t really express it, but when I was given that big jar of honey I mentioned earlier, I really felt God saying “this is my full measure of Love that I’m pouring into you, so that it can pour out of you onto others” and I have never been so touched by something so simple. Certainly God.
So, here I am, standing again in the great unknown, with one thing certain: Jesus is Lord. The future is pretty uncertain at this point, but as my journey has always been, let’s throw it at the wall and see if it sticks. God has filled me with a vision. A vision to see His church grow up, and rise up to the full measure He desires for them. I want to see my brothers and sisters really be wrapped up in God’s love, transformed by the fullness of His glory. I pray that for the world, but for now God has set me in Germany. He’s given me a plan to start a coffee shop down in the small town of Lörrach. There I’ll buy a house, and we(myself and the brothers and sisters who join me in this mission) will touch the community. From lörrach I will also be able to launch into other locations, preaching The Gospel, healing the sick, casting out demons, and generally being an image bearer of God’s love.
On this note, I need to address the uncomfortable. Finances are not something we like talking about, for a plethora of reasons, but they are necessary to make this mission happen. So far, I have been living off random donations from friends and family as God prompts them to, and when it comes to funding my further mission, I expect the same, but part of that still requires me to ask you for funds. Truth be told, I need an astronomically high number to make this whole coffee shop, house, and even staying in Germany happen, but God is big, much bigger than money, so I have faith He will provide. I have faith that He is sending me into the next season prepared and with exactly what I need, when I need it.
So, if you would like to donate to support my mission, there are a lot of options.
1. PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/crusader4life74
2. Venmo: @declan-thiele
3. Zelle: Declan Thiele 4803769661
4. Donate through the lifePoint give page and select missions under the give category and write my name, Declan Thiele, in the memo box. Be sure to write my name there, otherwise I won’t receive the donation.
More than finances, I ask for your prayers. My dear intercessors, I ask for you to move heaven into order that God’s will be done here in Europe, while I continue to go from place to place, praying over the sick in body and spirit, preaching to the lost soul, and being the hands and feet of Jesus wherever I go.
To Him be the glory forever and ever amen,
~Declan Thiele