Nr.132 ended with: “What to do? Who to turn to? Well, there was only one sensible thing to do, I grabbed my Bible and started reading where I had left off the day before……..….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

I was reading the book of Acts and that morning I came to chapter 16. I read verses 6 and 7, “Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them.” Something drew my attention and I read it again. The apostle Paul wanted to preach in Asia, but was not allowed by the Holy Spirit. Then he wanted to preach in Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit him. Strange and amazing, here was someone whom we may easily call “the greatest apostle of all times” and he wasn’t sure of the will of God. Twice he wanted to go somewhere, but the Lord stopped him. It really hit me and lifted me, Paul wasn’t sure of God’s will, but he kept moving, and as he moved the Spirit guided him.

Wonderful! Gone were my doubts. We had been praying all along that God would guide us. We felt we were on the right path and the Lord had not stopped us or redirected us, so we would go right on. Much later it became evident that this was indeed the will of God, as many people were saved in East Flanders and later in West Flanders and that 7 churches came into being in those two provinces in less than 10 years.

And so we moved, praise the Lord, a new adventure with Him. My co-worker, Henk Gelling went with me to visit the prostitute in “The Blue Room” in Antwerp, who was the owner of the house in Koersel, to ask whether the Gelling’s could take over the contract before the three year expire date. She was very nice and there was no problem, and so after we had moved out, the Gelling’s moved in, from Peer to Koersel. And even though we had already had Bible studies in that house and from time to time had celebrated the Lord’s Table there, now, on the third Sunday of January 1977, the official start of the new church in Koersel took place, praise God. So now there were four churches, Antwerp, Beerse, Peer and Koersel, and a fifth one would be started soon, and that all in five years, the Holy Spirit was moving, amazing…………! (Go to Musings).