‘Family Gathering’ brings Hope to the Eurozone - Aufstehen 2012Rebecca Swarbrick - 9 Nov 2012
“It was like a family gathering at Christmas – with everyone eager to share kingdom stories of how 
Jesus had been glorified over the last number of months” wrote Pete Waugh, from 24-7 Ireland, of last month’s Eurogathering in Frankfurt. Over 300 people from 23 nations, including Moldova and Luxembourg came together to pray earnestly for the continent, finding purpose for individual lives and hope for Europe.
Kristina Stephenson tells her story:
Having only met God last year, Aufstehen was my first ever Christian gathering of any kind and the whole event totally blew me away! Having felt called to 24-7 Prayer in Guildford (where I work) earlier this year, I had begun to build up relationships with some of the amazing people there. I travelled to Frankfurt on my own, but at no point over the whole four days did I feel alone.
Not only was God’s presence magnified beyond belief, but I met some humbling 24-7 Prayer members from all over Europe and beyond, all truly passionate for Jesus.
I was overwhelmed after the first meeting in the evening by the Holy Spirit and it did not end there. The following morning at prayer, in the beautiful sky room, God gave me the answer I had been seeking for over a year through one of my prayer team.
He said he had a picture for me; the King is in the counting house, counting out his money and the Queen is in the parlour eating bread and honey. This is in relation to my job, investment communications manager, as I have been asking God why and how I ended up in finance, since I don’t particular like or understand it much.
There was my answer. I am like the queen in the parlour with honey on my lips, honey being the word of God. God has placed me in this job to speak the Word of the Lord into it! AMAZING!
Again it didn’t end there. The next day one of the sessions was prayer, which I have never felt particularly confident at, but it was on governments and finance so relevant to my job. Mattias Kuhn said God has called us to go out and take action – so I did.
We walked along the bank of the river prayer, out loud, to the European Central Bank, which I write about frequently and prayed there for the Eurozone crisis and then on to the German stockmarket. Through the power of God the words flowed, out loud, and I felt a connection between places to do with my job and my beliefs.
There is so much more I could say about how the weekend. I have returned from Aufstehen full of joy, love and a fire for God. I know what my purpose is and what I need to do to fulfil this. Aufstehen provided me with the opportunity to meet with God to realise this. God is awesome, praise Him!
Thank you.