this one will be a celebration of the
wide variety of cultures, uniforms,
national costumes. It will just be
a foretaste of what Heaven will
be, because they shall come from
the East, they will come from the
West and we shall all sit down in
the Kingdom of God. We will have
a visual representation of that.
Women Up
Finland when we
heard the news. As
you can imagine it
was quite a shock.
next morning as we were reading
the Word together, the passage was
in Jeremiah 31, and when I read
verse 28, "But now I will watch over
you to build you up and make you
strong, says the Lord," it was like if
the Lord was speaking directly to us
through that verse. When later on I
doubted about the future, that Bible
verse comforted me. That, coupled
with the prayer of people, helped me
a lot. We received so many encour-
aging messages saying that people
were praying for us. Between what
God gave us at that specific moment
and the prayer of people was enough
to sustain me during those days.
The Salvation Army?
lence, abuse and domestic violence.
I am also concerned about the ero-
sion of family life and the loneli-
ness of some women. In the Army,
necting with working women, with
young women or single parents. We
seem to be very comfortable among
ourselves and we don't reach out
enough. The opportunities to work
with women are there, but we don't
always see them or take advantage
of them. Also, we are not sufficiently
valuing the contribution of women.
in The Salvation Army?
through the Women's Ministry I
am greatly encouraged. Lately I
was reading the annual reports
and I was heartened by the ac-
counts about women who have
found Christ through our programs.
It is also encouraging to see that
when we give the opportunity to
our women to develop and use their
gifts we do see change and trans-
formation in their lives, their fami-
lies and their communities. Through
skills training many women can
put food on the table. They can sup-
port their families, their children.
All this is a great encouragement.
images come to mind?
cause it has a lot of different colors.
It is a picture of the "One Army."
Other places are darker, there's not
so much life; nonetheless it's still
part of the rainbow and when you
look at a rainbow with those differ-
ent shades of color, it's beautiful.
150th anniversary?
thank the Lord, because He has kept
us, blessed us, the Army is still grow-
ing, and a lot of miracles still hap-
pen. It will also be wonderful to meet
people from all around the world,
and worship together. We are pray-
ing for an outpouring of His Spirit
at the congress. So I am looking for-
ward to see what the Lord is going
to do and I am waiting with expec-
tation to see how the Lord is going
to work in the lives of many people.
different cultures. It gives me the
possibility and privilege to share the
Word of God with countless people.
I love meeting the women around
the world and learning about what
they are doing, their joys and chal-
lenges. I have discovered scores of
marvelous, hardworking women
who love and serve the Lord.
and humble at this responsibility.