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Everyday Life:
A Trip to Germany
By Rev. Dr. Teresa Allissa Citro
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.”
Psalms 37: 23
“The LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.....So Abraham went.” Genesis 12:1; 12:4(a)
My all-time favorite person is Abraham. I really love this man. I connect with him. You might ask why. There are several reasons, but tonight I will discuss one.
“HE WENT!”
You see, Abraham just trusted God. He didn’t care about what anyone had to say. As strange, weird, and crazy as it sounded, he just did everything God told him to do. This very act is what brought him blessings.
Let’s pause for a moment. I want to just interject with something very important here. There’s a huge difference between blessing and success. It’s God’s favor and protection you are receiving in every blessing. Where as it’s the accomplishment of a person’s aim, purpose, or undertaking in success. Did you catch that? God’s blessings are much greater then a human’s successes. You and I can achieve quite a bit from human perspective, but the very best, the cream of the crop is the blessing. We need to go after the blessings.
I am all about the blessings. I could care less about successes. I’m not easily impressed by them. Now, don’t send me hate mail. I’m not saying successes aren’t to be applauded or respected. I prefer the blessings. Let me explain. When you are being lead of God, as my opening verse says, which serves as my life verse, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way.”
Let’s break this verse down, shall we? Steps are very important. They take you from point A to point B. They bring you toward places that you need to be at or want to go to. You don’t just walk aimlessly. You walk carefully. I am not always paying attention when I’m walking. Those of you who are on the phone with me can attest to how many times you hear me say “Ouch.” I don’t know how it’s possible for me to walk into a wall, furniture, or whatever.
If you’ve ever been with me, you have grabbed my arm as I’m about to smash into something. That’s me not paying attention.
Once I was at a department store. I have no idea how this happened, but I was walking straight into a mirror. A guy was calling out to me, “Miss, Miss.” But I was ignoring him. Until, bang, my face hit the mirror. Oh that hurt. The guy came over, trying not to laugh. “Are you ok?” I was so embarrassed. I told him, “My ego is severely bruised. Please tell me I didn’t break my nose, and my entire body hurts. But, please, go ahead, I know you want to laugh. Cause I know I do.” We both laughed and I was hoping nobody else saw that ridiculous display of insanity. Ok, you can stop laughing now, too.
However, God is saying that He directs our steps. I love that. I want him to govern my steps, I desire for him to lead and guide me. He can manage my every move. In fact, I want him to be in total control of my going and coming. “Please, God, organize my every move,” is what I always ask for. This is the story of my life. I write a lot about how I was led to go or do something and blessings were in it. This is what Abraham did.
In the Spring of 2015, I was going to Italy for our World Congress on Special Education. I was also going to look at countries in Europe for future conference sites. My itinerary was France, (Monaco) Italy, Austria, Luxembourg, Belgium. This is what I submitted to my board. In prayer, God said “Change your itinerary. I want you to go to France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.” I said, “God, I don’t want to go to Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands.” God said “Are you going to do what I asked of you?” So, I went where He told me.
My friend, Abraham was nothing like me. He just went. No lip service. No questions asked. God told him to go. “So Abraham went.” Tonight, I’ll just share why God wanted me to go to Germany. Due to the last minute decision of going to Germany, I wasn’t able to book my favorite hotel. I relied on my travel agent to pick my hotel. She told me that I didn’t have much of a choice because there was the International Motor Show conference. Everything was booked. It’s a very famous conference. I had no idea that it was taking place there. I was asking God “Did I hear You right? You want me to go there?”
When I got to the hotel, I didn’t like it. I made a quick call to Le Meridian and asked to please find me a room. They had one suite left, and for one night. But I was there for more than one night. I took it anyway, and found another hotel around the corner. Why am I telling you all this? Because my steps were ordered by God Himself. Here’s what happened.
The first hotel, I was in the lobby eating dinner. A man walked in and started talking to me. I had no idea who he was. He gave me his name, I told him mine. Then he asked what I did for work. I told him. He said, “As the CEO of your organization, what are the top three things you want to accomplish?” I thought it was an odd question, but I answered him, still not knowing who he was. He said, “I’m very impressed with your ideas. Here’s my card. Call me if I can help you.” I took the card and didn’t look at it. Just put it in my purse. When I got to my room, I looked at it. Thank God I was next to the chair. I sent him an email immediately. Fast forward to four years later. I sent another email. “Do you remember me? I met you in Germany..” He sent back an email within the hour, “Of course I remember you.” Now he sits on our board, and he spoke at our conference last year.
Then, I went to Le Meridian. There, I went on a tour bus. As we entered the tour bus, I heard this voice say, “You must be from New York cause you have an attitude.” LoL. I responded, “Yes, and No. I have a double attitude because I grew up in New York, but I’m Italian, so it’s a double whammy attitude.” This led to a full conversation. He moved right next to me and sat in the empty chair. He said, “You run two companies? Impressive. Tell me everything you do for them.” So, I did. I came to the magazine. He said “Forgive me, but the name of the magazine you have chosen is not striking enough. I think you need to reconsider. And your plan at the moment isn’t a great one. Here’s my business card, call me if you need help.” Who was he? A writer for the International Road Show. He was covering the event. After a few conversations, I came up with Everyday Life.
You see, God had orchestrated me meeting two very powerful individuals in Germany. I had to go to meet them there. One for LDW and the other for TOH. I just called him a few weeks ago, after five years. I thanked him for helping me with the magazine. You know what he said? “You know, your phone call came at the right time. I really needed to be reminded that God uses people. Please, send me the magazines and I’ll help you and if you need anything I’m here for you.”
You see, these things I accomplished are not successes. They are blessings. God ordained, engineered, and planned for me to cross paths with these powerful snd outstanding individuals. There was a work I was called to do, but I needed the help of these two gentlemen to make it happen. Could God do it any other way? Of course! But, He chose for it to be this way. Obedience will always lead you to great, miraculous, and unbelievable blessings.
In closing, God delights in our ways when we choose to hear and do that which He says. Germany was the country that God chose to launch Everyday Life. As of yesterday, it’s on Amazon Kindle. Please read it there and share it with your friends. Who knows what blessings God will give when we allow Him to order our steps and then obey that which He asks of us. Learn to listen and do what Abraham did. “And HE WENT!”
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