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STEPS ON THE WAY
travel- & experience blog with focus
THE VISION BEGINS - JOY
On my side of the world, the story began in spring of 2018. A family friend gifted us a trip to Israel - Wow! I had never been there before and had very little connection to the country. But from the moment we landed, I felt completely at home. So strange! I had never experienced anything like this on a vacation before… After spending 11 packed days with countless guided tours, I just couldn’t forget this country - it had left a deep mark on me. I was captivated by the scents, the landscapes, the history, the cultures, the architecture - simply everything! When we returned home, our family started learning a bit of Hebrew, and I began diving deeper into the country’s history.
Over the course of the following year, God suddenly started giving me repeated images, dreams, and visions related to Israel. Over time, it became increasingly clear that he wanted me to be there one day. For me, this was incredibly exciting and, as a teenager trying to plan my future, also deeply encouraging! More and more, I became convinced that God was truly calling me to Israel and that this tiny country in the Middle East was meant to be my future home.
Almost exactly a year later, our church organized a support trip to Israel, which immediately caught my attention. Although I was actually under the required minimum age, I was allowed to join as an exception. Even my school principal gave me permission to go! This time, for 14 days, I wasn’t just a tourist but part of a team supporting
various projects. We went on a boat trip with Holocaust survivors, painted the walls of an old Bedouin school, and led a three-day long seminar for international students. This trip left me with an entirely new set of impressions. I got to know even more cultures than the first time and also made several connections.
Yet another year later, I finished school and decided to take a year as volunteer in Israel. My sending organization gave me three options to decide between: a Jewish Messianic nursing home, a Jewish Messianic church, or a Christian Arab social project. Initially, I had wanted to go to Israel to learn Hebrew and immerse myself in the Jewish context, but Jesus made it very clear that he wanted me to spend that year with the Arabs. Looking back today, I totally understand why: Back home in Germany, my only connection to Arab culture was the refugee shelter in our neighborhood. The stories that circulated about it often painted a very negative picture, filling my heart with fear and contempt for this group of people. God knew that and used my gap year to heal me from it. So for nine months, I lived with a Christian Arab host family in northern Israel. I helped with children’s and youth programs, worked in agriculture, and helped here and there, wherever needed. By the end of my time there, God had engraved both of Israel’s major cultural groups - the Jewish and the Arab - deeply onto my heart.
When my year in Israel ended, all I wanted was to stay. I looked for university programs, language courses, housing, scholarships and jobs, but nothing seemed to work out. After much resistance and many tears, I finally turned to God and asked Him what he had planned for me. He made it clear that he wanted me back in Germany for now. So with a mix of sadness and anticipation, I left my new home and began studying Middle Eastern Studies in Germany. This degree seemed like the only logical choice to prepare me for my future in Israel - I would learn both Arabic and Hebrew, and I would gain deeper knowledge of Israel’s history and politics.
After some time, I also set myself a personal goal: to visit Israel at least once per semester. On each trip, I searched for new hints about God’s calling for me, hoping to discover more on the ground than I could from afar. These regular backpacking trips were filled with incredible and unexpected experiences. I saw the country in its raw and unfiltered reality and learned how much I depended on God. I met new people, discovered new places, worked on inspiring projects, and visited various congregations. God also gave me many new insights into my future, which I treasured in my heart like precious gems. This way of life - between studies and Israel journeys - continued for about three years. I can now say with certainty that God used this season to teach me a lot and to shape my character in remarkable ways.
By the time I reached my fourth semester, the vision God had placed in my heart for Israel and my life looked something like this:
Imagine a long road cutting through Israel’s rocky desert. Silence fills the air, with only the wind’s soft whistling and the occasional movement of sand breaking the quiet. Off this road, a wide footpath branches off, leading to a large gathering of small, flat houses and massive tents - structures that still look like those from Abraham’s time. Scattered among them are various animals, plantations, rows of trees, and patches of greenery. Perhaps there is even a small water pond in the center… This is the desert village - the farm in the Negev Desert - that God has placed on my heart. The dream is that this farm will be run by a team of Christian families, living in deep friendship, functioning as both a community and a ministry partnership. This place is meant to be a refuge for weary and broken souls from all backgrounds. Here, they will find time, space, and peace to encounter God and gain new clarity. Special programs will be available for guests of all ages who come from backgrounds of prostitution & abuse.
02/24/2025
I knew that God had guided this dream and had continuously refined the vision. I also knew that I wasn’t called to just one people group. Instead, God was calling me to a specific place, this desert, to serve all the people I would meet there. My call was to love them, support them,and create a home for them. The rest would be up to God - only He could provide what was needed.
The clearer this vision became, the stronger my desire grew to bring it to life. In a burst of excitement, after receiving yet another piece of the puzzle, I created the first version of the website “goldinthedesert". But a while later, as I was working on the site again, I suddenly felt an overwhelming frustration when I saw my photo on the homepage. The vision was meant to be fulfilled by a team! Yet I had no one to share it with - I was completely alone! Out of desperation and sorrow, and maybe a tiny bit of hope, I replaced my photo with a drawing - one that depicted myself, my future husband, and
our daughter. At that time, I had no idea what was about to happen just about three months later…
"By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in
reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household."
Hebrews 11:7
goldinthedesert.com
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