East Germany - A Journey

East Germany during the communist times was...well, sort of scary.

After all, I'd never been on a train where large black dobermans were sent running underneath the length of it, checking for escaped East Germans clinging to the bottom of the train, nor had I been followed to a train bathroom before by six armed soldiers who waited in an intimidating row in the hall for me to finish and then followed me back to my seat, nor had my husband's passport photo been so scrutinized before...glasses off, glasses on, nor had I seen mothers turn their children's heads away from looking at the train as it passed....no, she didn't want them to even dream of freedom or escape.

The train sped through East Germany to West Berlin. Not too different from a trip through the west...except...there were no stops, or very few. Train stations stood black and silent in stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of each station in the West. The train whizzed by with no new passengers.

At the border crossing from West to East, the staff had changed, West soldiers off, East soldiers on...lots of East soldiers. The mood chilled. Passengers grew still and quiet. Passports were rechecked, slowly, carefully, completely, and especially my husband's USA passport.

We were in a car with an elderly East German lady going home....they let the old folks out and in....they could only become a burden on society soon anyway, the risk was more beneficial to the government to let them travel.

When my husband opened up "Die Biebel" and started to read the elderly lady sprang into a frenzy. She grew animated, jumping up from her seat and down again, over and over, saying loudly, "Die Biebel! Die Biebel! Die Biebel!" She was breathing hard and fast. It had been a long time since she had seen "Die Biebel" read in public. She was thrilled out of her composure and poured out her heart in German to us. Fortunately, Mark's German was good enough to comprehend her story. She cried. She gained hope. Amazed, she could hardly settle down but managed to carry on a lively conversation with Mark until our destination.

Something happened to me on that trip through the darkness of that East Germany night. A spirit of intercession fell on me like never before. Prayers rose in a continual stream from my heart to God for these trapped and forsaken people. I literally could not stop praying. The spirit prayed through me silently, intensely....prayers ascending, ascending, ascending to the throne of God for a release from this horrible nightmare for these precious people who were trapped in their own familiar surroundings with no escape.

I spent most of my time standing in the narrow train hall staring out the window on this darkened land and letting the intercession rise from my soul to heaven.

I knew there were multitudes of others joining me in deep intercession. I also knew that God was listening....someday, these people would be free.