When I think of how I came into this world, Psalm 139:13 comes to mind: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Since my mother had two miscarriages before me and three after me, there is a reason that I am here—I was in God’s plan right from the start. My parents baptized me in a Presbyterian Church, but I don’t remember us ever going to church as a family. When I was 9 years old, I started attending a Lutheran church with my best friend and her mother. In junior high, Kathy and I attended confirmation classes at the Lutheran Church, where we had a wonderful youth pastor. It was through his teaching that I came to really know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and accept Him into my heart. During my high school years, when we lived in southern California, I attended a Lutheran Church, and began teaching third grade Sunday school. My family would not attend church with me. My dad and brother would only attend on Christmas and Easter, but I remember my mother refusing to go. She would say, “I’m not going to be a hypocrite and only attend on two Sundays a year.” If I challenged her to go every Sunday, her pat response was, “You don’t have to go to church to believe in God.” My parents said they believed in God, but we only prayed as a family at holiday meals like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter dinners. And the only two things I remember my parents teaching us about God were: “God helps those who help themselves” and “You should never discuss religion or politics.” During my high school years, my mom began a four-year struggle with breast cancer. She died on Christmas Eve of 1976, when I was 19. On the night of her death, before she died, I went home from the hospital around 6:30 pm. About 8:30 pm, I had a strong impulse to return to the hospital, which I did. She died at 10:45 pm that night. I really believe (and even knew at the time when I experienced the feeling) that it was God nudging me back to the hospital. God knew how important it was to me to be with my mom when she died. He knew this before I did, because although I hurried back to the hospital, I really believed that she was going to be around for several more months. 1 Corinthians 10:13: “. . . . And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” I have always been thankful to God for the blessing of being with my mom and holding her hand when she died. It gave me great peace about her death. Growing up in California—especially southern California—I learned a lot of wrong ideas about drinking, divorce, abortion, Christianity, living life to the fullest, being independent, etc. I was also searching for the truth about religion at that time. I looked at Hinduism and Buddhism. I wanted to believe that being “spiritual” or “religious” was enough to be saved. I believed that all of the great religions of the world were really pointing to the same God (just a different idea of who God is). Even though I had been a Christian since age 13, I never really studied the Bible, so I didn’t really understand about Biblical truths. In my 20’s, I made a lot of bad decisions. However, I was a runner at the time, and during these runs, even though I had stopped going to church, the Holy Spirit was urging me to pray. My running time became a time of prayer. I am so thankful to God that even in my worse years he did not lose his grip on me. He was in my heart and kept reminding me that I was His child. When I met Robert, he challenged my way of thinking about the Bible and God. He helped me to see that what I “felt” or “wanted” to be true about God wasn’t necessarily aligned with what God’s Word says. When we moved to Boise, Idaho, we became members of Cloverdale Church of God, and for the first time in my life, I began to hear sermons that were applicable to Christian living and Biblical truths. We also read “Purpose-Driven Life” by Pastor Rick Warren, which really impacted our lives. We finally understood the idea that it is not enough to just say that you believe: “If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” (Romans 10:9-10) We learned that “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). We realized that we needed to be “walking the walk,” not just “talking the talk.” Robert and I had always talked about serving God in our retirement years, building churches in Mexico, or something. After going on a mission trip in July 2004, we realized we could and should be serving Him now. Through prayer and being open to God’s calling, He led us to the mission field. I once heard someone talking about their “life verse” from the Bible, a verse that speaks to their heart. My Bible verse is Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” This verse keeps me balanced and focused in good times and bad. It reminds me that God is Sovereign; He is in control. This life is just a “blink of the eye in eternity,” so the only thing that really matters in this life is the choice we make for Christ. God wants a relationship with each one of us. He wants to be part of our lives—front and center! This life was not created for our pleasure—although our Heavenly Father blesses us with many wonderful experiences in this life—we are here to glorify Him and to do His will. We are all part of His plan, and His plan is perfect. All of us are “called”—not just missionaries—to love and obey God. He has a plan for each of our lives; we can serve Him from anywhere and in all aspects of our lives. My prayer for family, friends, and all people is that they will experience God’s love in a personal way. I pray that God will be active in each of our lives and that we will always keep Him front and center. |
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