Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have gone, the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17
Take these broken wings and learn to fly... Photo by Catherine Boynton
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-14 (Passion Translation)
You Know All About Me
Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.
You've examined my innermost being with Your loving gaze.
You perceive every movement of my heart and soul,
and understand every thought before it even enters my mind.
You are intricately aware of me, Lord.
You read my heart like an open book
and You know all the words I'm about to speak
before I even start a sentence!
You know every step I will take before my journey even begins!
You've gone into my future to prepare the way,
and in kindness You follow behind me
to spare me from the harm of my past.
With Your hand of love upon my life,
You impart a Father's blessing on me.
You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside
and my intricate outside,
and wove them all together in my mother's womb.
I thank You, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!
Everything You do is marvelously breathtaking.
It simply amazes me to think about it!
How throughly You know me, Lord!
My New Birth -- A Testimony
Aching to Be Born
"There is a self within each one of us aching to be born." Alan Jones, Theologian
I studied in Aix-en-Provence during the spring semester of my junior year in college. In anticipation of my travels in Europe, my mother had contacted an old friend who lived in Amsterdam, a Dutchman. She and Feico had not been in touch since before she was married, some 25 years. We were so happy to have heard from him. He sent a photo of himself with his beautiful wife Adri and their five fresh-faced children, and invited me to come for a visit before returning to the States.
I was very lost in my life that summer — crippled with insecurities and fears, battered by the expectations of the world, to which I had no real desire to conform… Far from home, I was beating my wings in the dead of night, and at war within myself. I could find no peace.
Feico and Adri were Christians. They lived their faith very naturally; it permeated their home. From the moment I walked in their door, they, and their five children, enveloped me with their love like I was a beloved sister, a treasured aunt.
That Sunday, they invited me to attend their home church which would be meeting in their living-room. I was hungry for everything they had to show me, so I accepted their invitation whole heartedly. Several young couples came with their children and took their seats. Feico and Adri’s oldest daughter Ruth, who was around 15 years old, played her violin while everyone sang. Following the worship, Feico taught on a passage from the Bible, which spurred a lively discussion about how the Word applied to everyone's lives. They shared their struggles and victories, cried and laughed and prayed for one another, and then we had lunch together.
That night Feico and Adri opened the Word to me, and I knew it was the truth. “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.” (Romans 10:9) I would be saved from myself, from a life on the high seas -- a life without a compass or an anchor, of being tossed and going nowhere.
My whole life and mind underwent a shift during the week I spent with them. I opened the door to my heart and Jesus, the Light of the World came in, ready to dine with me at the banqueting table. (Revelation 3:20). In His marvelous light, many of the lies I was believing about myself, about God and about life had to go.
A year and a half later, five days after my 25th birthday, I met Lee, and both of us knew God had brought us together. I was quite sure God had answered Feico and Adri’s prayers for me that blessed October night back in 1978.