Today’s guest post is by Herlinde de Vriese. Herlinde and her husband work with the?Center for Pastoral Counseling. Besides the work she does as a social worker she teaches in several pastoral topics. Jef and Herlinde have two grown daughters and live in Heverlee, Belgium.
I grew up in a large family. I am the fourth in a family of 6 children. Traditions gave a fixed spot to everything, and my life was very normal.
When I was a teenager I started, as if often the case, to ask questions about the reason of everything. Raised in a catholic home, religion was mixed with every aspect of life. I searched in the bible, read the gospel of John and was fascinated with the story of Jesus. During a study in Leuven, somebody explained the Gospel in a way I had never heard before. Because Jesus died for me, personally, I stood before a choice: do I believe that Jesus died for me to make me free of sin?
I had to think about that. What did that mean for me? Was I truly guilty? It didn’t feel guilty… I knew in my head that Jesus takes away all the sins of the world, as the Lamb of God, but never before had anybody told me that He went to the cross for me too…
Even though I didn’t look for further contact, the Gospel that I had heard did not let go of me. I could not understand the start of the gospel of John, where Jesus explains to Nicodemus that He had to be born again. I felt very connected to that Nicodemus.
He saw the miracles that Jesus did, and understood that He came from God: I believed the same thing. I also believed that God is the creator of heaven and earth. I knew that Jesus is the Son of God, born from the virgin Mary, died on the cross for the sins of all the world, and that He rose up from the grave. That was my confession of faith. It was tradition. But I noticed: there was more. I knew that I had a similar problem to that of Nicodemus. Was it the fact that this story left me restless, that I had so many questions, the proof that I did not see the Kingdom of God yet, either? Did I have to be born again? How?
I decided to?approach?Jesus directly and said: “Alright, Jesus. If You really exist, will You show me?” While writing this down, I realize how bold I was, but Jesus looked straight into my heart and I think I was genuinely looking for Him. And He answered me.
Then I understood that the sin in my heart kept me from opening myself to Him. I was prepared to go to Him and confess my sins. And I could receive His forgiveness. For the first time, I saw how much I needed Him.
All at once, everything that is written in the gospels made sense. Where before this, I only read short pieces, I now read through the gospels in one time, and I understood it! More and more, I am convinced that God calls people, and that He does so in many different ways. For me, it was through His Word. The Bible got a very special place in my life. In our family, more then 30 years later, we still have the same slogan as then: Gods Word to hearts and homes of people. It is the passion that colors our lives and together with my husband and children, I am amazed how God protects and blesses our home with His grace!
This post is part of my 31 days series ‘More like My Father’.
The series has stories?in which people of all kinds of backgrounds share how they got to know the Lord, and how He can change our life.?
To go to the series page for links to the other posts, click?here
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