NAMED by GOD

This young wife and mother has brilliant blue eyes, but it's the tattoo on her wrist that captures attention. On it is the word Redeemed and that sums up Kacy's life experience.

Together with her husband Justin and two fine children she began a ministry to share her story. A story of God's love and grace.

In many ways, Kasey Van Norman has suffered more heartbreak than one woman can bear. 

Growing up, she endured her parents’ divorce, date rape, and years of addiction to sex, cutting, and eating disorders. 

As an adult, Kasey has endured a painful miscarriage; the heartbreak (and restoration) of infidelity; a cancer diagnosis; rejection by her friends, church, and community; and her mother’s death from cancer. 

But at the end of this twisting path of sorrow, Kasey walked out of the wilderness and into a place of God’s merciful and miraculous healing and redemption. 

In her book, Named by God, Kasey shares her story of God’s infinite grace and compassion so that others might learn from her experience as they encounter a depth of Jesus like never before!

As the picture of the book cover shows, you can order it from AMAZON.

They told it all - Beyond Ordinary

Everyone likes a good love story.  But many of us spend our lives slightly disappointed in the love story we’re trying to live. 

How safe is your marriage? The answer may surprise you. The biggest threat to any marriage isn’t infidelity or miscommunication. The greatest enemy is ordinary. Ordinary marriages lose hope. Ordinary marriages lack vision. Ordinary marriages give in to compromise. Ordinary is the belief that this is as good as it will ever get. And when we begin to settle for ordinary, it’s easy to move from “I do” to “I’m done.”

Their three sons

Justin and Trisha Davis know just how dangerous ordinary can be. In a beautifully written book, Justin and Trisha take us inside the slow fade that occurred in their own marriage—each telling the story from their own perspective. Together, they reveal the mistakes they made, the work they avoided, the thoughts and feelings that led to an affair and near divorce, and finally, the heart-change that had to occur in both of them before they could experience the hope, healing, and restoration of a truly extraordinary marriage.

The following endorsement is of their book BEYOND ORDINARY 

Dr. Wess Stafford, President and CEO, Compassion International :

 

Justin and Trisha have lived through extreme difficulty and brokenness in their marriage, but the Jesus we follow loves to take broken things and put them back together. That kind of deep healing has been part of my story, and it’s the story of so many of the children Compassion is blessed to serve every day. I hope that as you read these pages you’ll find a deeper understanding of how complete dependence on God is the only way to fully live.

BEYOND ORDINARY can be pre-ordered from Amazon

I'm so glad to be able to promote this real life story. How great is Jesus' love to each of us, if He can forgive our sins then surely we can also forgive those that sin against us.

A LIFE in GOD'S HANDS

I have asked a dear friend, Anne Riethmuller, to share her story with us. A few years ago she had a very traumatic experience.

I was 16 years of age in 1968 when the Evangelist Billy Graham came to Sydney and preached the good news of Jesus Christ. As I listened that day I heard that God loved me so much that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for my sins. I believed this and accepted Jesus as my Saviour, received His forgiveness and became a child of God. As a consequence my life has changed dramatically.

I now have real joy in knowing more about Christ and my heavenly Father from the Scriptures. I strongly feel Christ’s presence with me each day.

After my acceptance of Christ I began to attend Fairfield Brethren Church. It was the people of this church who took me to the Billy Graham Crusade in their rickety old bus. While at that church I learned about how to live faithfully as a Christian, as well as how to be useful and helpful in my contribution to church life. I met many wonderful friends in that church and in their exciting and active youth group.

It was here that I met Michael Riethmuller. He is a high school teacher and came from a wonderful godly family. His ideals were high and wanted to see me grow in my Christian faith. As I grew we were attracted to each other and eventually married in 1979. We now have 3 grown up children and even a delightful grandchild. Each of our children have come to know Christ and are very active in their local churches. God has blessed us in so many ways.

 In 2009 I had a very serious fall at home and woke up from an induced coma in hospital with amnesia (not the Hollywood type). It would be 8 months before I returned home (not including weekend visits). During this time many people (including many whom I did not know) were praying for me and I felt that my life was entirely in God’s hands. I had a peace about God’s plan for me that if He called me home to Heaven I would be with Him and that I would not regret that shortening of my life.  I still bare some of the effects of this accident but my desire is to move on with my life with God’s help.

I endeavour to live according to scriptural principles. My desire is that people will see in me a Christ-centred person who cares and loves those I meet. And I hope they would see I have something they do not have, yet need. Yes, trusting in Jesus Christ was the greatest and most important decision I have ever made. He has given me forgiveness, a place in Heaven, a purpose, as well as strength and guidance to deal with whatever situation I face in life.

MIRACLE in MOTION

Nick Vujicic was born with no arms and legs. Yet he placed a ring on his bride's finger while she in turn placed a ring-bearing necklace around his neck.

Committed to being a devoted husband, the 29-year-old limbless preacher hoped to do all he could to be a blessing to Miyahara, who he believes is the greatest gift "after life, salvation, and a relationship with God."

Born with Tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterized by the absence of all four limbs, Vujicic does not let his disability overtake his life, having learned how to write, use the computer, play tennis, drive, beat a drum, pen an autobiography, start his own nonprofit foundation, and even surf.

At every speaking engagement, he has been vocal about God's vital role in shaping and renewing his life, which was once full of depression and bitterness. "I found the purpose of my existence and also the purpose of my circumstance," he revealed. "There's a purpose for why you're in the fire."

Through his faith in God, whom he credits for turning his life around and giving him hope, Vujicic has touched millions of lives with his testimony, encouraging those who are broken and weak to trust in the Lord for provision and freedom.

"It's not about the outside. It is about being complete on the inside," he shared at a previous event in Seattle. "Because I have seen so many people complete on the outside but who don't know the truth. It is the truth that sets you free and who the son sets free is free indeed."

Just before he left on his honeymoon, he tweeted a message of praise to God, saying, "Here we go –WOO HOO! God is AWESOME!"

Credit: Christian Post News for this touching and inspiring story.

The PARTING

As the P and O Liner slipped away from the       

Fremantle Wharf on that September day so long

ago, I could feel the pang of loneliness creep up

my spine. The streamer became tighter as the

young nurse on the wharf wrapped her end 

around her hand. I leaned over the deck rail

hanging onto my end as long as I could. Finally

the paper snapped and we were reduced to waving until we could no longer make out each 

other's face. What had I done? What had brought us to this moment of painful separation?

Two years earlier, a Gospel preacher gave the challenge,“Is God sending you to a lost world?” He seemed  to be pointing his finger right at me and I responded, convinced that India was to be the “world” which I would love for my Saviour. No sooner  had I come to that conclusion than a telegram arrived from my mother saying “Dad died last night. Please ring.” How could I go to India and leave my Mother and siblings in a difficult situation? So I finished my course at Emmaus Bible College, and somewhat perplexed, returned to Western Australia.

Only a few months after settling in Perth things changed a great deal in my family’s circumstances and I prayed “Lord I believe You have freed me to respond to your call to India, but when and where?” That night I received a phone call about a new venture (now called GLO Ministries) and a team was being formed to work in Madras, (now Chennai) India, to spread the Good News via literature and visitation. About this time two young Queensland girls had just finished their general nursing training. Deciding to qualify in midwifery they applied and were accepted at the WA King Edward Memorial Hospital. Both were keen Christians and turned up at my home church. We mixed socially and on one occasion with no thought other than to be polite, I suggested coffee while waiting for her friend to come off duty. It was over coffee in the El Calib Cafe in Hay Street, Perth that I fell in love with Daphne.

What a dilemma! I was committed to going to India. Daphne was committed to doing her training. Would I cancel my plans for India, or would Daphne quit her nursing course and come to India with me? We both believed that God was in control of our lives and that He had planned our future for us so we prayed in earnest. We reasoned together that God had led me to missionary service in India before I met Daphne and that God had led her to her present course of action before she met me. So we made the most difficult decision of our lives. I would go to India and she would complete her plans and then we would marry. For six months we prayed and planned and, yes, we had the peace of God about our decision.

On the lighter side, my workmates at the Kodak Company, were convinced that no girl would wait for me while I flitted off in some hair-brain scheme for two years and were prepared to “put money on it” They lost but I never saw the cash! As I think back, I realise that if I had gone to India earlier, as planned, I would never have met my Daphne. So, I learned that my disappointment was God's appointment. After two years and 1500 letters we were married, but the drama of that “near miss” is another story woven into the fabric of God's perfect will. And for 46 years God has remained faithful to us.

* Thanks Ken for sharing your touching story with us. Ken Harding is involved in an itinerant Bible teaching and evangelistic ministry.