For as long as I can remember, there has been a longing in me ...
... to understand life and the human being more deeply - who God has created us to be, and what shapes the way we live our lives?
Already as a young person, my own experiences made me ask why we are born into just these circumstances, into just these situations, and what a person finally builds their life upon?
Perhaps that is why I have always looked at a person as a whole - their choices, relationships, home, work, way of living and self-expression.
Today I understand that part of my calling was already in that: to help a person notice what shapes their life, what needs ordering, and how to grow ever more into harmony with who God has created them to be.
I believe that the gifts God gives need time to ripen in us into conscious service.
“And God created man in his own image…”
Created in God's image, every person carries unique worth and beauty.
The heart longs for the truth
Today I see more clearly than before how often we live in inner contradiction. The heart recognises what is right, but fear, tiredness, habits and old patterns hold us back.
We may know the truth, but we need God's power to live in it.
— I have had to ask myself as well: what am I really building my life upon?
For years my security was work, money, roles and staying inside the system. Outwardly everything may have seemed in order, but inwardly my life was not built on the right foundation.
The change began when I truly gave my life, my work, my calling and my future into God's hands. Baptism became for me a sign of leaving the old life behind and of new life in Christ.
— In Christ we do not lose who God has created us to be. He cleanses, renews and builds our life upon the truth.
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” - Galatians 2:20
— No longer simply work, but a CALLING. Not striving, but SERVING OUT OF LOVE. Not fear, but PEACE.
“Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
The spirit may desire what is good, but human strength is not enough. In prayer, we lean on God.
“For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice.”
We need God's grace to live in truth and do what is good.
“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine and does them will be likened to a wise man who built his house on a rock ...”
God's Word is the foundation on which a life can stand.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and Mammon.”
True freedom is born when we let God guide our lives.
“If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself and follow me.”
In following Christ, we learn to let go of control and entrust our lives to God.
It is no longer only my way, my plan and my will — but His way, His truth and His guidance.
Gifts
... that I have recognised on my journey
1 Corinthians 12 teaches that the Holy Spirit gives his gifts for the common good. On my journey I have noticed most of all that God uses through me above all:
- A word of wisdom
- To see situations more widely and to help bring clarity where a person may not yet see the whole picture.
- A word of knowledge
- To notice and to put into words what God draws attention to.
- Faith
- To call to mind trust in God even where the solution or the next step is not yet in sight, and to encourage hope in God.
- Listening and presence
- Making room for God — where a person can be honest in God's presence and experience peace and clarity.
“These are not my achievements. They are gifts of God's grace, which I wish to use faithfully in serving others.”
Wholeness
God cares about the whole person.
Wholeness begins with what we build our life upon. On this journey we look at the spiritual, emotional and physical life not separately but as one whole — what carries us, what needs ordering and what needs a new direction.
That is why in my work the inner and the outer world meet: listening and practical steps, presence and coming into order.
When clarity is born in the heart and life is built on a firmer foundation, it begins to be reflected in everyday life too — in our choices, relationships, home, wardrobe and self-expression.
— Inner change becomes visible in the way we live.
Everything good within us is a gift from God. My wish is to help people notice it and grow in their relationship with God.