First what is clear, in looking back over our lives, is that there are two aspects to life. As the years go by, we are busy with different kinds of daily routines, depending on our jobs, our families and our age. Everything is always changing, the circumstances are temporary.
At the same time, there is the spiritual side of life, which is eternal. God is working in our hearts, teaching us important lessons, and steering our motives and desires. The foundational question is, “Who do we live for, and what is the underlying purpose of our life?”
We never know what the future holds, but hopefully we are learning to trust Jesus, that He has a good purpose for everything we do. As is written in Psalm 23, the result of following the good shepherd is that God’s “goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” This is what Thomas and I, and wanted to impart to our children, and to the many people the Lord brought into our lives.
On one sunny day in August of 1977, Thomas had the great idea of taking a group photo outside on the sidewalk, next to the Trudering house. You can imagine, how hard it was to get a crowd of 40 people all together, and positioned so you could see everyone. I was pregnant with Lizzy, and Naomi and Esther, were the only children in the group. I love the picture because it tells some of our story, you see how many different kinds of people we lived with. Sadly, a few people got left out, because they weren’t at home that afternoon. I am happy to see, that some people in that picture, are still my friends today.
