What an example!

Today we went to visit Willemien again. She has been in a care home for the last week and a half after receiving a new knee. This woman amzes me and thrills me every time we meet. She and her husband, Cor (who passed away six years ago) came to the congregation here in 1992, when we had just started meeting. They talked about how they had been searching all their lives for the church. They were both brought up communist, had survived the 2nd World War (Cor in a camp) and had searched through all kinds of groups before coming to us. Willemien was 70 then. Their courage and desire to do what was right, to really follow God and let Him lead – after more than 70 years of doing their own leading – was such an example for us all.

Now Willemien is 84 and probably the healthiest of us all. When the hospital was checking her out to see if she was a good candidate for this new knee, they couldn’t find anything in which she wasn’t healthy. The young man who was questioning her said, “So, besides your knee, you really don’t have any problems, do you?” The operation itself is done in a few hours and the group that undergoes the operation takes the rest of the week learning new exercises, doing therapy, getting the new knee going. Willemien was already walking too well the first day to use the planned walking canes or walker, she just walked!

But her resilience in this situation is part and parcel of her attitude in general. She tells us that she used to be quite depressed, before she had us (the church) as a family (she and Cor had no children and they have no siblings). I can hardly believe it. She is so willing to continue, to move on. Pick up your feet and step on ahead. That is what her attitude seems to be. I think immediately of Isaiah 40:28-31
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

I am so thankful for the example that God has given us in Willemien!