Solid Foundation
By Karen Nielsen
I was asked to write my testimony for Good News. I
freaked and said "no "I
felt little old me had nothing of interest to say!
By the 3rd or 4th
asking I felt
God wanted me to be obedient. Afraid of not
knowing where to start I
prayed and God put it together. Everytime I tried
to write what I thought
would be more details or emotions I found myself
erasing and God taking
the writing over. I try to live my life as a
vessel for Christ so I
pray that this
will touch someone whom God intended it for.
Hi my name is Karen Nielsen, I grew up in sunny
San Diego, Ca. I am the
middle child with an older brother and younger
sister. My childhood
memories are of loving, caring parents. Both my
Mom and Dad supported us
in anything we would want to do. Family
togetherness was always a first
priority. Growing up our family spent a lot of
time camping, this would be
just our family or with groups of families from
our neighborhood. My
parents were such loving people they always said
the more the merrier!
Snow skiing was another family sport we enjoyed. I
can appreciate the
effort
and expense my parents had with a family of five.
With all the love and family closeness I had
growing up sadly God was not
talked about much in our house. We went to church,
mostly on the special
holidays, said grace only before dinner and prayed
before bed. When I was
in junior high I went to Youth Group. I remember
going to a Church camp
out in the mountains. Kids were coming to the
Lord, crying, emotional
and I
could not understand what was going on. I felt
like an outcast, I just
couldn''t
grasp what was so great! My life was fine I knew
God was out there and I
could pray to him if need be, but why be so
emotional and I knew I didn''t
want to be one of those" Born Again "embarrassing
people! So life went
on .... I got through the teenage years pretty
good, I guess I would
say the
normal bumps and bruises.
At nineteen I got a job with the airlines in
reservations. This was
wonderful I
got to see the world. And my parent''s received
special airline rates
too. So
we traveled many interesting places together. I
will always cherish the
memories of those days with them.
About 20 years old I wished that I had had a
relationship with Jesus.
Lots of
heartache could have been avoided. I met and fell
in love with a man from
Jordan. I thought with the traveling I had done
and all the countries
I had
been in this would be another excited adventure in
my life. My parents
were
heart sick, they knew the differences between our
life styles, customs and
religions were gigantic barriers to overcome. He
told me he was a
Christian,
I thought great so am I. (I believed in God, up to
that point in my life I
thought that was all there was to it.) I didn''t
see the problems that
my parents saw. Against my families wishes we were
married. I believe
it was the first
week of marriage he informed me that he was
Muslim! And any children we
have will be raised Muslim in Jordan and that I
will become a Muslim!
I was
numb I didn''t know what to believe. I always had
a heart for God. But I
knew that I was not rooted in my belief. One thing
I did learn, a wife
of a
Jordanian did not question her husband. I tried to
be obedient but it
was a
tug of war. I honestly tried to make the marriage
work. I had feared
being a
failure ... I thought love would conquer all. I
have a heart full of
compassion
for anyone that has gone through what I have, the
marriage ended
fortunately without any children brought in to a
very unhappy, mixed up
marriage. Hindsight, God filled me with knowledge
through that life
experience and started me on my lessons of
forgiveness.
Several years later I met Cregg. Life was so easy;
he also came from a
loving family with similar backgrounds. Both
families were thrilled when a
wedding was announced. After our first two
daughters were born we joined
a church. Cregg came once in awhile and I searched
for friendships and
place to call home. We built great friendships I
was active and on many
committees. But still had many unanswered
questions about God. I do not
remember anyone taking about having a relationship
with Jesus. But we
figured we were doing right - going to church,
having women''s bible study
in our home, serving at the church, going to a the
family activities.
Especially both Cregg and I coming from families
that only said grace
attended church now and then. I still felt
something missing. Cregg and I
decided out of the blue to move to Coeur d'' Allen
in 1993. We prayed and
we both felt called. This was new to us because we
did not have a
reason to
move. Both families were in San Diego, we knew no
one in Idaho. Our
painting business was successful and we had our
"dream home". But God
was pulling us to step out in faith. We were going
to find out what
faith was
really all about!
We sold our house without ever listing it. We
really thought God was
telling
us something because in 1993 no homes were selling
in San Diego. We had
no idea what kind of business we would get into.
Cregg felt this was
the time
to get out of painting and try something
different. My parents were
worried
for us and my Mom was especially upset about us
leaving. In just one month
after arriving we bought our floor-covering store.
We have gone through
many trial being" new in town "and taking over a
business. Which in turn
has strengthened our faith with the Lord.
After being in Coeur d'' Alene for 2 months we
found our church home in
New Life Community Church. We now are blessed with
3 beautiful
daughters and all of us have found Jesus as our
Lord and Savior. It''s
so exciting and wonderful to have Christ in our
hearts, marriage, home and
business. I know now the emptiness I felt all
those years growing up has
been filled with Jesus Christ.
April 1997 my family had horrible news; my Mom had
melanoma cancer
that had gone to her liver. I felt God was using
this to bring my
family to the
Lord. I was able to be with my Mother her last
week. God had given her
unbelievable strength and I was able to pray and
talk to her. I think
we all
some time or another think about the time we might
loose a parent, I
dreaded
to think about how I would fall apart. Praise the
Lord for his strength, I
leaned on him, prayed and walked with his courage
he gave me, I was able
to witness and be lifted up by prayer. As odd as
it sounds to me even my
Mother''s death was beautiful, I thank the Lord
for letting me be apart
of it.
But boy does it hurt. Especially see the pain and
loss my Dad was feeling.
He spent a lot of time with us here in Coeur d''
Alene, which was
healing for
all of us. God never stops with his miacales; a
good friend of mine we
meet
through New Life has a Mother that had been a
widow for 8 years. We
decided that our parents should meet. Low and
behold my Dad accepted
Christ as his savior and married my friends
Mother. Our family has grown
and God has blessed all of us. God has a plan for
all of us. I know I
draw my
strength first through Jesus then my husband and
daughters. Family and
friends and very important to me and God has
blessed my life with solid
foundations in both. Glory be to Christ
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