Welcome to our journey. The purpose of my blog is not only to journal our life experience, but also to share what God is doing in our lives. I do not claim to be an expert in parenting, marriage, or even the Bible. But I do have a heart to share my experiences and the true love that God has for each and every one of us. You can read our testimony by clicking on the top of the page. And if you'd like to know about the Homeless Ministry my husband started, you can click on the Homeless tab. I hope you will comment freely on my posts and in my community.



Sunday, March 28, 2010

A humble woman

What can I say about Anita Dittman?  Wow!  She is amazing.  We had her as our guest speaker for our Women's Easter Brunch on March 27.  Before she came and spoke I had the honor and privilege to speak with her on the phone.  We talked for almost 2 hours and I could've talked to her all night.  I'm looking forward to more conversations with her.  I would highly recommend her as a speaker to an event at your church.  Her testimony is unbelievable! 

Who's Anita Dittman you say?  She is a holocaust survivor.  As a young girl she was "Trapped in Hitler's Hell".  That's the name of her book.  She tells an amazing story of how she came to give her life to Christ and how He sustained her and protected her while she was in a living hell.  The miracles and faith she had were just unbelievable...yet I do believe them as that is our God!  The thing about Anita is that she is a humble, yet funny and spunky women.  She will be 83 years old in May.  When I was talking about her I asked her if there was anything special she wanted me to say when I introduced her.  She said "tell them not to feel sorry for me.  I don't.  In fact, I'm thankful for what I went through.  It was a necessary step in my faith journey."  And do you know what?  I can tell that she really means it.  She tells her story as her ministry.  She asked me to give her honorarium to our Haiti Fund.  She has the most kind and gentle spirit.  She is simply amazing.

I look forward to many more talks with her.  She lives in Crosby, MN.  This just happens to be on our way to the cabin.  I'm looking forward to stopping in to visit her.  What an honor.  Just delightful and full of spunk.  No, even Hitler couldn't steal her joy.  Another woman wrote a book about her.  It's called "Shadow of His Hand" by Wendy Lawton.  This book was written specifically for adolescents. 

Did I mention that I highly recommend her for a speaking engagement?  We sold out our brunch with a record 480 ladies!  I never knew we could get that many in our community life center.  Before the morning was out I had people asking me to have her back.  Who knows! 

Anita references Psalm 119 when she tells her story.  I read this Psalm again tonight, thinking about it from her perspective.  How she clung to this Psalm through her tribulation is something else.  Even here she has been persecuted.  She has even been told not to tell her story.  Yet she continues on because she is only listening to the Lord.  Courageous she is still to this day.

I'll close with one of Anita's life scripture verses:

Romans 8:28  And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

May God continue to pour out His blessings on you Anita!

3 comments:

  1. Hello.....after finding your blog I will defiantly be following!
    I worked as a caseworker for a homeless shelter- before becoming a SAHM. Wonderful what your husband has done.....and continues to do for the homeless population.

    If you like- come along on my journey.....

    Lis

    http://soibeginthisjourney.blogspot.com

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  2. Christine, please allow me to suggest that you look a little deeper into Matthew 25, and try to do so without any preconcieved ideas from the doctrines of Man. If you do, I think you'll see that verses 41 and 46 stick out like a bleeding sore thumbs!

    There is just no way, after a very long story in which Jesus tried so hard to explain how much he empathizes with human suffering, so much so that he says we ought to think of even the "least" as if s/he were him...that he could turn right around and all in the same breath say, "Oh, but one day I'm going to be the direct cause of the worst suffering ever!"

    That makes no sense, does it?

    Well, the explanation for this contradictory statement is simple--Jesus never said it!!! It's an interpolation that was, in all likelihood, inserted by a Greek Christian scribe while making a copy of the text, totally distorting the message of the originally inspired autograph!

    Sadly, though, because these few verses that place Hell on Jesus' lips serve the interests of people who feel threatened by the real message of Jesus--that we ought to care for those in need, those suffering, even those who made big mistakes that landed them in jail, even the "least"--they would have us believe that God is ultimately going to give up on most of humanity and let them have it big time! From there, it makes it easy for them to deceive believers into thinking it's not all that bad to get a head start on hurting people, or at least, not helping the hurting.

    I've actually written an entire book on this topic--Hell? No! Why You Can Be Certain There's No Such Place As Hell, (for anyone interested, you can get a free ecopy of Did Jesus Believe in Hell?, one of the most compelling chapters in my book at www.thereisnohell.com), and it in, I explain that Jesus was, indeed, consistent in his message that God cares for all, loves all, wants to heal all, and is never going to give up on anyone until the very last, lost sheep is saved.

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  3. Rick...interesting perspective. I actually do plan to dig even deeper into these scriptures. Although this is not the only scripture it is mentioned. It's also in Isaiah 58 and others. I guess for me, I would rather error on the side that says Isaiah did hear that from God and that Jesus indeed did say so himself. I do actually believe in hell. But I will certainly dig deeper. That's why I put this out there. To see what others think and what their interpretation is. So, thank you for sharing your interpretation. I really do appreciate and you've given me even more to think about.
    Bless you!

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