“He gives me joy … in place of sorrow; He gives me love … that casts out fear; He gives me sunshine for my shadow, And “beauty for ashes,” here.”

That is a chorus I find in one of the smaller hymn books called “Elim Choruses.”

THINKING ABOUT MY LIFE I CAN TRULY SAY THE LORD GAVE ME “‘BEAUTY FOR ASHES.”‘

CHAPTER ONE (Father)

Ashes:

First of all I want to think about my family in the east of Germany and there especially about my father, for the father is the head of the home.

My father died in WW II and I cannot remember him at all; I don’t even know exactly where he died and how he died. Total ashes, really!

Beauty:

But the Lord gave me a Christian family at the other end of the world, in New Zealand. A Christian home consists of a God – fearing Father, God – fearing Mother and God – fearing children. I am thinking here especially of my God – fearing Father in law.

Also for 13 years I worked as a missionary in Thailand. There we had a field leader from the United States of America and he was actually like a “father” to me.

And of course straight from the time when I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, God became my heavenly Father and that is actually all that matters.

CHAPTER TWO (Home)

Ashes:

Secondly, because of WW II I had to leave my home in the east of Germany. We fled from the east of Germany to the west of Germany and ended up on a farm in the north of Germany not far from the Danish border. Total ashes, again, really!

Beauty:

But the Lord gave me a home in Thailand for 13 years, when I worked there as a missionary and then here in New Zealand, first of all in Kaikohe and now here in Kaitaia.

But of course my real home is in Heaven.

In Isaiah 61:1-3 it says, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, … to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion – to bestow on them the crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning.”