Yesterday, Today, Forever-

Thanks Evi for use of your photo!  Someone once said to me that ‘time will heal everything’. Well, that’s a crock!! Time  heals nothing. Time  does not delete memories. Time  does not undo mistakes. Time  does not reduce the pain inflicted. Time  does not diminish the damage done. Time  will revisit what has not been resolved 10 years,  20 years,  or even 40 years later. Time  holds still for no one. Time  flies. But my time is in God’s Hands! Only an ever-present, loving, caring, kind and awesomely gracious Heavenly Father heals the wounded spirit of His precious child, for time and eternity. He makes His presence felt  through the healing touch of a human hand. He speaks kind, loving and gracious words through the mouth of someone who honestly cares. He shows His good pleasure  through the eyes of someone  with a warm, genuine smile. He affirms the value of His child  through the heartfelt h...

I pledged my friendship to the USA many, many years ago and value it highly!

Artist Gustav Semler, a dear friend. This painting hangs in our chapel at work!  How can YOU love  a sinner such as I? For in your Holy Presence  I would surely die If it were not for Jesus Christ  who gave His life for me, Who took my place on Calvary,  whose death has set me free! I do not understand  such faithful love, That cleansed my heart and set my course for heaven above. There simply are no words  that can express My deepest gratitude and happiness! Karin Ristau

  We really need to get an up-to-date photo!  This one is a few years old! A dear friend, wiser and a few years older than I, was Renate.  She invited me to her house many times.  As mid to late–teens we still did sleepovers for a weekend, complete with chit-chatting into the wee hours of the morning!! We played piano, table games like Aggravation, went for walks, to the Dairy Queen and had a lot of fun.  She had two brothers, one 3 years older and the other 2 years older.  The older brother, Klaus, was the outgoing one and the middle one, Peter, was such a shy young man and always into his books. Peter was our Youth leader in the church for a term or two. He never flirted with any of the girls in this youth group of over a hundred teens and twens!  He certainly kept his sense of humor under wraps, always appearing to be a serious. He was a well-respected, humble young man. He was a godly man with a focus on getting his studies finished and th...

You have to have a heart of love To love a heart that is in need. Serve words of kind encouragement And top it off with helpful deed. Wait patiently and you should see That pain-filled heart grows trust inside. As love breaks down protective walls No longer will it chose to hide. Love works its wonders everywhere And that’s how hearts are won! Let’s join the heart of Christ our Lord And love until Love’s work is done! Karin Ristau

My violet is blooming again - can spring be far behind? This has nothing to do with my story! Interesting post I found over at Anneliese’s blog ! So, here’s my name story.  My mother named me Brigitte Karin.  She tells me there was a pretty actress at the time of whom she was quite fond. When I became interested in the meanings of names I also checked mine out. Brigitte means ‘strength’ and Karin ‘pure'. While I look big and strong, I’m neither strength nor pure!  In the old country my name was pronounced correctly and I liked it. Being an immigrant with a name that wasn’t that common in English, my classmates and friends at church started calling me variations of the name.  That didn’t sit well with me.  The immature boys called me Brigitte Bardot, then a model and later a French animal rights activist. That’s not who I was and being called that was embarrassing! Others simply called me ‘bridge’ or brigeeda. Those who didn’t like me, called me bird s**t, an...