Nr.162 ended with: “………..how we experienced the reality of the living God, His presence, His guidance, His provisions, His protection, His faithfulness and His blessings and we’ll come back to that the next time…………….!” (See richardandmarina.net).

This doesn’t mean that God always saves us from difficulties, trials and troubles, but He does help us through them. Please forgive me for making a big leap to the present, 12-18-2015. Four weeks ago our doctor, after discovering that Marina was losing blood, ordered a colonoscopy. It was quite a trial for Marina, especially the preparation for this, having to drink some stuff to clear out the intestines. The next day we went up to the fourth floor of the hospital for the colonoscopy. The nurses told me to go down to the main floor and wait there, they would bring Marina down when she was finished.

But she didn’t come, instead a man came and told me that I was to come upstairs, the doctor wanted to see me. He showed me pictures of a few bleeding tumors in the colon. He had taken a biopsy and it usually takes 4 to 6 weeks to get the results. He said “We will rush it and have the results within one week.” Those results were not good, the tumors were cancerous. A number of other tests were done, doctors visits, hospital visits, etc. The conclusion: Marina would need surgery. A date was set, December 16.

The surgery was successful, praise God. But when I left her after she had come out of recovery, she felt and looked like a wreck, and I drove home quite concerned. But this morning she phoned me and talked cheerfully with a clear voice. When I got there in the afternoon she was sitting up in bed with a big smile on her face. A bit later a nurse came and took her for a walk. For me, this was a miracle. With her weak heart and in her weak condition and then  such an operation, and here she was laughing and walking around already the next day, amazing, praise God! However, we realize that she is not out of the woods yet, and no doubt, there will be some difficult days.

Something amusing happened. This morning I called the hospital early to see how she was. A voice said, “With Marina.” I was shocked and said, “Is that you Marina.” “Yes” came the answer. I said, “Oh, how are you honey?” It was quiet for a moment, and then, “I am not your wife sir, I am the nurse, my name is also Marina, but I don’t mind being called honey.” We had a good laugh!……………….. 🙂 (Go to Musings).

Nr.161 ended with: “Oh yes, dear friends, we are on the winning side, our Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately triumph over all evil and I’m excited about that, hallelujah…………….! I hope you are with us?!” (See richardandmarina.net).

As mentioned last week, because of the rapid growth of the work, it was hard to keep up and so we were very thankful that the Lord raised up other workers to help us. The Luesink’s had joined us in ’71, but returned to Canada in ’74, the Gelling’s had come in ’75, the den Boer’s in ’76, the Threadcraft’s in ’79, returning to the USA in ’83, the Symons’ in ’81, Dave Dunlap in ’83, but returning to the USA in ’89, the Gifford’s in ’84. All of these, except Martin and Lydie Symons were foreign workers, but now two other Belgian couples came into the work in 1984, Guido and Marianne De Kegel in East Flanders and Luc and Nicole Vandevorst in Limburg, and more would follow in the years to come.

It was in 1977 that I was invited to Guido and Marianne’s home to explain the Bible and the gospel. You can read about this in episode 135. Guido was a real student and it didn’t take long before he started giving Bible studies, ultimately becoming the best Bible teacher in our churches and maybe in all of Flemish Belgium. He became an elder in the church in Eeklo and finally felt and obeyed the call of God and took the daring step to leave his good job and start working full-time for the Lord. We were delighted. He has had a great influence on the assemblies and getting things more organized. During the pioneers phase of a work, things go spontaneous, but after a while, there needs to be some structure and organization. We see this in the N.T. too with the growth of the churches. And so the work of the Lord grew and the Lord was glorified as His church was being built.

However, the original purpose of “Musings” was not so much to write a story about the work, but rather about our personal lives, which of course includes the work. It is “our” story and how we experienced the reality of the living God, His presence, His guidance, His provisions, His protection, His faithfulness and His blessings and we’ll come back to that the next time…………….! (Go to Musings).

Nr.160 ended with: “We were back in Belgium end 1983 and continued to witness the work of God’s Holy Spirit in the lives of people, and the growth of His church, exciting indeed…………!” (See richardandmarina.net).

From the first of January 1984 we were back in full swing and things were still really moving. In the next 10 years another 10 or so churches would be started and a number of workers would be added. Besides evangelistic Bible studies in homes, there was the work with the churches, the training of teachers and leaders. Conferences were held, regular baptisms, summer camps in full swing, youth weekends, and a once a month Saturday Bible school was started in two places, in Beerse for the people from around there and from Limburg, and the other in Ghent for the people from the Antwerp, East and West Flanders regions. Some 175 people took part. We went through most of the Bible books, as well as church history and other subjects. Many were blessed and grew in their faith and Christian life.

You know dear reader, I follow the news every day, as I want to know what’s going on in the world, but I get so tired of all the bad news that’s brought to us while we don’t realize that there are so many good things happening all over the world. When I think back now to those years in Belgium, people being saved, lives being transformed, broken relationships and marriages restored and so many other wonderful things happening in the lives of people, I praise the Lord.

And even today in 2015, while there is so much evil in the world, there are so many good things going on. At least 80.000 people are becoming Christians every day, while atheism is losing 300 people a day. Never have there been so many Christians in the world as right now. 3.500 new churches are being started every week all over the world. Not only that, but so many positive things are being done by Christians everywhere, in needy places, like prisons, hospitals, orphanages, halfway houses and so on. So many Christian organizations are sending help to people in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and other places. $545 billion dollars are given to Christian causes every year, that is $1.5 billion a day. More than 71 million Bibles will be distributed this year. But these things don’t make headlines in our newspapers or on TV, yet they are happening, praise God. Oh yes, dear friends, we are on the winning side, our Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately triumph over all evil and I’m excited about that, hallelujah…………….! I hope you are with us?! (Go to Musings).