The Story Behind the Book

Who, me? Walk on water!

“Whenever Jesus calls someone to get out of the boat,
He gives the power to walk on the water.”

—John Ortberg, “If You Want to Walk on the Water”

“What’s the matter?” my husband Joe asked as we sat at the
dinner table.

“I’m wondering what to do next,” I said, feeling drained
of energy. A year earlier, Joe had been diagnosed with a rare,
virtually incurable, cancer, and we had spent the months fighting
for his life.

Finally, aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, backed
by much pleading prayer, managed to put the disease into
remission, whereupon the oncologist had adopted a wait-andsee
attitude. The sudden quietness in our lives was like living
in the eye of a number five hurricane.

“Now that we have a lull, I don’t know what to do,” I
told Joe. “When you became ill, I gave up my job to care for
you … the boys will leave soon for college … suddenly, I lack
direction.”

“Why don’t you go back to school, too?” Joe offered.

“Do what!?” I responded, taken aback. “You know, of
course, it’s been a mighty long time since I was a student.”
I’ll admit, though, that the idea of a fresh environment, of
escaping the constant cancer concern at our house, held a certain
appeal. Besides, I knew Joe worried that I was ill prepared to
earn a living if cancer should win the fight.

Change of direction does not come easy for me. Having
faced Joe’s life-threatening illness, however, I saw the futility
of my plans. I had begun learning to trust God and His plans
for me. I earnestly wanted to trust Him in all areas of life. But
first I needed to know who I was—to find me. The words of
Saint Augustine express the yearnings of my heart, “Let me
know thee, Lord, and let me know myself.”

In this new stance of learning to trust, now that the subject
of college had come up, I asked God for guidance. His answer
was not a gentle nudge, but a strong shove. All the right doors
began to open; even a scholarship appeared. The day an
astonished me, a first-quarter sophomore, returned to college,
I felt a kinship to the disciple Peter when he dared to climb out
of the boat and walk on water toward Jesus.

I approached the first classes with fear and trembling. Could
I still think? Could I still learn? “Please Lord, don’t leave me
now, or I’ll sink for sure.”

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As days became weeks, and weeks quarters, the totally
unexpected happened. College became, for me, a spiritual
experience—one that changed me and my life completely. One
that gave me the inner security I craved. The key, I think, was
obedience.

The turning point came during my junior year when I
felt God was directing me to study journalism. For several
months I doggedly continued my social work studies. Surely I
had imagined God’s message. “After all,” I argued, “I’m not a
youngster anymore. What would I do with journalism?”

I’m grateful He didn’t give up on me. I felt no peace until I
went to my knees in surrender and changed my major field of
study from social work to journalism.

Years earlier I had accepted Jesus as my Savior; now I
accepted Him as my Lord. I thought I was really sacrificing.
But to my surprise, it was my gain. For upon my surrender, the
Holy Spirit took control. The more I gave up my will to God’s
will, the more I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. What joy
to know He dwells within.

One of the first things the Spirit taught me was a lifechanging
truth: God loves me. Now if God loves me, that
makes me somebody rather special. I don’t need to question
anymore who I am. I’m a child of the King! What a freeing
revelation—freeing from the chains of my own self-doubts.
I gave Him the old insecure me; He gave me a freedom I had
never known.

In his book, Let God Love You, Lloyd J. Ogilvie writes.
“Obedience to our Lord is the continuous new beginning of
unpredictable possibilities.”

One such unpredictable possibility became reality for me
when, after three years on campus, I received a degree in Social
Work/Journalism. That was one exciting day! And Joe was
there to share it!

In spite of the fact that Joe’s health had not yet been declared
“all clear,” life for me became a thrilling adventure with God
in control. When I asked expectantly, “What are we doing
tomorrow, Lord?,” He sent me on a mission to share His love
through the written word, telling personal experience stories—
my own and others’—of faith at work in lives today.

I have gathered many of those stories in this volume. They
have greatly enriched my own life—I pray they do the same
for you.

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