Recently I read a book about immigrants in America and their pursuit of faith. My thoughts turned to my family’s story. My paternal great-grandparents and my maternal grandparents were immigrants from Finland. They settled in northern Michigan and participated in the Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church.
My parents returned to the church after they married, and I grew up going to summer conventions that were held by the Apostolic Lutheran Church in America. I heard preachers from Finland speak, their message translated into English.
The church was composed of people with a Finnish heritage. It had grown out of a revival that took place in northern Finland. As a teenager I began to have questions about the list of dos and don’ts.
When I graduated from high school, I went on to the University of Michigan. Through my involvement with Intervarsity and the Reformed Church of America I was able to ask some of the questions on my mind. My faith grew.
I was married in the Reformed Church. When I joined my husband in Chicago, we chose the Evangelical Free Church for our home church and participated in Bible studies. Our young children participated in Awana (a Bible club), enjoying games and memorizing Bible verses.
When our son was diagnosed with leukemia, we had a foundation of faith to help us during a time of great struggle. Steven eventually went through bone marrow transplant. When he relapsed after the transplant, he found comfort in Bible verses that he had memorized.
Steven’s death impacted all of the family. As a family we had fought for life and the value of human life became deeply etched in our beliefs.
As I worked through my grief, I could see how God had been with us through the two years of Steven’s illness. Friends and family had supported us, prayed for us. During Steven’s bone marrow transplant, while he was treated within a sterile room, I prayed, and with my head down cried quietly. I heard God’s clear answer to my prayers—God cared about Steven and me.
In following years, we were blessed with another child, and I joined a precept Bible study. For the past 35 years I have studied the Bible and prayed with other women. Bible study and prayer are the way to know God.
I am thankful for my heritage, but also for the freedom in this country to participate in Bible studies, to pray and continue growing in faith.
The gospel of John records a beautiful promise of Jesus.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:15-17
