Kristina’s HQ Farewell Testimony
Good morning! As most of you already know, I’m Kristina, and I’ve been working in the ATI department here at Headquarters for a little over two years now. These past two years have been a fabulous time for me—an experience far better than I ever could have imagined!
Tomorrow I will be heading home and on to Verity in Flint. As I leave Headquarters, I’d like to share with you some of the lessons the Lord has been teaching me throughout my time here. I call these lessons the three R’s: Remembering the rhemas He has given me, rejoicing in Him, and resting in Him. These are lessons I have yet to master. In fact, I think I’ll probably be learning them for the rest of my life! As II Corinthians 4:7 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power of God may be of God and not of us.” I sure am thankful that He who began a good work in me is faithful to complete it!
Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.” A turning point in my life came on my sixteenth birthday when a friend of mine encouraged me to start keeping my very own Rhema Journal—a record of God’s promises to me. Since I started keeping my Rhema Journal, the Lord has been teaching me that remembering His rhemas involves searching diligently for them, meditating on them, applying them in my life, and sharing them with others.
In Matthew 7:24 Jesus promises, “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” During my senior year of high school, my parents and I were seeking the Lord for His direction for my life after high school. Although we were considering the possibility of me coming to serve at HQ, we were unsure what the future held. That December, I asked God to give me a rhema for the coming year. The rhema He gave me to claim for 2002 was Hebrews 13:20–21.“May the God of peace…equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
This verse gave me so much confidence and hope in an uncertain and pivotal time in my life. By naming Himself the God of peace, God was promising to fill me with His peace. God was also promising to equip and prepare me with everything I would need to fulfill His will for me through Christ, and He was promising to work in me what would bring Himself pleasure and eternal glory.
My faith was so strengthened and expanded in 2002 as I saw God fulfill Hebrews 13:20–21 in my life. As 2002 drew to a close, I asked the Lord to give me another rhema for the year 2003. I desired 2003 to be a time of God’s light increasing and brightening in my life just like Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” The rhema God gave me for the year was Psalm 89:15–17. “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. For you are their glory and song.”
My rhema for this year comes from Psalm 63:8. “My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholds me.” This year my goal has been to follow hard after the Lord—to seek Him diligently and to love him passionately and whole-heartedly. Yet, I know that this is possible only because God is upholding me.
As the Lord has been giving me these and many other rhemas, I’ve wanted to make sure that I’m meditating on them. A friend of mine inspired me to write the rhemas on index cards and display them around my room where I could see them easily. I bought a box of colorful markers and a package of white index cards and went to work designing what I fondly call my rhema cards.
The architecture of my bedroom with its overhang has perfectly suited my idea to display these rhema cards. Throughout these past two years, I’ve been taping my growing collection of rhema cards to that overhang. There those verses of Scripture are easily visible to me—as long as I look up. Countless times, the Lord has used these rhema cards to remind me to look up—not just to read the colorful lettering but to look up to Him and claim His Word in my life.
When I first had the idea to make and display these rhema cards, I had no clue of what God had in store. Initially, I thought the purpose of making them was for my own benefit, but God quickly expanded my vision.
About that time I had a roommate I had difficulty getting along with. In my frustration, the Lord gave me the idea to start verbally blessing her each night before we went to bed. Almost every night after that, both of us enthusiastically picked one of the rhemas to use as a verbal blessing to give to the other. It was a precious and sweet thing that really helped our relationship.
As I witnessed the positive fruit of turning rhemas into blessings with my roommate, I wanted to share those blessings with my extended family members and friends. I began sending them rhema cards and blessings, too. On numerous occasions, the Lord has prompted me to send notes with specific Scripture verses to people He puts on my mind.
When hearing later of the impact that has had in the lives of those people and those they in turn share with, I am amazed and blessed too. God’s Word truly is quick and powerful! As I have been seeing these results over the past months, the Lord has been developing in me the vision and the passion to share His Word with others through the visual arts—primarily calligraphy and graphic design.
As I’ve been learning to meditate on the rhemas the Lord has given me, He has been also teaching me to rejoice in Him. I’ve discovered that one of the best ways for me to rejoice in the Lord is to meditate on His Word—especially the Psalms. My Rhema Journal is filled with verses such as Psalm 9:1–2. “I will praise You, O Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of Your wonders. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” And Psalm 64:10—“The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.”
Another way I’ve learned to rejoice in the Lord is to recount His many blessings. The third stanza of the hymn, “Jesus, I am Resting, Resting,” says that “He compasseth me round with blessings.” He surely has! One huge blessing that I’ve enjoyed these past two years is having my younger brother Peter work here at HQ, too. He’s a terrific brother, and it’s been great to be here together.
My jobs here in the ATI department have also been a significant blessing in my life. Isaiah 26:12 says, “Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.” I count myself very privileged to have been given the opportunity to work in both the WBLA and Curriculum Development departments; I really think the Lord custom made both of those jobs for me as they both have combined my desire to learn graphic design skills, my interest in education, and my growing heart’s desire to help families to be mighty in spirit—not to mention the great time I’ve had with all of my coworkers!
The Lord has additionally “compassed me round with His blessings” as I’ve been living at Brook Manor. Throughout the past two years, He has used dozens of housemates and so many experiences to mature and sharpen me. I Corinthians 7:17 in The Message says “And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right here.” In the past few months especially, God has convicted me of the importance of taking time to invest in and learn from the people He has placed around me. I am so thankful for the many housemates who have encouraged me in the way of the Lord. Their examples, friendship, and fellowship have greatly deepened and enriched my life.
“Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what thou art; I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart. Keep me ever trusting, resting; Fill me with Thy grace.” Lately the Lord has been showing me the importance of resting in Him. Even until a few months ago, I didn’t understand that it is absolutely vital to rest in the Lord. I mistakenly thought that resting in Him was a really nice benefit of having a personal relationship with Him—that it made the difference between feeling happy or harried. As I was reading the book of Hebrews, however, I was stunned to learn what Hebrews 3 and 4 have to say about entering into the Lord’s rest. God’s wrath came on the Israelites because in unbelief they hardened their hearts and refused His rest! To my astonishment, I discovered that not resting in the Lord is far more serious than feeling stressed; it is actually sin because it comes from a hard and unbelieving heart.
I’ve found that sometimes my lack of resting in the Lord isn’t the result of an intentional hardening of my heart, but rather it is the result of my succumbing to the distraction of busyness. Martha in the Bible learned this too. She was so busy doing what she thought was the Lord’s work that she was missing out on intimate fellowship with Jesus. I have to admit that I’m the kind of person who has always empathized with Martha when hearing sermons about Mary and Martha. After all, someone has to do something! And yet, Jesus said that Mary had chosen “the better part.” I like how Amy Carmichael explained it in her book Gold Cord. She stated that our hands can be full of the Lord’s work, like Martha; and at the same time our spirits can be sitting and listening at His feet, like Mary. A prayer of Saint Augustine’s has come to mean a lot to me whenever I feel overwhelmed with busyness: “I find no secure place for my soul except in You, and I pray that what is scattered in me may be brought together so that no part may be separated from You.”
I’ve also discovered that whether or not I am rejoicing and resting in the Lord is hinged upon whether or not I am choosing to be satisfied in Him. I Timothy 6:6 says that “Godliness with contentment is great gain.” Echoing this verse, Martin Luther stated that, “Next to faith, this is the highest art: to be content in the calling in which God has placed you.” As God has taken my family through an extended season of unemployment and underemployment for my dad, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn contentment. I’ve come to realize that contentment requires a moment by moment decision of my will to agree with the truth that God has provided everything that is necessary for my present happiness. In fact, it means gratefully acknowledging that God has actually provided abundantly above and beyond my necessities, and it means being resourceful and generous with the resources that He has provided. II Thessalonians 2:16–17 says “Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, even God our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.”
Being content also means joyfully and patiently waiting on the Lord. Whenever I am tempted to feel impatient and discontent, the Lord reminds me of Psalm 62:3. “My soul, wait thou upon God, for my expectation is from him.” The Lord has used this verse to convict me to not just pray for (fill in the blank), but to wait on Him and to thank Him for His provision and His all-sufficiency. Lamentations 3:24–26 says, “The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” And Psalm 33:20–22 says, “Our soul waiteth for the Lord: He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.”
In conclusion, I am so thankful that the Lord has had me here at Headquarters for these past two years. It has been a wonderful time for me of developing skills, making friends, and most importantly of learning to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength as He has been teaching me remember His rhemas, rejoice in Him, and rest in Him. As Psalm 118:23 says, “The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
May each of us rejoice and rest in the Lord today. May our spirits be sitting quietly at His feet, our hands be occupied with His work, and our mouths be full of His praise.
Site Updates
My website is still under construction, but feel free to look around. My most current updates are listed below:
- Kroon Family Photo Blog
Check out the new gallery of Pictures of the Week! - Photos of the Character Inn
I’ve taken some pictures of the hotel I now live in and have created a new photo gallery from them. - Peter and Kristina are now in college going through IBLP’s Verity Education program. Find out what else is new in their lives.