Lessons From a Lifetime with God
Life with Jesus is rarely smooth or predictable – something Olaf knows firsthand.
In this reflection, he opens up about the real highs and lows that have shaped his walk with God: the shock of illness, seasons of deep loss, moments of personal struggle, and, in contrast, the joy of new life, renewed hope, and the steady comfort of God’s presence.
Through every peak and every valley, Olaf has learned a profound truth – that God is faithful, constant, and unfailingly good.
This blog invites you into his story, and into those powerful “and yet” moments where God’s grace meets us right where we are.
There’s a line from a contemporary praise song that I like: ‘All my life, all I know / God’s been good, good to my soul’. To me, it sums up the experience of every follower of Jesus – we have ‘highs’ and ‘lows’, well I certainly do!
Let me tell you how this is real for me. I have been a runner since my youth so when I had a heart attack despite being fit, that was a definite low. When our daughter was on a life-support machine, that was very low. When my parents died, I discovered the deep low that comes with bereavement. Those were not times that I felt much like singing happy songs. And yet …
I am a fairly stable person not given to mood swings but I do know what it is to hit some unhappy places through disappointment and my own sinfulness. My self-esteem and confidence that God could still love me in the darkest of times of failure was very marginal at one point. And yet …
I have walked on the mountain tops. The joy of a child born. The reassurance from God that He loves me and calls me His child despite every low place I have been. The perspective to see that God’s plans are bigger than my little aspirations. The knowledge that He has my life in His hands, always, no matter what. The confidence to face growing older with grace and hope in all His faithful promises.
Those close to me know something of my ‘highs and lows’ and still love me. God knows them all and will never stop loving me. His promise to me is that He will never abandon me, that He is always for me and never against me. When I read these things in the great passages of Isaiah 43 and Romans 8, I feel a real lift in my heart. To know that God is my Father, that I am completely secure in the grace of Christ Jesus and that He gives me all that I need through His Spirit for each day is the most a human being can ever hope for.
This is the ‘And yet’ – I can rejoice with great joy on the mountain tops and I know that even in the darkest valley I am not alone but God is with me, to the end of this age. I am convinced that nothing can separate me from the love of God for He has dealt with all my sin through the horror of the cross and I have new life in Christ Jesus.
And so, I am privileged to place my story up here along with the rest of my brothers and sisters in God’s family, my family. I hope that one day, you too will share a story of God’s unfailing grace.
Here’s the song I mentioned, ‘Sing Wherever I Go’ by We The Kingdom:
About The Author
Olaf has been happily married to his first wife for over 40 years!
He enjoys running, table-tennis, singing and attempting to cook … not at the same time.
Olaf loves the sea, a bit of reading and writing.
The snowman in Frozen has been a game-changer for him.
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