Through the Eye of a Needle

Pieter Scheurwater

Description

Pieter Scheurwater realized at a young age he was different than the other boys in his Dutch community. In the theologically strict Dutch home and church, however, he also knew he could not divulge the ways in which he did not belong. Though he escaped the expectations of his religious upbringing, he unreservedly and unconditionally dedicated his life to God. Traveling to Australasia as a young man, he still felt obligated to keep his true nature hidden. Despite a career with a mission organization, marriage and childrearing, he finally realized while he may have hidden his true self from others, he could no longer maintain the lie. In his memoir, Scheurwater details his journey to the freedom he experiences when the pretense is stripped away. His personal pilgrimage is a testimony of God’s unconditional love and faithfulness.

Sujets

• Inspirational
• Philosophie et théologie
• Hyper-Calvinism
• Religion
• Christian

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse UK
• Date de parution: 25 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781728379661
• Langue: English

Extrait

Through the Eye of a Needle

A Faith Journey from Denial and Pretence to Acceptance
 
 
 
Pieter Scheurwater
 
 
 

 
 
AuthorHouse™ UK
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403 USA
www.authorhouse.co.uk
Phone: UK TFN: 0800 0148641 (Toll Free inside the UK)             UK Local: (02) 0369 56322 ([phone] from outside the UK)
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Pieter Scheurwater. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
This work depicts actual events in the life of the author as truthfully as recollection permits. While all persons within are actual individuals, in places, names and identifying characteristics have been changed to respect their privacy.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 01/25/2023
 
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7965-4 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-7966-1 (e)
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
I dedicate this book to my beloved mother, Elisabeth Scheurwater-Kuiper, and to her father and role model and my eponym, Pieter Kuiper, who passed away when she was carrying me.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: A Humble Shed
Chapter 2: Lonely, But Not Alone
Chapter 3: Sifted as Wheat
Chapter 4: Damascus Road
Chapter 5: A Leap of Faith
Chapter 6: He Will Guide You into All Truth
Chapter 7: New Horizons
Chapter 8: When God Says No
Chapter 9: Treading Among Angels
Chapter 10: To the Ends of the Earth
Chapter 11: The Convincing Change
Chapter 12: Soaring Over Uncharted Territory
Chapter 13: Labourers wth God
Chapter 14: The Land of the Unexpected
Chapter 15: God’s Faithfulness Endures
Chapter 16: Man Plans, the Lord Directs
Chapter 17: Journey to the Land of the Never Never
Chapter 18: Where the Gulf Of Carpentaria and the Arafura Sea Meet
Chapter 19: The Everlasting Arms
Chapter 20: Like a Tree Planted by the Waters
Chapter 21: Carried on Eagle’s Wings
Chapter 22: The Challenge of Change
Chapter 23: The Eye of the Needle
Chapter 24: The Holy City
Chapter 25: Changing Perceptions
Chapter 26: Counselling
Chapter 27: Burden Sharing
Chapter 28: The Hiding Place
Chapter 29: Needs Supplied in Abundance
Chapter 30: The Reunion
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For many years I wanted to write a record of my life’s journey, but the task seemed too daunting. I dreamed I would one day meet a special person with the necessary skills and interest to undertake this project with me. Although I didn’t meet this person, when I finally began writing, God, with whom I had made my life’s journey, was right there for me.
First and foremost, I want to thank God, my unlimited source, for enabling me to write this book. In his providence, He gave me the opportunity and privilege to meet many people from around the world and share in their lives. Whether our relationship was long or short, or even just moments, they inspired me to write about them and they became part of this story. I want to acknowledge and thank all these people:
My parents and my one and only sibling Dineke de Heer-Scheurwater with whom I grew up,
The three most important people in my life, my three Js—Jennifer, my caring wife and best friend for almost twenty-five years and my sons Jireh and Jeremy, of whom I’m so proud,
My second cousin, Anita Kooijman and her late husband Andre Snijders for taking care of me when I first arrived in New Zealand and supporting me during my business venture there,
The Auld family in Auckland, New Zealand who adopted me into their family and instructed me further in the ways of the Lord,
My good friend Kees Doornhein, who indirectly and unbeknown to him, encouraged me to commence writing and who is now translating this memoir into the Dutch language.
Pastor Jacob Korf, who unaware I was writing my memoir, provided the key to an important statement at a critical time in the writing process,
My cousin Rina van Es, just four months my senior, the first person to read my unedited manuscript provided valuable feedback.
In particular, I wish to thank and acknowledge one important person God arranged to come alongside me in this endeavor—my editor, Judy Hagey. With my limited writing experience, I am grateful for her patience, respect and precise understanding of what I was trying to communicate. Her gentle but firm approach, direct comments and corrections, which I didn’t always appreciate, were valuable. Due to her skillful input, my manuscript has turned into the book I had envisaged.
My initial interactions with my publisher, AuthorHouse UK Publishing, are positive. Their emails and phone calls have made me feel part of the publishing team, which, in turn, gives me confidence. I look forward to a good and positive working relationship.
Gaither Music, the Bill and Gloria Gaither Homecoming video recordings, the many current Christian musicians, and those who have passed on to glory, deserve special recognition. Always, but especially during those times no one stood with me, and I had no church home, as well as during the writing process, they have been an awesome source of blessing, joy, encouragement and inspiration. They have become so much part of my life I consider them my adopted Christian family.
INTRODUCTION
As I shared my life story and Christian testimony with people over the years, some suggested I write a memoir. Yet one aspect of my story remained untold because that facet was a secret known only to God—a secret I intended to take with me to the grave. No one would ever know.
These suggestions, however, never really left me, and although I had little idea and know-how to transcribe this into reality, with God’s help I began writing during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 virus season. Because it is not just mine, but our story—my journey with God, I felt compelled to reveal my secret and thus it became part of, but not the subject of this book.
I was born and reared in Netherlands. My family were devoted members of a typical Dutch ultra- or hyper-Calvinist church in which the teaching of predestination stood paramount. In this theology, only the ‘elect few’ obtained salvation because they were predestined for heaven. The rest were sadly predestined for hell. At least, in its simplest form, that is how I understood my church’s teaching as I was growing up.
After a Damascus Road experience in my late teens, I unreservedly dedicated my life to God, regardless of what I was ‘predestined’ for. My commitment to Him was unconditional, just as God’s love and commitment to me is unconditional.
Shortly after this important and life-changing event I left Netherlands. My next forty years were a remarkable journey of faith, learning and revelation, as I travelled to the other side of the world with Him as Lord of my life.
I first travelled to New Zealand, where I lived and worked for seven years. There, God took me on an amazing Emmaus walk to expound the truth of His Word more fully in a new and living way. In the following years, I lived and worked in several Asia-Pacific regions, including seventeen years with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in Papua New Guinea and Arnhemland, Northern Australia.
From an early age I realised I was gay. I did my utmost to suppress my feelings and disregard my true orientation. As student of Scripture, I could find no support for acting on my same-sex attraction (SSA) in the entire written Word. In my early thirties, I decided to get married, firmly believing that despite our secret, God would enable me to honour this marriage. My wife and I were blessed with two sons.
When we left the mission field and settled into a suburban lifestyle in Australia, a setting I knew would be challenging for me, I confronted my true orientation. Believing I had moved beyond my same-sex attraction, I struggled with the fact that I was pretending and acting as someone I wasn’t. Personality and character are closely interwoven within one’s true orientation, and I could no longer pretend. I needed to be myself—the person God created me to be—imperfect in myself but made perfect in Christ.
This later-in-life confrontation, together with other matters took me to London on an extended vacation. In search of a solution, I sought professional counselling. Despite intense reflection and introspection and waiting to hear from God, the only counsel I received was God wanted me to be released from the cage in which I was trapped. How to achieve this, however, remained a challenging and complicated issue.
In spite of