I am so excited about sharing this post here. Below is a letter that my grandpa wrote and sent to several members of our family.  He has such a beautiful way on integrating family history with God’s truth.  I have asked for permission before sharing this but out of respect for him, will not be posting this on Facebook. I know you will be blessed by the wisdom he has to share!

September 22, 2013

Dear Family,

I am writing this to demonstrate that sometimes something one would consider to be a very unfortunate situation at the time later turns out to be a blessing. Without what happened to my Father, things would be very different today for all of us.

You see, my Dad was born in 1889 with a deformed left hip.  The ball and socket in his left hip were only partially formed. It was basically bone on bone. Doctors who have seen X-rays of his hip have wondered how he could walk at all. This was, of course, long before hip replacement surgery. As a result his left leg was shorter than his right leg. When he purchased a new pair of shoes, he would take them to our local shoemaker to have the left heel and sole built up so he could walk better.  He always used a cane when walking long distances, and in later years he seldom walked without some pain.  One could say:  “How unfortunate that God would allow him to be born that way!”  But there is more to the story.

Because Dad had this physical problem, he was unable to work in his father’s fields and follow in his father’s footsteps as a farmer in Sweden.  Instead, he left home at age 15 and began working in various machine shops, the last being a watch factory in Sweden.  (I still have the watch he purchased at that factory.)  He learned great mechanical skills in these shops and factories that he would later put to use here in America.

Thus this so-called unfortunate situation led to Dad’s emigration to America in 1909, his eventually starting an automobile garage and sales agency in Chisago City, MN in 1916, marrying and raising a family.  Now we are his descendants and also Americans, with all the blessings we have in this great country. Who knows what the outcome might have been if he had remained in Sweden as a farmer there.

I see the hand of God in all of this.  We can never fully understand His plans for us or for our lives.  Instead we must trust that He will always be with us, even during times that give us cause to question.

Love, 

Dad, Grandpa, & Great-Grandpa