About Me

Hi, my name is Emily van Rijn. I live in the North Island of New Zealand in an area called the Wairarapa. I am married to a man who immigrated to New Zealand from the Netherlands. We have 4 children. Our youngest one has Down Syndrome.

Me on my wedding day!

I grew up in a large (10 girls and 1 boy!), Christian, homeschooling family. My parents were converted sometime after I was born. I grew up knowing the Gospel and loving the Lord since a young age. During my teen years I struggled a lot with doubts. I had made a profession when I was very young and I was depending on that for my salvation. If you had asked me how I knew I was saved, I would have told you that when I was little I prayed and asked Jesus to save me. But I worried a lot if I really was saved. Did I really understand the Gospel when I was that little? Had I really meant the prayer I prayed? These things bothered me, until one day it clicked! I realized that I was depending on my prayer rather than on Jesus Christ. No wonder I was having doubts! Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for my sin and His sacrifice is the only thing that is good enough for God. If my complete trust is in what He did for me, then I am saved. What Jesus Christ did on the cross is the only thing that is good enough for God. I shouldn't be trusting in what I've done. When I finally understood that, the doubts went away and haven't come back.

While I was a teenager, I had my heart set on being a missionary. I wanted to live my life 'serving God'. I had to learn, however, that “Every heart without Christ is a mission field, and every heart with Christ is a missionary.” The mission field is not a place---it's people without Christ. And those people are everywhere! God opened up doors for me to minister to children in my area who were from nonChristian homes. I started a little Sunday School, was a leader at Girl's Brigade and ran a Girl's Club. Those experiences taught me a lot and I loved it!

Johan

During my last teen years my future husband (Johan) arrived on the scene! A Dutchy who couldn't speak much English! He had just immigrated to New Zealand and lived 4 ½ hours away. This didn't fit into my plans at all! (I was trying to go overseas to be a missionary.) But as I sought God's guidance, I realized that God's plans were different to mine. I had to learn to trust God one step at a time even when it didn't make sense to my thinking.

I came to realize that serving God means doing whatever God wants us to do. For some people it may mean going to a third world country to be a missionary. For others it may mean being a mother and wife. But it's all about obeying God and His plan, not what we think is the best plan. The Bible says if we abide in Christ we will bring forth much fruit. But we often get so busy trying to bring forth fruit that we forget about abiding in Him! We get it the wrong way around and it doesn't work!


We got married 8 years ago when I was 21yrs, and we have been serving God together in whatever way we can.

Now I am a busy, happy wife and mother! And it's teaching me so much.

I hope this blogspot is a blessing to you.

My email is emily_lauridsen@yahoo.co.nz

I would love to hear from you!