Accepting God’s love for us, and for me, meant returning home
God’s love for us: Sandi Bergman shares how she moved to a small town to distance herself and live a health-focused life with a like-minded community. She moved home reluctantly, yet she’s seen God’s love and blessings since returning home. At her church, she discovered God's personal love and provision and realized her fitness allows Sandi to serve God and care for the many horses, pets, and people she now cares for.
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Sandi Bergman learned about God’s personal love at church and believes he loves us, no matter what.
By Sandi Bergman
I grew up in a Christian home, in a small town where everyone was family, and I went to a church where the Pastor and my Dad were best friends, and life was comfortable. But things started to change after high school.
I slowly found myself surrounded by people who lived to party to excess. I, on the other hand, had at an early age begun a mission of being healthy and fit. I refused to eat beef after I discovered that my favorite cow was missing and our freezer was full of beef.
I grew a huge garden (including soybeans for my meatless burgers) and ran and rode my bike every chance I got. I became a real outcast, especially around my siblings.
At 23 years old, I moved to Iowa City, where I found a close group of friends who thought and acted as I did. We cooked our vegetarian meals together, bought food from the co-op, grew a garden, and rode our bikes everywhere (even though I lived 10 miles from town in a log cabin heated with wood). It was like going back to my childhood.
We were all "good people" who followed the "rules" and treated people with dignity and respect. If you had asked any of us, we would have said, "Yes, I'm a Christian," but we didn't think or talk about it.
Accepting God’s love for us, for me, meant returning home
All things good must come to an end, so we all had to grow up and leave Iowa City. I came back to Des Moines to work for the family business. I was working in an office, which I hate, surrounded by the party animals I moved away from, and feeling very lonely. Then I met my husband, Allen. A man of great faith and the best husband I could ever have!
We started going to church with my Mom and Grandma, and to the church Allen grew up in. It was good to be back at church, but something was still missing. Until we found our current church, which is where I learned that God loves me. Me! That he guides me, cares for me, watches over me! Who knew?
I started to understand that when I could provide something the church needed, it was God’s plan. He came through every time there was a need, and most of the time it was way above and beyond what I could even imagine.
A different way to live: Accepting God’s personal love for me
One day at work, I walked in on my three siblings standing around the counter in the kitchen and discussing their meds. As in, diabetes and high blood pressure meds. As I entered the room, my brother said, "Well, obviously this is heredity.” Then he saw me.
I'm the oldest (4 years older than my next brother), and I ran a 1/2 marathon at 63 years of age. I can throw hay with the best of them, and until recently, I taught three to five fitness classes a week.
They all just walked away.
So why me? Was I "special" in God's eyes?
Did I listen to what God told me, and the others didn't? How did I end up so different?
I know now that the path he had marked out for me included being as healthy and fit as I can be because I have 11 horses, two dogs, and six cats to care for, along with two trucking companies I help run.
As Pastor Rick Warren said, "If you're sick or dead, you can't do God's work.”
God’s love for us continues, even if I don’t listen
Almost all of our animals are rescues, and God wants me to stay healthy so they will be cared for.
I honestly don't know the answer. I can't tell you I really listened to God until recently, and even now, when I know he's telling me something, I argue with him once in a while over who's right, me or him.
What I do know is he always wants what's best for us, and whether we do what he asks by accident or on purpose, he still loves us. When we argue with him, he still loves us.
And guess what? If we don't do what he asks of us ... he still loves us — he loves me.
Read more stories about God’s love for us
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What does it mean to be loved by God? Denise Swatsenbarg felt God’s love as a child. She understood John 3:16 (NIV), “for God so loved the world,” and that God loved her, too. But Denise’s ability to sense God’s love faltered after she was abused. She struggled for years until, as an adult, she prayed the ”Our Father” and knew she needed to write a forgiveness letter.