TRUST #16: Trusting God When Your Family Turns Against You (Rein Schmidt's Story)

I am sharing a TRUST story today from my friend, Rein Schmidt, about a time when his family and friends turned against him because of his decision to follow Christ. What a difficult thing to go through. Thanks for sharing, Rein.

I just turned 19 years old and my life was about to dramatically change. My view about the world, my friends and, yes, even my family would be seen in a different light. You see, God took a hold of my life. He opened my heart and my mind and showed me the truth of His word. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. I was no different. I thought it was foolishness. Yet one day, it wasn’t foolishness anymore. Someone shared with me the Gospel and the Holy Spirit took those words and unlocked the hardness of my heart. The Gospel became irresistible and I couldn’t say no. So by faith I accepted Jesus as my Savior.

From that moment on, everything began to change. As I mentioned before, the way I saw the world, my friends, and even my life, changed. Over the next few months, my friends at the time no longer wanted to hang around me. I started going to a non-denominational Bible-teaching church every Sunday. I went to various Bible studies and made new friends.

One day, my parents confronted me about what had happened in my life. They were concerned about me reading the Bible and why I was carrying it around with me all the time. My father told me, “Reading the Bible all the time will make you crazy.” He wanted me to stop doing that. Several days later, all of this finally came to a head. They came to me and gave me an ultimatum. They told me that I would have to either accept them and their tradition (they were Catholic) and continue to live in their house, or I could continue following Jesus but I would have to leave and live somewhere else. At that moment, the words of Matthew 10:34-36 became very real, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn 'a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.'"

I was crushed and didn’t see this coming. I felt all alone. All I could do was TRUST in my Lord and my Savior, Jesus. As I looked at my parents, with tears in my eyes and a broken heart, I said, "I’d rather have Jesus!"

Forty five years later, I still have Jesus. Even though my parents never accepted my faith, they eventually did accept me again. It was my trust in the Lord that helped me through that difficult time.

~ Rein Schmidt