The Former Things

By Vicki L. Hellmund

Did you ever think in your heart, If there is a God, where is he? I did, a lot.

As a child I started on a search for what I began to call the God of the Old Testament, and what I meant by that was the God who actually showed up and did things, the God who was personally involved in our lives.

My search took me down many paths. A child of the sixties, my paths included sex, drugs, rock and roll, and the occult. My search ended one night when, in pain and desperation, I threw a Bible I had been trying to read at a wall, shook my fist at the ceiling, and cried out, I dont know if you are real or not, but if You are real, You better do something! I dont care what You do, but do something!

I didnt know, as I sobbed myself to sleep that night, that God had heard my heartfelt cry and that I was about to meet the One for whom I had been searchingnor did I know that He was far more than I ever imagined.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781490821306

Vicki L. Hellmund

Although Vicki L. Hellmund is retired from years of work in the business world, she does not consider herself retired, but rather refired. She spends her “refirement” recording God’s creation through her photography and sharing God’s love through her writings and encouragements. A mother of three sons and grandmother to one granddaughter, she treasures her family and friends. Vicki’s desire is to wear out rather than rust out, and she enjoys every day in harness with Jesus.

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Copyright © 2014 Vicki L. Hellmund.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Front Cover: Image copyright © Vicki L. Hellmund/AngelView Photography 2013

Photography and illustrations: Copyright © Vicki L. Hellmund/AngelView Photography 2013

Bible quotations are from: The Holy Bible,

Amplified Bible

King James Bible

New American Standard Bible

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A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-2130-6 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/27/2014

Contents

Foreword

Preface

The Invitation

Light in the Darkness

Desires of Your Heart

…though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…

Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul…Jason Part 1

Church Bizarre

Pleasant Street…Jason Part 2

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your Presence?

I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me, will live even if he dies.

Epilogue

With Thanksgiving To

Endnotes

Dedicated to my family…

Those in heaven

Those on earth

Those of blood

Those of Spirit

Especially Eliah, Micah and Josiah

And to all the hurting and frightened souls who are searching for the truth and refuse to believe a lie

The Lord is near to those of a broken heart…

Psalm 34:18a

… for God so loved He gave His only…

John 3:16a

Foreword

I t is a privilege to introduce Vicki. With her permission, I have known her many years. Initially in a counselor-client relationship, then she was a key member of a group. I value her as a wounded h ealer.

I have always viewed Vicki as stronger than she believed she was. She gains strength from God through Jesus Christ on a daily basis (sometimes hourly or minute-by-minute) as she lives on the Lombard Street* (see note below) of life. Yet she is ready and willing to listen and help others.

She is blessed to help groups, classes and even churches because she speaks the truth in love. Vicki learned from the best, Jesus, and just as He ministered to women in the Bible: Mary, Martha, the woman who touched him to be healed from years of bleeding and the woman at the well; He also approached Vicki by validating her situation without reservation or condemning her - He told her the truth and she recognized Him. And just like the woman at the well brought others to Him by telling them who Jesus is, Vicki’s story is a powerful witness to Jesus’ amazing love AND grace.

Jerry W. McCluer, M.A., M.S.

A Brother in Christ

Christian Counselor

Retired U.S. Air Force

Preface

I ’ve already lived most of my life. That is to say, according to statistics, my age indicates I’m on the downhill side of life here on planet earth…which is not al l bad.

There are bad things about being on the downhill side - my hair is thin, my body is thick. Parts I never knew I had hurt sometimes and my mind doesn’t always cooperate with me. But oh there are so many more good things about the downhill side!

Some of those good things are…my priorities are straighter. I don’t sweat the small stuff, and sometimes I don’t even sweat the big stuff either. Another good thing is I have learned that there is something we can take with us when we die…relationships. Relationships are eternal and, therefore, the most important things in which we can invest our time, energy and resources.

The most precious part of this time of life is I have a history of experiencing God’s faithfulness in my life. I have a well full of evidence of His faithfulness from which to draw when my faith becomes dry. I remember the former things and those memories encourage me that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. That He is the Master, the Creator of all things and there is nothing too difficult for Him.

So, like any other older person, I have stories. My favorite life stories are the stories of His workings in my life. The other day I was sharing one of these stories with some friends and one of them said, You should write these down. They would be a great encouragement to people. I prayed about it and these are the ones I believe Jesus would have me share in this little book. All these stories are true - they are not embellished one bit. They are listed in no particular order. I pray that Jesus will use my life stories to encourage and bless you.

The Invitation

A s I sat in my chair at work, the pain was growing increasingly severe; severe enough to double me over. It felt as if there was a vise tightening around my lower back squeezing tighter and tighter. The pain sharpened each time I took a b reath.

I was working at a children’s psychiatric hospital. That evening I had been asked to work in the infirmary instead of on one of the wards where I usually worked.

One of the infirmary nurses, Jeri, walked