i love
the
word
impossible
The author and the publisher gratefully acknowledge permission from the Gaither Music Company to quote, on pages 134 and 159, from the song “Something Beautiful,” ©Copyright 1971 by William J. Gaither.
©2013 by Ann Kiemel
Publisher - Heritage Builders Association, Clovis, California 93619 www.HeritageBuilders.com 1-888-898-9563
First Printing 1976 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois.
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 75-42908
ISBN 978-1-939-01117-6
Cover design by Claire Tingen
Cover photo by Justin Davis/Fencelinemedia.com Text formatting and editing by Esther Garcia
to my father and mother
who have lived great lives
and raised me to believe in God and i, together,
could make it through ANYTHING
and to my boss and friend and spiritual mentor,
dean robert helfrich.
his heart is stretched so wide,
and he is so honest.
and with love to Hal and Susie Zigelbaum
contents
preface
1. i’m a woman now
sunday night
new year’s eve
i’m a woman now
prejudice
legalism
thoughts
evangelism
theology
2. on campus
dean of women
caring
defeat
self-image
forgiveness 1
forgiveness 2
3. people
magic of life
neighborhood
beauty shop
gramps
rejection
st. maries, idaho
individuality
joyce
the pendulum swing
4. en route
the difference
hap
frances
john
Christmas eve
new year’s eve again
5. i love the word impossible
football game
kaleidoscope
i love the word impossible…
it’s like joy after sorrow.
people being friends after being enemies.
rainbows after drenching rain.
a wound healed.
sunsets on quiet evenings after
hot, noisy days.
paralyzed, injured limbs learning to grow
strong and useful again.
forgiveness after wrong.
truth after fog.
new love-made babies.
birds learning to fly and own the sky.
bitterness turned to mellowness.
fresh, genuine hope… once abandoned.
people finding each other at right moments,
in unexpected, obscure places…
for God-ordained reasons.
i love that word impossible because my God
believes in adventure
and extraordinary mountains, and He dares
to believe in a world crawling with terrible
situations.
He promises to be bigger than any impossibility
because He is love…
and love always finds a way through,
in time.
love isn’t scared.
it builds bridges instead of walls.
it never gives up.
it always hangs on.
it waits with stubborn, strong hope.
sometimes even years.
love makes God alive in far more than human souls.
like sun and clear sky and drooping branches
and dark birds and color and design and music…
and the sound of water on a shore.
IMPOSSIBLE means that i
an ordinary young woman,
can be something special and significant
in an enormous, hurting world.
i can be love where i live,
and that is Christ…
and He really does make ALL
the difference!
it’s sunday night.
i flew in this afternoon, as i do most sundays, from speaking somewhere in the country. a garment bag over one arm and books under the other… and the feeling that at any moment something was going to drop or i would get tangled in my coat and sprawl.
i am always one of the first off the plane.
i walk very fast.
my car is usually parked in the airport garage
across from the terminal.
when i unlock the door to my little