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The New Dimensions Team
This is the New Dimensions team during a retreat in the Swiss mountains.
Back from left: Daniel Reichert, Eva & Fred Ryter, Monika Reichert
Front: Olivia & Sophie Reichert
Last Updated on Friday, 21 October 2011 14:13
Fred and Eva returned to Switzerland and are not part of our group any more.But they were important pillars in the founding stage of New Dimensions, that is why we have decided to keep their article here. After all the testimony is so special that it was mentioned in a German secular journal and a Christian TV channel...
Eva & Fred Ryter introduce themselves
We got married in 1972 and had 3 wonderful sons. To outsiders we gave the impression of a harmonious family, yet our relationship was overshadowed by unresolved conflicts. Eva suffered from an ever-increasingly depressive state. Eva had a tendency to suffer from depression and Fred secretly tried to fill the void in his own marriage through other relationships.
Eventually divorce seemed to be the only way out.
Our sons were 6, 9 and 11 years old back then and they suffered from the break up of our family relations. As parents we tried to cover up what problems this created for our sons.
God intervenes
At 17 years of age our oldest son Thomas left for Jamaica in a student exchange trying to escape the broken relationships of our family. In Jamaica God met him. Students and teachers helped him find faith in Jesus Christ. Returning to Switzerland he confronted his family with his uncompromising faith in the God of the bible.The rest of the family was rather sceptical at first, but as time passed we were intrigued and more open about the word of God and salvation through Jesus Christ. Fortunately Thomas kept strong ties with his divorced dad, who was also involved in this process. One after another of us accepted Jesus and took hold of God’s saving hand in Christ .God led us into a process of healing and restoration. One year after Thomas’s return all of us got baptized as a sign of our commitment to Jesus Christ.
A new beginning
My wife and I knew, that something fundamental was still wrong. Since we were still divorced, it seemed impossible for us to get used to married life again. Yet certainty grew within us: God wanted us to re-marry and He wanted to heal our family. Finally after having been divorced for 10 years we dared to take this step. Full of anxieties we felt like Peter who stepped out of the boat just trusting Jesus that the waters would support him. And God did not let us down. After our step of obedience, he gave us a new love for each other. We celebrated a wonderful 2nd wedding 10 years ago as we renewed our wedding vows.
In these 10 years of our new marriage we were able to experience how God helped us through. Although we were still the same people as before and our behaviour patterns and problems had not disappeared but remained a constant challenge, we got help through counselling and God healed our wounded hearts deep down. We discovered the power of praying together time and again. When there seemed to be walls between us in our relationship, we prayed together and brought our needs before the throne of God. These prayer times made the dividing walls tumble.
Today we can witness that by the grace of God we have an exceptionally good marriage and we are able to be an encouragement to many others.
Now, aged 61 and 65, we have received God’s call into mission in Albania. Having been there a few times in trial outreaches we are now entering into a new project “New Dimensions”, in partnership with the Reichert family and are again “walking on water”. It is our desire to serve Albanian believers as spiritual parents, strengthening their faith and helping them to be set free in their God-given calling.
