Blog posts by Joseph Thiessen

  I enjoy Waffle House! Although I’ve eaten there for years, I got into the habit of going to a particular location near my doctor’s office. I eventually started going weekly and sat at the high counter where a waitress who went by Ms. Pat often served me. I once felt impressed to ask her if she needed prayer for anything. Over the years, I’d be praying for various family member’s health to improve, mainly her mom’s and dad’s. One day I was told I missed an eventful morning where a local prostitute had given birth in the parking lot. Ms. Pat’s, daughter (God-daughter, but there was no delineation in her mind), was present that morning and accompanied the mother and child to the hospital. When the mom refused rights to her baby boy, Ms. Pat’s daughter, Stephanie, stepped up and said she wanted to adopt him! Several weeks later it was legally settled. David is a cute kid and is thriving in his new family! A few years ago on a Wednesday in July, I was on my way to work from when I liv...

 

  What I’m learning in my recovery from pornography addiction is this: what I need in healing is to be reintegrated into healthy family. More precisely family that reflects God’s intent for family. This iteration of family that our crazy society is pushing upon children removes that altogether. In their world, there is no simple, whole-enough family anymore. Leave God out of it. Remove all sense of the binary. Smear it into a mess of this plus that and leave us feeling more alone and more unlike the binary that we really are. It is evil to promote difference in this way! They want to appear to be loving and inclusive, but the reality they promote is quite the opposite! If I sterilize my existence into being non-binary and communicate instead that my father and mother are just my parents (removing gender from how I see them), then I’m more lost than ever without an anchor for myself. I don’t know how else to say it. Instead of feeling more grounded and whole, I would feel more isola...

 A family friend encouraged be interviewed by on the Deborah Sweetin Show . I talk about my faith journey as well as my genetic disorder 47, XXY and how that has impacted my life.  The Deborah Sweetin Show is recorded at the Mabee Center in Tulsa and airs on local channels as well as on Direct TV. Watch on Vimeo

My newly discovered genetic disorder, 47, XXY, made it possible for a part of my story to be included in the Tranzformed documentary. Tranzformed on YouTube

The Gentle Work Beneath the Surface I have a CD entitled The Unseen Stream by Troy Donockley. Being an instrumental album, it can be difficult to determine what the artist meant by that title. I think of the unseen stream as being the gentle ever-flowing work of the Holy Spirit. Although his work is gentle, almost unnoticeable, it has much power and is very effective in its purpose. The Changing Rhythms of His Work There have been times in my life when the work of the Holy Spirit was visible, not only to others, but to me as well—more like a raging river, cutting out new places both wide and deep. However, I am in a time when the work is silent and almost invisible. Many people are very familiar with this. It seems boring and at times like God is not really present at all. It is true that as we grow older in relationship with the Father we learn to trust whatever He chooses to do, both in the bold and in the weak seasons. So, I too am growing...

I Am But a Sparrow   I am but a sparrow bound to the world below. I dream of flying above the clouds where my frame could never know. Friends round about mock me in jest. They say I am foolish to long for such a quest.   So remain my eyes, fixed on this world around me. I have begun to accept what everyone else can see. But occasionally I have this thought, which surely cannot be mine. What seems impossible to them might simply be divine.   As a young bird, I would hear my creator say, "Come unto me, rest, wait on me this day." I entered into His presence by perching near His altars. He flooded my soul and cleansed me as would mighty rushing waters.   He gave me satisfaction I could never find through any other. Not through discipline, religious activity, nor even my brother. His attention became my only concern. Or at least that’s what I thought. For further down life’s road, I found out it was not.   Growing older brought numerous surprises. Including losing m...