New Creation.
The scale’s number, though alarming, shocked no one. Over the previous six months, Catherine’s parents had watched their daughter descend deep into an eating disorder, her body wilting more and more after each nutrient-deficient day. A high school freshman plagued by perfectionism, Catherine was being admitted to the local hospital’s treatment program, a devastating blemish on her carefully constructed reputation. Alone. Ashamed. Afraid. Catherine entered the company of middle-aged women and discouraging doctors who explained the cyclical sufferings of anorexia and bulimia, their collective story eroding any hope for hers. And that’s when the first letter arrived.
Julie, Catherine’s older sister, learned about the eating disorder from a distance, attending college away from home. Several years earlier she had met Jesus; now she wanted her little sister to meet him too. Unable to visit Catherine in-person, Julie started writing letters, restoring her sister’s hope with a prognosis much different than the doctors’. In one letter, Julie wrote ten verses that summarized a simple message: You’re broken. That’s okay. “Walking through those verses was how I came to faith,” Catherine says. “To read you can’t be perfect was like taking five refrigerators off my back.” One of those impactful verses was 2 Corinthians 5:17—if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. “At that point I had royally messed everything up. I’m an embarrassment to my family. Everyone now knows I’m not perfect. And reading [this verse] was like, ‘Wait, I can get a do-over? I can be a new person? These words were offering me life, and I had no life at that point.”
Trapped within the hospital but encountering newfound hope, Catherine wanted her own Bible. Upon receiving one, she began writing question marks in the margins, reminders to ask her sister about certain passages when they’d talk next. That was in 1989, and she’s still reading the same Bible today. “This Bible has been where I write down the things God does, put a date on it, and say ‘don’t forget this.’ To see my journey in [this Bible] is pretty powerful. It helps me not have a short memory.” Looking back on many of the notes from her time in the hospital, Catherine feels like she’s reading the thoughts of a different person. “There are some things where you go, ‘I forgot that was me. God has made me so new.’”
When the cover started falling off this invaluable Bible, Catherine knew she couldn’t replace it. “I couldn’t imagine starting over and not being able to see, wow, that note’s from 2001, and I remember what God did then, so I know who he is, and I have tangible proof in my life that I can point to.” But the Bible was being used less and less from fear of damaging it any further. “I was so afraid I was going to lose pages that it didn’t move.” Thankfully, Catherine found the Bible Restoration Service, and submitted her Bible as soon as she could.
Now that Catherine’s Bible is fully restored, she’s excited to get back into its pages. “The journey isn’t done. There are more lessons to be learned, more victories to write in the margins.”
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