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PODCAST

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren

Kristine van Dooren

Finding purpose in life is what we all long for. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you live, or how many roads in this life you have already traveled. Happiness and contentment, and purpose, is what we all hope to find one day. My name is Kristine van Dooren. I am from California but I have lived most of my life in Germany. I would like to tell you my story, which I wrote and was published in German, in 2007. The title of the book is “Das Lied meines Lebens” which means, “The Song of my

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All Episodes

00:16:20

The Ideal World - Episode 158

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2026/01/28

Seems like I am always talking about music, and especially during our lives in the ‘80s. Guess what? I found another tape that I hadn’t listened to before. It only says, “to grandma and grandpa -January 1988.” It must have been in a shoe box, that I brought home from my parent’s house, many years ago. To my great surprise, most of the content is the girls singing with Thomas. By that time, they had a whole program that included choreography from the “Kids Praise” music. Depending on the audience,

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00:13:57

A Place of Worship - Episode 157

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2026/01/21

Do you ever take time, to look back over your life, and consider where you came from and where you are going? The heart of life, that I see more clearly now, is simple. Time flies and there is nothing new under the sun! We get so wrapped up in our work and making plans, but honestly, only God knows what tomorrow will bring. For Thomas and I, as we grew older and our children were becoming teenagers, life was sometimes like a whirlwind. The steadying anchor that made our home a place of worship, was

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00:14:06

Renewed Vision - Episode 156

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2026/01/14

At the end of the last episode, you heard the song about living with the Holy Spirit. Thomas and I, were taught as new Christians that it was God’s Spirit, that would transform our hearts and minds. This is how we began living, with true purpose according, to the scripture. Thomas, as the narrator for the musical, had explained; “The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our teacher, our helper. He gives strength, joy, and good gifts. He speaks with a gentle voice to us, if we decide to do what he says,

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00:12:00

Illuminating your Path - Episode 155

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2026/01/07

We have a new year before us, and I feel like this is a good time for me, to get a fresh approach to storytelling. With each episode I am always juggling, the past and the present, and I find that each chapter is intertwined. I began with the title “Finding Purpose,” because that is what Thomas and I, were looking for. Fortunately, our search for the light, while stumbling around in the darkness, only lasted about three years. A young man we met in Mendocino, told us he had found the truth, and

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00:23:27

At Last! Set Free! - Episode 126

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/12/31

So now, back to telling our story to the German women, in West Berlin in 1982. When I listen to this old recording, I am reminded of the reasons, that my family and I, have persevered, and still live in Germany. I would like to read from 1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, which explains what God’s will is for every person. There is no one that is special, we are all equal in His sight, both men and women. He loves each one of us, and has called us to bring Him glory through serving Him.The fact that I chose

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00:14:29

Back to the Beginning - First Episode

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/12/24

It's all about the music; growing up in California in the 50s and 60s, the culture that formed and directed my life. This is the first chapter of my autobiography, "Das Lied meines Lebens," that eventually led to my first podcast in English. Much has changed since then, learning how to write and speak personally, about the details of my story. In the following episodes, I eventually started adding excerpts of old tape recordings, and fascinating letters. Please follow me on Instagram,

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00:18:02

Back Then and Now - Episode 154

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/12/17

The year of 2025 is coming to a close, and we all tend to look back and consider our experiences, the good things, as well as the difficult ones. I have posted some of my highlights in music reels online, that focus on family fun, and family music. But here on the podcast, I am looking back at a year of writing and recording stories, between 1982 through 1986. It’s fun for me, to know how my first episodes began with Thomas and I, and now the adventures include five young daughters. My

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00:13:43

Learning to be Adaptable - Episode 153

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/12/10

After hearing Thomas’ recording in the last episode, it reminded me of the radical change that took place, when we moved to Germany. Even for Thomas, though he was back in his home country, he was not in his home town of West Berlin. He had no idea how the Christian way of life would be, compared to what he had experienced, in California. For me, besides the language, being a young mother and pregnant, moving in with people we had never met before, meant lots of adapting. You have heard the details

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00:19:47

Yesterday and Today - Episode 152

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/12/03

I hope you enjoyed my story about the long-lost letter. Well, to my great surprise, my friend Rosemary, found another one, this time by Thomas, written one week later. He was also congratulating our friends, on the new baby, but he included a lot more details about the changes going on at the ranch. I recognized his orderly, and easy to read, penmanship right away. Without even seeing the contents, I know that it is from “my” Thomas. It reminds me of home, our life together, that started with a

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00:13:56

Joyful Flashbacks - Episode 151

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/11/26

I received a copy of a letter today from an old friend, that I wrote exactly 51 years ago, in November of 1974. Reading it now, brought to mind this verse in Proverbs 25, verse 25, “Like cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a distant land.” Actually the news, is not only from a distant land, but a distant time in my past. It's intriguing, that even though I have no specific memory of writing that letter, I am encouraged by it, just like the scripture says. It’s a flashback of

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00:11:52

Create a Tradition - Episode 150

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/11/19

After the summer vacation the new baby continued to be the center of attention. In the following months we celebrated birthdays, and went to church services, with our new daughter. At home we took lots of pictures, showing each new milestone; like her first smiles, bath time, or diaper changes in the middle of the night. The ultimate photo is of her laying on a shelf, directly under the boom box tape recorder, in Naomi's room. She even slept in her travel bed in the living room, during our

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00:13:03

Home Birth Meditations - Episode 149

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/11/12

Well, I have seen by the amount of episode views, that many people are interested in a home birth story. While writing the last episode, I was looking back on my experience, of having a series of home births. Each time it was in a different place, and full of interesting, and dramatic developments. But the most important aspect, is that all glory goes to God, for His protection and guidance.For example in Episode 96, Home birth #4, this reflects a very different time in our lives. But it's a

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00:14:30

Home Birth #5 - Episode 148

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/11/05

After that emotional ending to my last episode, I will continue with one of the most precious events of our lives. We had put aside for a little while, the music and the dancing, in our home. All of us were waiting, for the day and time, of the birth of our baby. The due date was for Sunday the 10th of August, but I wasn’t counting on that. The other four children, were either born before, or after the expected date. Naomi was invited to go with our friends from Italy, to a conference in Holland for

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00:13:56

The Beat Goes On - Episode 147

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/10/29

The finishing touch of the musical celebration, with 2000 Christians in Munich, was beautiful. After the final, joyful applause, many people lingered in the aisles, talking and praying with each other. The leader of the pastor’s circle, Helmut Nicklas, came directly up the stairs to where I was sitting. He could see that I was highly pregnant but that didn’t phase him at all. He had something to say! He was so excited and blurted out, “We must do this again next year and have two shows.” Das müssen

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00:16:54

Milestones - Episode 146

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/10/22

This week I thought it would be fun to quote something I wrote, from my original book files. Between the years of 2000 to 2006, I was writing my autobiography in English. Sometimes I find in those pages, things that I have forgotten about, now that it is twenty years later. At that time, I had no idea how it would ever get to book form. But it turned out that a German Christian publishing company was interested. That led to my daughter, Naomi translating it. In my recent episodes, I have been

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00:13:14

Choosing to Trust - Episode 145

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/10/15

Thomas and I, and our four daughters, were about to embark on a life-altering year. The day we saw the positive pregnancy test was exciting, but we had no idea what challenges were ahead of us. The first phone calls we made, were to my parents in California, and to Nadja in Berlin. Though they were both happy for the news, I think they had reservations about us having an even bigger family. But they were encouraged to hear how thrilled we were, to welcome another child into our lives. They probably

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00:14:14

Inner Thoughts - Episode 144

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/10/08

As usual in preparing for a new episode, I have been looking through old notes and letters that Thomas and I wrote to each other. There I find confirmations of the things that I remember. In a card at the end of the year after our fifth child was born, I wrote; “Thank you for another special year together. You are a faithful and patient husband. Thank you for all your help with the children, especially during the pregnancy and the months with our new born. I pray for you and wish you much strength

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00:13:54

A Song for Everyday - Episode 143

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/10/01

Thomas and I, immediately shared the surprise with our daughters, that I was pregnant. With all the girls gathered on our bed, Thomas told them to put their hands on mommy’s tummy and pray for the little baby. We felt blessed that the Lord was adding another child to our family. As for many occasions, we had a song to express our joy. So Thomas said, “Let’s sing,” and we all chimed in;“Welcome to the family, we’re glad that you have come,to share your life with us, as we grow in love. And may we

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00:15:00

Marriage Team Work - Episode 142

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/09/24

In each new phase of our lives, Thomas and I were learning how to live out the great commission. Simply put; "Preach the gospel, make disciples, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember; I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” With this foundation that began with faith in Jesus, the challenge was to seek him and to trust his guidance. Our confidence was in Jesus, our shepherd. Like Naomi said in the last episode; it was so important that we drew our

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00:14:12

Next Step - Episode 141

Finding Purpose - Song of my Life - Kristine van Dooren ·

2025/09/17

Hope you enjoyed my Guatemala story. That was such a long time ago, but I am more aware now, of the influence that trip had on my family’s life. Also I realized how amazing it is, to know that God's hand that protected us, traveling to so many different countries that year. Today, before I get into my story, I want to take time to reflect again on the purpose of my podcast. With the radical and scary news reports in our world, we might tend to think that things are way worse than in the past

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