Dr. John C. Whitcomb had been a professor at Grace Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana for nineteen years. My husband and I had been missionaries in the Philippines for eleven years. We came to the States intending to spend two years earning advanced degrees after which we would return to our teaching ministry at Far Eastern Bible Institute and Seminary.
After my husband's sudden death, I moved to Kansas to teach and wait for God's timing to return to the Philippines. How was it possible for a professor in Indiana and a teacher in Kansas to get together? No, we did not go to the Web. God's ways are more reliable than that. Furthermore, there was no thought of remarriage in my plan. God warns us against "I wills" (Luke 12:18). Rather, He examples to us by His own words, "Not my will, but Thine be done". He has unimaginable rewards for His obedient followers. My nut-shell story follows. There will be "fill-ins" in future "Windows for Women."
The day that I completed my MA in Science degree in Kansas, I boarded the train for Winona Lake, Indiana, to counsel in a summer youth camp for two weeks. When I arrived, the director apologized that she had neglected to inform me that the camp had been cancelled due to low enrollment. The next day Dr. Whitcomb, the professor whom my husband had highly admired, contacted me to say that he heard that I was in Winona Lake and would like to see me. That baffled me, since I had never formally met him. I accepted his plan to accompany him for a couple of hours on a "jaunt to do errands".
After driving a short distance, Dr. Whitcomb said, "I have some matters that I would like to talk about". That was not surprising. Since he was the one who informed me of my husband's sudden death, I thought he wanted to share his sorrow over his wife's death that had happened since that time. Jehovah-raah, our Shepherd, was leading us into green pastures. -- (To be continued next month)
