Lord,” the pastor responded, “anyone but Mrs. Green.”
“No,” insisted the Lord, “I want you to visit Mrs. Green.”
So the pastor drove around to the house, went up to the door and gently knocked on the door (hoping Mrs. Green wouldn’t hear it). “Press the bell,” said the Lord. He did, and he heard a movement on the inside. So he knelt down and peered into the keyhole, and there on the other side was Mrs. Green, peering into the same keyhole.
“Oh, Mrs. Green,” the pastor blurted out, “finally, after ten years, we are seeing eye to eye.”
You, my readers, may not see “eye to eye” with me on every issue I have written about, but it is my prayer that what you read in this book will bring hope and inspiration to your life and the conclusion that God really does care about you.
Our Lord assured us of that when He said to His disciples, and thus to us, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26). Wow! What wonderful assurance of God’s love and care for us! No wonder our Lord admonished His disciples to stop worrying about what they were going to eat and drink and wear (Matthew 6:28–32).
As there are (of necessity) some heavy parts in the book, I have endeavoured to keep it (in keeping with my light spirit) as light and smile-inducing as possible.
Anyone who knows me will know that if there is a “silver lining” to be found in any cloud of a trauma, I will gravitate toward that silver lining.
It is my desire that the primary thesis of the book will be not about me but about God’s grace, goodness and greatness and for His glory alone, a story of how God has enabled me to be more than triumphant through every vicissitude of my life.
I’m reminded of the many traumatic situations that the apostle Paul experienced in his desire to spread the Good News of the gospel throughout the world. In his letter to his fellow believers at Corinth, he lists 20 of them (2 Corinthians 11:23–28). And yet, in spite of all that he had to go through, he came through triumphantly, a living example of what he wrote to his fellow believers at Rome, declaring unto them that “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37), the verse I have used as the theme for this book.
As we go through challenging times in our life, we have choices to make. We can choose to be bitter or better, lugubrious of spirit or light of spirit. We can allow our adversities to break us down or build us up. We can hold “pity parties” or “praise parties.” And we can choose to be victims or victors. The choice is ours! I have chosen—through God’s grace and strength—the latter of each of these choices. I trust that will be your choice also.
Paul wrote that in all the hardships he had been through in life, he kept in mind that “We have this treasure [of the gospel] in jars of clay”—the metaphor he uses for our bodies—“to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). We too, as followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, can experience this all-surpassing power, whatever traumatic experiences we have to go through in life. Praise be to God!
Finally, this is a very practical, down-to-earth book, written by a very practical, down-to-earth person. My prayer is that it will be an inspiration to all who read it.
PART ONE
TRAUMAS REVEALED
CHAPTER 1
Loss of My Chosen Vocation
OUR MARRIAGE
Following my graduation in theology at Toronto Bible College, my first wife and I were married in a beautiful wedding in May 1950. We were both in excellent health at the time, but little did we know that in her early thirties, Marion would be facing a very serious chronic illness that would cause her great physical and emotional suffering. It would also change the course of my vocational life, for which God had gifted me and I had trained.
MEETING and COURTSHIP
Marion Slight and I had met at my seventeenth birthday party, which was sponsored by a girl in our church youth group who worked with Marion at General Electric in Toronto, where both of them were secretaries. Marion attended a different church and was a committed Christian, singing in the church choir and teaching a girls’ Sunday school class. I too was very involved in my church, teaching a boys’ Sunday school class and leading a Friday evening “Happy Hour.” It was a program for children ages 5 through 12 that featured Gospel choruses, stories, and Bible-illustrating dramas that I wrote, performed in and directed. As I look back on that period of my life it’s hard to believe that I was involved like that while still in my teens, but I already knew that my life work would be in full-time Christian service.
Marion and I had a very happy and activity-filled courtship, even though it was a very difficult time in her life. Her dad had recently been evicted from their home for committing an offence too repulsive to go into here. It’s interesting that at the time Marion was dealing with the pain of witnessing her dad being evicted from their home, I too was dealing with a similar painful problem.
Also she had a 30-year-old brother with Down Syndrome, who took up most of her mother’s time. She and her other siblings had always felt neglected by their mother, which often happens in families where there is a child who demands almost full-time attention.
However, in spite of all that was going on in her home, Marion was a beautiful fun-loving teenager.
EARNING MONEY FOR COLLEGE
As I didn’t have any money saved up from my many summer jobs to attend college, my parents were not able to help me financially, and there were at that time no government student grants or loans, I needed to work for a year.
I applied for a position I saw advertised for a high school graduate to be assistant to the purchasing agent of a company located in the east end of Toronto that manufactured dry cleaning equipment. I received a phone call to set up an interview. I travelled by streetcar (three different ones) to get to the interview, and when I heard more details about the job (including an attractive salary for a kid just out of high school), I thought, Wow! I would like this job.
In a few days I received a phone call from the general manager informing me that I had been accepted for the position and I was to report the following Monday. Wow! What exciting news: my very first full-time job!
On the Monday, I was up bright and early, dressed in the one and only suit I owned, and it was “It’s off to work I go,” as the seven dwarfs in Snow White sang. I received a warm welcome from all the office staff and spent a few days beside the purchasing agent to get my introduction into the world of purchasing. I loved every minute of the job, and after six months I was ecstatic at receiving my first pay increase. Soon I was working on my own, contacting companies by phone to order parts and tools for the factory. I then had to confirm those calls with a typed-out purchase order. What a blessing that I had learned typing skills in high school and in fact was one of the top students in the class!
What I didn’t know when I accepted the job was that the company was in the process of building a large new factory and offices in Newmarket. The move to the new location was planned for sometime in early spring. When asked if I would make the move, I didn’t hesitate. It would be a great experience for me.
One problem I had was where I would live in the town. No need to worry, as the manager of the painting department, learning that
