Free My Glimpse of Eternity by Betty Malz

depression.
    At first, Dad was not sure that he had heard correctly. Would he not feel foolish dressing and going to town in the middle of the night? What if he found nothing but snowy, deserted streets?
    Kneeling down by the bed, he asked for verification of what he thought he had heard. Immediately, he felt God’s presence and lines from a hymn were dropped into his mind:
    Rescue the perishing,
    Care for the dying . . .
    By then Mother was awake. He explained what had happened, got dressed, bundled up, and started for town.
    As he strode along briskly, trying to keep warm, he wondered what he would do if there were several people on the streets. How would he know the person he was being sent to help? He concluded that if God would send him on an errand like this, He could surely be trusted to handle such details.
    When Dad got to the main street there was but one person in sight, a man leaning against a lamppost, his head down. With a quick prayer, asking the Lord to protect and guide him, Dad approached the stranger. “Is there any way I can help you?”
    The man must have seen kindness and compassion in Dad’s face for the story came pouring out. “My wife and I have quarreled because I can’t make a living for my family. I’ve tried and tried, but I can’t find a job. I’m useless, worthless. I’ve been trying to decide whether to lie down in front of the early morning fright or kill myself with this gun in my pocket. But I am going to end it all.”
    He paused for breath, his eyes searching Dad’s face. “Sir, I’d like to ask you, what would you do if you were me?”
    Promptly came the answer. “Sir, if it were me, I would turn my life over to Almighty God who loves me and who has promised to supply all my needs.”
    The two men talked earnestly for a while, then knelt down on the snowy sidewalk while the desperate man handed his life over to Jesus. He then went home to his family and began a new life.
    Dad told us later, “I’ve scarcely ever felt such joy as at that moment. It seemed that all of Heaven was shouting hosannas. I know something of Jesus’ great joy when in our extremity, any of us allows Him to be our Savior and gives Him the chance to save us from our problems.”
    My father went into the fulltime ministry soon after that experience and became a loving, patient, sensitive pastor beloved by his flock.

    When John arrived, Mother and Dad rounded up Gary and Brenda and at eight o’clock the five had a subdued meal together. The children had questions which no one wanted to answer. What was there to say? Everyone was taut with fatigue and discouragement. John’s silence and the haunted look on his face especially troubled Dad, he told me later.
    Then Dad asked everyone to hold hands around the table as he prayed: “Lord Jesus, we love You and praise You for the good things of life You have given us. We thank You for Betty, for trusting us with her these years. We relinquish her to You now, knowing how much You love her too. Be with her now, Lord, as she struggles for life. Mend her body, soothe her mind, heal her spirit. Forgive us for our lack of faith and our weaknesses, Lord. We want only to serve You. Amen.”

    At 3:30 a.m. Dad suddenly awoke. A look at his watch told him it was too early to get up. But when he tried to close his eyes, he felt the same inner prodding he had years before on that snowy night in the middle of the depression.
    The Lord was asking him to get up and go now to the hospital. Betty needed him!
    My father arose, shaved, dressed and had some toast and a cup of coffee. He then woke John. When he slipped out of the house it was about 4:15 a.m. Dad took Highway 41 from Clay City direct to southern Terre Haute and Union Hospital. The drive took him about forty-five minutes. John left a few minutes later for his station.
    Shortly after 5:00 a.m. the telephone awakened my mother. She answered in sudden panic. The woman introduced herself as the night nurse on the