Pat, an emeritus missionary, lives at the Martha Franks Baptist Retirement Community in Laurens, SC. For 35 years, she was a single missionary employed by the International Mission Board, SBC. She experienced God’s call to serve Him as a career missionary while in high school.
Pat grew up in a small rural community in western Arkansas. She first developed a relationship with God and turned her life over to Him in her hometown church. She learned that God is in control and everything happens for a reason.
During the summers at university and seminary, she was a summer missionary; first in Oregon on the coast, teaching in vacation Bible schools and doing survey work for the churches. The next summer, she was on a team of students appointed to work in Queens, New York City. The following summer she worked in southern California, and the summer after that in an inner-city church in Columbus, Ohio. Such varied experiences in widely differing places helped prepare her for overseas career missions.
Also published on Christian Devotions and in Voices of the Faithful (2005) by Beth Moore.
“And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”
The first day the weather was beautiful, and I rejoiced. But after spending the night in Springfield, Illinois, I got up the next morning to snow and ice. I almost slipped and fell on my way from the motel room to the car. I crept my way into Chicago.
I called to receive directions. My friend Hind turned the telephone over to her American friend to tell me how to get to her apartment. The friend forgot to tell me that their street had two names, depending on your location. After entering Chicago and finding Lake Shore Drive, I looked for Fullerton Avenue but never found it. I have been lost in so many cities in different countries. I cried out, Oh, Lord, why do I always have such trouble with directions?
Finally, I found a telephone booth and called Hind and her husband, Amr. With Amr's directions I found the way.
The next problem was where to park. I saw their building but there was no place to park. I tried a side street and somehow managed to park parallel in the snow. I took off in the direction I thought was right. As I walked around the block toward their building, there was Amr. I don't know how we knew each other, as we stopped and stared.
"You're Amr."
"You're Pat."
He walked with me to my car to help me find a closer place. He carried my suitcase, and we went jubilantly up to his apartment.
After I rested in their apartment for about an hour, there was a telephone call for me. "This is the International Mission Board in Richmond, Virginia calling to ask if you've lost your wallet in Chicago."
"Not that I know of. Let me check my purse." I looked, and no wallet. Before I discovered my wallet was missing, someone at the Board in Richmond, Virginia relayed this to me. "How in the world did you know?" I asked.
"A girl found your wallet and called." She proceeded to give me her name and address. Hind told me it was just one street away.
Oh, God, before I even missed it and panicked, You watched over me. It reminded me of Isaiah 65:24 (NIV):
“Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”
Hind and I quickly walked to the address, entered the building, and a lovely young woman opened the door. After finding the wallet with my identification, credit and frequent flyer cards, and a great deal of cash, she had telephoned my employer in Richmond, Virginia and Delta Airlines. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was missing.
God arranged for her to discover my wallet lying in the snow, where it had fallen when I opened my car door.
God watches over us. He gets us to where we’re going when we lose our way and makes sure we find things we carelessly lose. I know firsthand that God is always available and never too busy to respond to our needs.
‘“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord."
Who am I to think that I know what is best for me and where I will be the happiest and most fulfilled? Isaiah reminds us that we do not always know what the Lord has in mind for our lives because we do not think as He does nor know the way that He has planned.
“Oh, I’ll get married after I retire from missionary service,” declared a colleague and close friend.
My thought was, who would want to marry an old man at that age, after living happily for so long as a single, enjoying independence and being free of family responsibilities? I certainly would never do that.
With retirement came a big surprise. On the first day in exercise class, I saw him. I had no idea who he was and felt no attraction, but a strange thought popped into my mind, this is the man you’re going to marry. What a ridiculous thought. Where did that come from? I had no intention or desire to marry. I pushed that unrealistic thought away and forgot it. Not until much later, after my future husband and I had spent time doing things together, I remembered that crazy thought.
At different times in my life, God has revealed to me how some of my long-held convictions and beliefs are not in keeping with His reality.
That fits the pattern of my life — the way God breaks through to let me know His will and plan. My faith is backed up by strong impressions because He does not want me to doubt His will. How great to have a long history of walking daily with a personal God, knowing His heart of love and faithfulness. He has shown me how He can change my desires and work to bring good into all circumstances.
“In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Proverbs 16:9
We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.
OPEN VERSE IN BIBLE (nlt)
(NIV)
We may have in mind what we want to do and how to spend our days, but God may have something in mind that we have not considered. Will we have the courage to follow where He leads?
We can become confused and bewildered when God’s plans are not what we expected. Will we trust God’s wisdom and His timing?
Let us trust and praise God even when our plans don’t turn out the way we expect.
Ukt Mary’s life was a response to Jesus's invitation in Matthew 4:19 NKJV:
"Follow me and I will make you gishers of men."
She was always fishing for people’s souls. I think she could have prayed the same prayer Jesus did when He prayed to the Father in John 17:4, "I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do."
I have never known a person whose life brought more glory to God.
We are not to fear death but follow her example and look forward, filled with excitement and anticipation, to going to our Father’s house.
