At school the next morning, one of my friends cursed when he 
        learned  that  I had accepted Jesus.  He had  ridden  many,  many 
        miles  with  me  in my father's car, and since I  worked  for  my 
        father, Dad had provided the gasoline for our pleasure rides.   I 
        also had often supplied this young man with refreshments.  But in 
        spite of these past kindnesses, he gave me a real talking to that 
        morning  and  used some strong language in  my  direction:   "You 
        won't last two weeks," he chided.  "That is all--two weeks!"
        
             But Jesus helped me to deny myself again.  By God's grace, I 
        didn't  retaliate or feel sorry for myself when my friend  cursed 
        and reprimanded me.  The Holy Spirit kept me from becoming  upset 
        and  saying,  "Now  look here, you can't say that  about  me!"  I 
        simply spoke to Jesus in my heart,  "By your grace, Lord, you can 
        take  me  on," and He delivered me.  (And God tells me,  "I  will 
        direct thee and tell thee what to do," as I share this with  you.  
        Praise the Lord!)
        
             After three weeks I talked to him about Jesus for one to two 
        hours  on  the sidewalk across from the church where I  had  been 
        converted.   Seven  years later, when I told  him  how  wonderful 
        these many months and years had been and how Jesus had helped  me 
        last past the two weeks which he predicted I could last, he said, 
        "You have will-power, that is all."
        
             "Will-power?"   I exclaimed.  "Brother, it takes  more  than 
        `will-power'  to  live this life.  It takes the divine  power  of 
        Jesus."
        
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             Seventeen years later, then, at the death of his  father,  I 
        had  opportunity to again talk to him about Jesus.  I was  trying 
        to  share  with him how marvelous it had been to try to  to  walk 
        with God these seventeen years, what wonderful adventures He  had 
        given me.  He said to me as we sat together that day:  "Who knows 
        but  what someday you may lead me to Jesus."  Isn't  it  precious 
        that after seventeen years this man who first ridiculed me  could 
        begin to see that there was something more to this transformation 
        than  the eye could see; that God had done a true miracle  within 
        this unworthy servant?
        
             This would never have come about if I had failed that  first 
        test  at school the day after my conversion.  If I had  begun  to 
        argue or strike back when he was upset with me, I would have lost 
        his confidence forever.  There never would have been occasion for 
        the  exchange  of thoughts in three weeks, the  discussion  after 
        seven  years, or the sweet conversation in the seventeenth  year.  
        These  all hinged upon my response to the first test  just  hours 
        after my conversion.
            
             Now  the secret of Jesus helping me through that  vindictive 
        attack  Monday morning following my conversion was in my  hearing 
        the voice of the Holy Spirit the night before, just minutes after 
        getting up from the altar.  If the Lord had not helped me to obey 
        that  first guidance of Jesus, I would not have had the joy,  the 
        glory  of God within me, to withstand the fury from my  friend  a 
        few  hours  later.  My strength to stand was  dependent  upon  my 
        obedience  the  night before, when God tripled the joy I  had  at 
        salvation and brought me into a land of such inner delight that I 
        never wanted to miss another leading of the Lord.
        
             I  have found that very few persons actually obey  what  the 
        Lord  wants them to do.  And when we fail to obey the leading  of 
        the Holy Spirit, then we lose the precious abiding with God which 
        we  so  very much cherish.  For many, the joy they once  knew  at 
        conversion seems to vanish for no specific reason.  However,  all 
        too often this joy is lost through disobedience,
        
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        for  joy continues to flow into every heart which obeys the  Holy 
        Spirit  consistently.  The Word tells us that  "the  joy 
        of the Lord is our strength."  This indicates that we are only as
        strong as the joy we have in  our daily walk with Jesus.
        
             Now  joy does not come from within us.  Joy is a  gift  from 
        God  as  we  obey  the Holy Spirit.  Joy  is  not  on  our  part: 
        obedience  to the leading of the Lord is on our part, and joy  is 
        the remuneration.  Always the joy of the Lord is as we humble
        ourselves in obedience through self-denial.
        
             God  is seeking simply an obedient people.  He is trying  to 
        find  men and women who will do what He wants them to do; but  He 
        has  had  a difficult time finding them down  through  the  ages.  
        There  are  many  who  are willing to try  to  obey  the  written 
        commandments as found in the scriptures; but this so subtly leads 
        to  a  legalistic Christianity--a fulfilling of a minimum  degree 
        of  service  or  adhering to a certain set of  beliefs.   God  is 
        seeking a people who will not only obey His written Word, but who 
        will  also actually walk with Him day by day, moment  by  moment, 
        listening to and doing what the voice of the Holy Spirit says.
        
             The  person who hears and heeds this still, small voice will
        many times experience a river of joy pouring into the interior life,
        because joy flows from God freely into the obedient heart.
        
             As I review this sentence, the Holy Spirit operates more  in 
        my heart on "heeding" than on "hearing."  This tells me that  God 
        has  already commanded us many things which we could have  heard, 
        but  we  have not done what He required us to do.   We  have  not 
        "heeded;" thus, our subsequent "hearing" is dull and insensitive.
        
             Our  "heeding"  today  assists  or  sharpens  our  "hearing" 
        tomorrow.   We  "hear"  as  we  have  "heeded."   And   "heeding" 
        intimates  a  following.  "Heeding" is applying or  carrying  out 
        what we have heard, and we never "heed" God's wish without  first 
        relinquishing  what  we are doing or have planned to  do.   Self-
        denial precedes "heeding."
        
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            It is difficult for the "natural man" to receive spiritual
        things. It is only as we permit the Holy Spirit to have His way 
        with us--as we deny Self, die out to Self, and are inwardly crucified
        --that we are made sensitive to spiritual things.  As Self is slain,
        we are then more able, through the Holy Spirit's guidance, to 
        receive revelation that God has for us:  revelation to the  mind, 
        as well as to the inner heart.
        
             Now Self will oppose this spiritual death; the  mortal  will 
        oppose  it.  In order that the Holy Spirit can so crucify us,  we 
        must  resist  the devil and deny Self.  It will be  only  by  the 
        blood of Jesus purging us and cleansing us that we will be  able, 
        through the Holy Spirit, to discern what God is revealing to us.
        
             He wants to first slay the inner man so that he can teach us 
        how to discern His will.  This comes slowly.  It comes by  prayer 
        and  it comes by waiting and then still more waiting.   It  comes 
        always by doing all that God wants us to do while we are waiting.  
        The  great  difficulty  is  that Self wants  to  get  busy  doing 
        something; Self wants to go; Self wants to be planning something.  
        All  this  is an enemy to hearing God and heeding what  the  Holy 
        Spirit wants to relate to us.
        
        The very core of our nature will resist and  rebel  against 
        God  having His way with us.  The earth within  us  will 
        oppose and resist God who made us and Jesus who died to  purchase 
        us.   The main parts of our inner make-up war against  it.   They 
        neither  want  to comply with the divine will nor  come  down  in 
        humility and brokenness, where this is found.
        
             This spirit that is within us, this great power of the earth 
        which is so contrary to what God wants, we acquired in the  Fall.  
        It  is this power in the earth, in the fabric of the  mortal  and 
        the  flesh, which battles to pull us upward from the lowlands  of 
        brokenness   and   surrender  (where  the  mysteries   of   God's 
        revelations  are learned) to set us in the high places  of  man's 
        knowledge.   For  this reason, most people have  been  trying  to 
        acquire  insights of divine truth by means of  knowledge,  books, 
        and the intellect.
        
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             Through the ages, however, God has been seeking a people who 
        would simply wait upon Him until He could slay them, refine them, 
        indwell them, and instruct them how His Holy Spirit operates; how 
        He  guides and checks.  Very few people have been willing to  pay 
        the  price  and  wait  upon God long enough  for  Him  to  reveal 
        Himself.  This comes in time: God's time, not our time.
        
             Man  has always wanted things his way, at his time,  and  by 
        his methods.  It doesn't work this way.  It must be the  reverse.  
        It  must  be that we die and are slain so that it will  be  God's 
        will,  God's way, God's time, whether that is a short time  or  a 
        long  time (and I have the revelation that it is "a long  time").  
        Man  is impatient.  We are all impatient unless we are slain  and 
        die  out daily.  It is our nature to want spiritual growth to  be 
        rapid;  we  covet divine revelations right away.   Therefore,  we 
        must  die out to these impatient tendencies and simply trust  for 
        God to help us know how to proceed.
        
             Jesus  said,  "I thank thee, oh  Father,  Lord  of 
        Heaven  and earth, that thou has hid these things from  the  wise 
        and  prudent  and  hast revealed them  unto  babes.  Now the wise
        and prudent have been trying to theorize and speculate about
        spiritual secrets.  But Jesus has plainly said that the Father
        reveals unto babes.  They are the lowly ones, the ones way
        down in the low-lands of humility and brokenness, obedience, and 
        yieldedness.
        
             Divine  guidances do not come for any advantage of our  own; 
        they  come  only  for  the praise  and  glory  of  Jesus.   These 
        mysteries  of God are not found in books or in reading  material.  
        They are revealed little by little to those who are walking  with 
        God  and waiting upon Him, who are trying in their hearts  to  be 
        faithful and pressing to obey the Holy Spirit.  I want to greatly 
        emphasize  that  the things of God are not  given  to  those 
        seeking  to know how to be led of the Holy Spirit --they 
        are given at God's pleasure to those
        
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        who  are  losing their lives for Jesus, who are  loving  God  for 
        Himself alone.
        
             Here  is  one of the secrets of the universe.    God  is 
        trying  to find people who will give all to Him and just let  Him 
        be  all to them.  If we are willing to lose all  because 
        He  gave  all, lose that He might  be all,  then  He 
        will  reveal Himself to us in time.  (And God is telling me  now, 
        "I  guide thee and direct thee and tell thee what to do."   Right 
        now!)
        
             These spiritual guidances--these wonderful, most  delightful 
        things  of God--are not given because we are worthy,  because  we 
        know so much, or because we are seeking.  They are given to those 
        who are willing to lose all for Jesus' sake and lose it for life.  
        They are given to those who are not trying to get anything.  Most 
        people  are  trying  to get somewhere, to  something,  for  self-
        advantage.   And this, you see, is not the right spirit.  We  are 
        to  come to the end of Self, losing all for Jesus so that He  can 
        have full, complete guidance of our lives.  We, then, become mere 
        servants:  not  trying  to become somebody,  but  remaining  like 
        children.
        
             Unless we become like a little child, Jesus tells us that we 
        are going to miss the Kingdom. Perhaps this is the reason many have
        missed the Kingdom of God: we have tried to become adults, grown-ups, 
        somebody who knows something.  But God's Kingdom is in the lowly.  
        That is where He lives; that is where He walks; that is where  He 
        reveals Himself.
        
             To  some  extent, organizations, groups,  and  personalities 
        have  been seeking to advance God's Kingdom.  But often,  in  the 
        back  of their minds lurk the questions: "How can we get what  we 
        are wanting?  How can we obtain this victory?  How can we see all 
        these souls saved?  How can we see our group benefited?  How  can 
        we  see  our  church  enlarged?"   God  knows  all  these  hidden 
        motivations  and  deceptions of the heart, and He  is  unable  to 
        trust His Kingdom work to such self-seeking souls.
        
             For this reason, His revelation to my heart  in 1942 was,
        
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        "I  am  in search of a people who will trust me  with  all  their 
        hearts--trust me with  all  their hearts--totally and 
        wholly  depend upon me and obey me in everything; a people I  can 
        trust to come into their lives with the Kingdom of God."  So  you 
        see,  God  reveals Himself to the trusting heart.  (And  now  God 
        says within me, "I will guide thee and direct thee and tell  thee 
        what to do.")
        
             God  has  been seeking a people who will  simply  trust  Him 
        since  the Garden of Eden experience.  He was  anticipating  that 
        Adam  and  Eve would trust Him and obey Him; but  they  chose  to 
        procure  knowledge  and  insights of Good and  Evil  rather  than 
        simply  rest and rely wholly on God.  In gaining  knowledge  that 
        they desired, they lost and we lost with them: we lost about all; 
        we lost unto death.  The only path back to God is Jesus; and  
        the steps back to life in Him are taken through obedience to the 
        Holy Spirit. 
        
             We have been living too much on the fringes of the land that 
        He  has  promised  us rather than on the center.   We  have  been 
        living  on the marginal rather than on the central.  Only  a  few 
        ever  really  press  into the center of God's  Kingdom,  on  into 
        becoming  like a child and losing all just for God Himself.   The 
        persons  are  rare who are not seeking something  in  return  for 
        loving and serving God.
        
             But God would save millions of people right now if He  could 
        find a church that would really trust Him--really trust Him. 
         I am sure that very few people know what  real  trust, 
        continued  trust, is.  We often try to work out God's  Kingdom  a 
        little  bit  ourselves.   This is not trusting:  it  is  our  own 
        manipulation,  our own programming, our own desires  in  process.  
        It  is our own ideas in progress and we want them to  live.   But 
        our ideas don't mean a snap of the fingers unless God is in  them 
        and leading them.
        
             We are trying to have church with our own insights, our  own 
        descriptions,  our own programs, our own methods.  But God  wants 
        the  leadership.   He wants to guide us in every  detail  of  our 
        endeavors.  We must wait before Him that He
        
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        might  teach us how to be led.  We must first learn to trust  and 
        die  out to our own desires so that He can bring us to the  place 
        where we can discern His will in the Word and in the Spirit.   He 
        has given us the outlines and descriptions of the true  Christian 
        walk  in  the  Gospel, but we are not  following  all  the  tiny, 
        intricate lines.  They are so simple, but we pass over them.
        
             Church  work  too  often can be a  performance  rather  than 
        actual  heeding and following.  We try to lead persons to  Jesus, 
        and  this is good: but unless we have been heeding and  following 
        ourselves,  people are saved and become copies of us.  If we  are 
        not  dying out, rejoicing, holy and pure in heart, our  influence 
        causes  new  converts to become performers.  It is  wonderful  to 
        lead persons to a knowledge of salvation, but too often they  are 
        converted  to  the church, to the denomination, or to  the  local 
        fellowship and its particular religious styles rather than to the 
        Lord Jesus Christ.  What we need to be saved TO is Jesus so that
        people will wait on God until He can actually guide them and direct
        them.     
        
             This has been one of the missing links in Christianity.  
        Men have tried to implement the plans of God by means of their 
        own  programs and ideas.   All meant well; all wanted  to 
        do  well;  but  few  in all the ages have  waited  and  died  out 
        sufficiently for God to really teach them His will.
        
             He  teaches  best  those who are lowest  in  brokenness  and 
        humility.   Until we come to the absolute admission that  we  are 
        nothing and capable only of failure, we will seek to achieve,  to 
        become  knowledgeable, to become recognized.  We think  learning, 
        training, philosophies, and theologies are going to help us.  Too 
        easily,  instead of bringing us closer to Jesus, these  interfere 
        with  divine communication.  They become the static of Self,  the 
        earth,  and man's knowledge.  Unless the Holy Ghost leads you  to 
        these  areas,  they  only deflect God's  revelations;  they  only 
        obstruct your view of His plans; they only dull your  sensitivity 
        to His operations.
        
             I cannot adequately express how lowly we must become
        
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        before spiritual revelation can enter the inner life.  This is  a 
        mystery.   It is supernatural.  The simple, lowly life in  Christ 
        is  opposed  by people who don't understand.  This is not  to  be 
        understood.  It is to be practiced, followed, and experienced.
        
             This  is faith--a living faith.  We cannot have faith  other 
        than in the areas of the interior life.  The more faith a  person 
        has, the more willing he is to lose all.  He has confidence  that 
        in  losing all, he will gain Jesus.  God is seeking a people 
        who will trust Him; who are willing, through self-denial 
        deep in the interior life, to come by faith to the loss of
        all  things.  Too often we want to instigate a little, 
        suggest a little, insert a portion of what we want. This is self-
        assertiveness, and because of it, we as individuals and as people 
        have rarely come to the place where God can guide us.
        
             Here is one reason we have come so far short of the will  of 
        God.   We  have  missed so much of the  marvelous  privilege  and 
        potential  God  would  work  through  us  because  we  have  been 
        unwilling to yield all, to lose all, absolutely: not only in word 
        or  thought,  but  in  actuality  through  continued  trust   and 
        obedience.
        
             These precious mysteries of God's Kingdom which I have  just 
        shared  with  you  are  only a little of what  God  wants  us  to 
        experience of the word "heed."  As I inquire of the Holy  Spirit, 
        He  tells  me  in my heart that this is merely a  little  of  our 
        heeding His word.
        
             During this revival, a number of young people were converted 
        and formed a very active Gospel Band.  This group of young people 
        went  to various churches to lead in special services.  Either  a 
        young  lady or I would bring the message.  I believe,  to  Jesus' 
        glory,  I  saw  a number of souls find Jesus my first  year  as a 
        Christian.  
        
             Only a few weeks after I had been saved, I was preaching  in 
        my  home  church when I felt impressed to turn  around  and  also 
        direct  my comments to those young people who were seated in  the 
        choir loft behind me.  I was looking into the face
        
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        of  each one as I preached.  When I came down the second  section 
        of  seats  to my left, I found myself looking into  the  eyes  of 
        Florence Spence, the daughter of Ora and Grace Spence.  Her  blue 
        eyes were looking straight into mine.
        
             The  instant our eyes met, an operation of the  Holy  Spirit 
        moved  in my heart like a light.  (And this light is in my  heart 
        now.  It is right inside of me!  Praise the Lord!)  In much  less 
        time  than  it takes to tell it, Jesus revealed within  me,   
        "HERE IS YOUR COMPANION." 
        
             By  some  marvel  of  God's  help,  the  sermon  was   never 
        interrupted.  Even though the Holy Spirit had never dealt with me 
        as He did at that point, Jesus helped me to continue preaching as 
        if  nothing had happened.  I was so greatly amazed because I  had 
        never  said so much as "How do you do, how are you?" to  Florence 
        Spence  in  over ten years.  She was already a graduate  of  Ball 
        State, with an equivalent of a Master's degree in Music and  Art.  
        I  was a young man still in high school.  I felt so  unworthy  of 
        her.   But when God revealed to my heart by the Holy  Ghost  that 
        she was to be my companion, I simply believed Him.
        
             I  marvel that a young man of seventeen, who had never  been 
        taught about the operations of the Holy Spirit in the body, could 
        somehow  know that God was speaking, and understand what  He  was 
        saying.   No one taught me how God speaks to the heart.  I  never 
        heard  anyone mention much about the workings of the Holy  Spirit 
        within  the  heart and throughout the body.  I believe  that  the 
        secret of my being able to understand was that the Holy Ghost had 
        fallen on me at birth.  God had a plan for my life, and  Florence 
        Spence was a part of that sacred plan.
        
             At  each interval along the way, at each crisis of my  life, 
        He  has  revealed  what I need to know by the  Holy  Ghost.   One 
        incident  which demonstrates this abiding care occurred  when  we 
        were with Homer and Rebecca Pumphrey.  Homer and I were  planning 
        to  go for prayer, but decided to have supper first.  We  started 
        for the kitchen to prepare the evening meal,
        
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        but as I came through the kitchen door a burden came over me.   I 
        said to him, "God is burdening me.  I will not be able to eat."
        
             For  many  years God would occasionally burden me as  I  sat 
        down to a meal.  I thought He was telling me not to eat.  It took 
        some  years of instruction before I recognized that He was  often 
        trying to reveal to me about some person or situation related  to 
        the  food on my plate.  He might be speaking to me about the  man 
        who  owned the beef, the one who grew the carrots, an  individual 
        who helped process the catsup, the person who delivered the bread 
        to  the store.  Our Heavenly Father knows all things  about  each 
        person  in every place on the earth.  If it is His will,  He  can 
        reveal  any  particular  need to those servants  attuned  to  His 
        voice.

             I  fasted many times when God was trying to send  me  little 
        S.O.S. messages about the needs of those in some way connected
        to my food.  He was telling me of needs in their bodies, struggles
        in their lives.  Sometimes persons had been called to the ministry
        or the mission field, and God wanted me to pray for them to hear
        the sacred call upon their lives. It took me years to discern what
        all God was telling me, and I am still learning. 
        
             We  have been privileged now to teach some of  our  brothers 
        and  sisters  in  Jesus a few of the  very  sacred  and  precious 
        workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit.   These  are  holy  secrets  and 
        mysteries  of the Kingdom which we have learned after years of 
        waiting upon God; years of crying out in prayer, of doing God's
        will and pressing to be true in order that the Lord could teach
        me how the Holy Spirit operates within the temple of our bodies.
        I am only in the kindergarten learning my ABC's.
        
             After about an hour the food was prepared and on the  table.  
        We  had grace, and Rev. Pumphrey picked up the salmon platter  to 
        take off two small patties.  Just as he slid them off the platter 
        onto his plate, the Holy Ghost started right in my heart, came up 
        my throat, and spoke through
        
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        me,  "Poison!--That is poison!  Don't eat it!"  I warned.  I  got 
        up  from the table, rushed to the cabinet, and picked up the  can 
        which  had  contained the salmon.  "Look at this can!"   I  said.  
        They examined it, and discovered it to be partly corroded inside.
        
             That is what God was revealing to me when I came through the 
        kitchen  door, but I didn't know what He was telling me until  He 
        spoke  through me the revelation.  This knowledge came to  me  by 
        the  Holy Spirit in a similar manner as on that day years  before 
        when He revealed to my heart, "Here is your companion."
        
             I  will never know another thing, unless the Holy Spirit  is 
        so precious to reveal it to me.  I won't be able to perceive  it, 
        except  God  see  fit through Jesus to reveal it.  Now  if  I  am 
        faithful, by God's grace, and give Him all the glory and all  the 
        praise;  if I keep broken like a child, do everything He  reveals 
        for me to do, and keep happy about it--am appreciative and  don't 
        run  out of thanksgiving--then He can give something else, if  it 
        is  His will.  But it all must come from Jesus for  God's  praise 
        and honor.
        
             And that night, while turning to preach to the young people, 
        I  knew  that  I had found my companion for life.   I  felt  very 
        unworthy that He would choose my companion for me.  Only He would 
        know  the mate which the years ahead would demand.  We have  been 
        together  over  thirty-nine years now, but it seems like  only  a 
        little  while,  because  of Jesus.  No one  will  ever  know  how 
        precious my wife has been to me.
        
             Our first time together was on April 14, 1933.  That  prayer 
        meeting  night we had a heavy April shower.  Since ours  was  the 
        only car at church that evening, all the young people piled  into 
        it.   I  still  wonder how so many got into the  car,  but  young 
        people can really stack into a place if they want to.
        
             I  decided that this would be a good night to be alone  with 
        Florence Spence.  Although God had shown me the last of  February 
        that she was to be my companion, I hadn't had the
        
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        courage  to ask her for a date.  That night I said to myself,  "I 
        will  arrange  it so that she will be the last one  taken  home."  
        After  delivering all the young people to their homes,  including 
        my  own brother, Richard, I was finally left alone for the  first 
        time  with the girl who was to become my wife.  She was the  last 
        girl I ever dated.
        
             After  Florence and I had gone together about six weeks,  we 
        were  returning one night from church, driving very  slowly  down 
        the street about six to seven hundred feet north of her  parents' 
        home.  Suddenly a ray of light from Heaven fell into my heart.  I 
        saw  another  ray  of light fall into her heart,  and  these  two 
        lights  leaped  together  like  static  electricity.   Through  a 
        miracle of God, we were joined together by the Holy Spirit.
        
             Young people, it is so urgent that you find, through waiting 
        on God and prayer, the companion which God has selected for  you.  
        Recently  the  Holy Spirit has revealed to my heart that  eighty-
        seven  percent of all marriages in the United States are  out  of 
        divine  order.  They have not been led and arranged by  the  Holy 
        Spirit.    The  couples  have  married  because  of  a   physical 
        attraction,  personality similarities, or  particular  interests.  
        Sometimes  a  boy has pressured a girl to marry, or  vice  versa.  
        Anyone  who  pressures  another into marriage  is  bringing  that 
        person to a life of darkness near the edge of despair.
        
             Every major life choice--such as a companion or a vocation-- 
        which  is  not  made  by the Spirit,  will  continue  to  produce 
        consequences  for  the remainder of that person's  life.   (Often 
        these  choices are made between the ages of twelve  and  twenty.)  
        Even  if one is converted after these major decisions  have  been 
        made,  though Jesus will freely forgive all past sin  and  error, 
        one  will  still grapple with the results and suffer  within  the 
        confines of these choices which God was not permitted to make for 
        him.   There  is no way to adequately convey the  seriousness  of 
        waiting on God's specific guidance
        
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        concerning  our vocation, our companion, our place  of  dwelling, 
        and our choice of a school or a college.
        
             This  is why so many homes are unhappy, without  romance, in 
        constant upheaval.  Most of us are so in the flesh when it  comes 
        to  the opposite sex.  We have certain ideas about the  companion 
        we  wish,  and  we set out to get what we want.   But  God  knows 
        exactly  who we are, what we will be in ten or twenty years,  and 
        precisely  where He wants us in His Kingdom.  We  are  absolutely 
        incapable  of  making an intelligent choice of our  companion  by 
        ourselves because we cannot see where God is going to want us  in 
        the  years  ahead.  The choice we would make of a  companion,  no 
        matter how ideal and perfect it might appear at the moment,  will 
        not stand the tests of time and circumstances.  Only God can have 
        the knowledge and wisdom for such a choice.
        
             Now  Satan  will tell you all kinds of things  to  make  you 
        anxious  and fearful.  He will likewise try to get you  attracted 
        to  many persons along the way to keep you from meeting  the  one 
        God has chosen for you.  That is why it is so important that  the 
        Holy  Spirit  be given the freedom to choose  your  vocation  and 
        where  you are to attend college (if you go).  It could  be  that 
        unless you follow God's leading from the very beginning, you will 
        be late in finding your chosen mate, or you may never get there.
        
             But if we start at the moment of conversion and simply  seek 
        to deny what we want and follow every leading of the Holy Spirit, 
        He will lead us in time to everything that we need in order to be 
        used  as  He sees fit in the Kingdom.  Sometimes we must  wait  a 
        long time; sometimes a very short time.  It was a surprise and  a 
        delight  when  Jesus  revealed  to my  heart  that  our  youngest 
        daughter and son-in-law were to be married in less than a  month.  
        We didn't work this out in our own understanding.  The Holy Ghost 
        revealed it.
        
             I  urge  every unmarried person reading this book:  be 
        absolutely  certain of God's guidance before you marry.
        It would be much better to never marry than to go into a union
        
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        which isn't led of God.  One could never tell you the sorrow  and 
        anguish you will have if you marry out of divine order.   Neither 
        are there words to tell the wonder of a marriage led of God.
        
             God  was  also letting Florence know a little  that  He  had 
        brought us together someway in His Spirit.  I learned later  that 
        even before I knew she was to be my companion, if she were in the 
        church  facing the pulpit and I would come through the  vestibule 
        doors  at  the back, she sensed my presence when  I  entered  the 
        sanctuary.   This  is a miracle of Jesus.   This  doesn't  always 
        happen.
        
             I  believe  this  occured because God had called  me  for  a 
        specific purpose into this world.  I needed a wife who could wait 
        for hours in a car without being upset, while God had me  sharing 
        with  dear  ones about the Kingdom.  One who would bear  with  me 
        when I failed to get home on time for dinner and her meals became 
        cold, because my schedule was at God's bidding.  I needed a  wife 
        who  would  understand that the things of  earth  were  secondary 
        always.   When  meals,  family, and home are  upset,  most  wives 
        rather want to talk about it and let it be known that they  don't 
        particularly appreciate it.  I had to have a companion who  would 
        say  "yes" to the will of God; a wife willing to die out  to  her 
        hopes and her wishes.
        
             It  took this supernatural union because of the  seriousness 
        of  God's call upon our lives and also because of the  difference 
        in  our background and education.  God had been working  to  keep 
        her in the Parker area, even though it was not easy on her at the 
        time.   Her  excellent  achievements musically  had  made  her  a 
        favorite of Mr. Palmer, the professor of music where Florence had 
        earned her degree.  He often took her to play for the Lions Club, 
        the  Rotary Club, and other organizations.  She didn't ask to  do 
        it, but of all the pianists at Ball State, she was chosen.
        
             She  had  excellent  recommendations  for  a  good  teaching 
        position that previous fall, and a few people were wanting
        
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        to  help her; but God closed the doors.  As a result of  her  not 
        finding  a teaching position, Florence was very,  very  restless.  
        No  doubt,  she was also disappointed, for she wanted  to  teach.  
        She  was excellently qualified to instruct, but God  had  another 
        appointment for her instead.  I would have missed her if God  had 
        not closed the doors on her teaching opportunities.
        
             If  you remain true and faithful to God, He will be  working 
        out the important concerns in your life.  He will arrange them in 
        His own way, if you will wait upon Him, praise Him, and honor Him 
        from  your heart as well as from your lips.  It might not be  the 
        easiest on you, but it will be the best for you.
        
             Once I became acquainted with the one God had chosen for me, 
        I  didn't want to go home at night.  I didn't want to leave  her, 
        because  I had a treasure there.  When you have a  treasure,  you 
        want to be near it.  When God joins you with a companion, you are 
        simply not happy without her, for He brings you especially  close 
        together.  The more you obey, the closer you become, because  you 
        understand one another better.  You learn when to keep quiet  and 
        when  to speak.  Sometimes we don't learn for a long  while,  but 
        God helps by teaching us what to say and what not to say so  that 
        we  won't make our companion appear small in the eyes of  others.  
        He  teaches  us to be careful of what we do and how we  live,  so 
        that  we won't hurt or hinder the ones we love, but  rather  help 
        and encourage them along the journey.     
        
             Florence  and I began to anticipate marriage.  One night  we 
        were in the car outside her parents' home, right in front of  the 
        old  maple tree.  She was talking to me about one of her  married 
        girlfriends  who  already  had a little  home  with  furnishings.  
        While  she was talking I was praying in my heart.  I  was  crying 
        out to Jesus, for I had only a very few dollars in my pocket, and 
        there was my education yet to pursue.
        
             Suddenly, as I was silently crying out to Jesus, He revealed
        
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        to me a home which He would someday build for us.  I saw our home 
        as  a  light in my heart, far off in the future.  I  could  never 
        begin to tell you exactly how it was, but it was vivid within  my 
        heart.
        
             "Oh, Honey!" I said.  "I can see our home as a light.  I can 
        see  that if we go where God sends me, take His message,  embrace 
        the  cross, be obedient and win men and women, boys and girls  to 
        Jesus,  He is going to provide a home which will be  a  testimony 
        that  God  provides for His servants of today as He did  for  the 
        prophets of old.  I see that you have lovely furniture, too."
        
             One  can  never  capture  the  splendor,  the  wonder,   the 
        excitement  of a revelation which comes from God.  It is  usually 
        so  very  simple and direct in content; yet it is always  such  a 
        surprise.  To hear directly from Heaven is a privilege beyond the 
        words of earth to describe.  Because of my limitations, I am  not 
        able  to  convey the specific excellence of this  moment  in  our 
        lives together.  It was a very precious revelation to me.
        
             We  held  to that promise through many  dark  and  difficult 
        years,  the  promise which came unexpectedly and  quietly  in  my 
        heart  as my wife spoke about her friend's  home.   Approximately 
        nineteen  years  and  eight  months later,  that  home  became  a 
        reality.
        
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