I love this little story by Clovis Chappell that I heard second-hand
from Haddon Robinson. Here is how I remember it:
Once a man
married a woman from Kentucky. They were young and very deeply in love.
Early in their marriage because of illness she lost her mind. Sometimes
she would not even recognize him. She couldn't sleep and sometimes in
the night she would cry out so loud the neighbors would complain. They
lived in Chicago. He moved her to the western suburbs of Chicago where
people would not be disturbed by her cries, but he refused to
institutionalize her.
She rarely talked coherently but just cried
out with horrifying cries of deranged fear. One of the doctors suggested
that if she returned to her childhood home-place in Kentucky for a visit
maybe something there would snap her back into reality...He got her in
a car and made the trip to her childhood home in Kentucky.
He
walked with her through the meadows among flowers and birdsong. He
climbed hills and sat with her and listened to the burbling stream. The
visited the town where she grew up and the home where she lived. Nothing
seemed to help. Defeated, he helped her into the car and started home.
Then something unusual happened. She fell into a deep sleep. All the way
home she slept. When he arrived home it was near evening. She did not
awaken. He tenderly carried her into the house and laid her in the bed.
He sat down in a chair in the room and watched her quiet sleep hour
after hour.
After many hours the light of morning began to stream
though the window and she woke up. When she sat up in bed and her eyes
were clear. Her mind was sharp. She said: "I feel like I've just
returned from a very long and difficult journey. Where were you?"
He moved to her and took her in his arms and tenderly said; "I never
left your side. I was right here with you all the time."
Sometimes, for all of us, things seem very dark and confusing and we
feel deeply sad or frightened, but one day the light of eternity will
stream though the window and then we will know that our Heavenly Father
was there all the time. Even in our darkest nights He never left our
side.
Ken Pierpont, Riverview, Michigan
