Linda

28 May 2017

Dear Phyllis,

I believe 90% of the Lord's workings are under the radar, unreported. When I was with NLL I would regularly hear amazing testimonies coming out of China from the men working there. Later while I was in the states I shared some of these miracles with churches, and people would ask, “Why have we never heard these things?”. These were private acts of God, most of which were outside organizational activity. Paul has been stopping by sharing stories like I have never heard in my life. I would like to share these astounding testimonies but I don't know how I could relate them and I don't want to endanger the working of the Holy Spirit by advertising His doings. I believe the Lord is frequently doing amazing things for us in the shadows, of which we have no knowledge. Jacob never imagined what God was doing for him for ten years when God was establishing Joseph as the Prime Minister of Egypt. In the absence of anything else to write this week I want to re share an old event that is probably the most amazing testimony I ever heard.

It was in 1980 when we were back in the states for a one year furlough. We were attending a church supper for our home church, the Greenville Christian Fellowship. I was sitting next to a lady that I remembered from the last time we were home. She and her husband would frequently sit in front of us, but except from greetings at the door I had never spoken with her. Her husband was a fancy dude wearing loud Hawaiian shirts. She was somewhat on the plump side with a huge stack of Marie Antoinette blond hair on her head. I frequently remarked to Rosemary, “I serious doubt that that couple are saved.”. That night I spoke to her saying, “Linda, You probably don't recall us but my name is Bill Cook and my wife Rosemary. We are missionaries to Japan and used to see you in church six years ago.”. She turned to me and replied, “Bill Cook I know more about you than your mother. I would like to share my testimony with you.”.

Like we suspected they were not saved. Shortly after we left Greenville to return to Japan they stopped going to church altogether. Then one day a friend called inviting her to go to church with her the next Sunday to one of the larger churches in Greenville. Suddenly the Lord put in her heart an intense desire to go to church again. Linda said that was the longest week of her life. Every morning she would wake up and wonder how many more years would it be until Sunday came. Finally Sunday came and she got up early to get ready for church. But no friend. She despaired that she wouldn't show up. At last she got there but she was the slowest driver Linda had ever ridden with. Every traffic light in Greenville was red and Linda was about out of her mind when they finally got to church. Then her friend wanted to talk to every one in the parking lot. After an eternity they finally got seated in church. But the song service was interminable. By the time the pastor stood up to speak Linda had crossed every waiting line in her heart. Before the pastor could tell his first joke, Linda jumped to her feet, ran forward in front of 3000 startled people, and fell down at the altar pleading, “Jesus, Jesus, save me!”. Jesus jolly-well saved her – big time.

Man howdy, did she get a nose full of salvation! But there was no peace in heaven. After Linda got saved, she was on her knees day and night pleading for the salvation of her husband. Every time the Lord turned around Linda was in His face begging that Jake get saved. Poor Jake. What happened to his wonderful wife? She used to be a quiet soul but now she has gone totally bonkers for Jesus and His salvation. That put terrible pressure on him.

Jake was a carpenter. One day he was up on a roof; at 3:30 in the afternoon, suddenly he stood up, unbuckled his nail pouch, and climbed down off the roof, telling his gang, “I'll see you guys tomorrow.” The next morning he was on his way to work when there was a terrible accident and Jake was killed outright. The ambulance took him to the hospital but he was DEA. A pastor was there who never visited a hospital at 8:00 in the morning, but a believer in his church was having surgery that day, and he went early to pray for his church member. As he was walking out the foyer he heard an announcement over the PA system requesting if there was any clergy in the hospital; “Would you please report to administration”. He turned around and asked, “What is the problem?”. “They have just brought a man in here dead, and we would like to have a minister to break the news to his wife.”. He asked to see the body. They told him, “He is not a pretty sight, but if you want to see him the body is in the morgue.” The pastor went in the morgue, lifted up the sheet over Jake's face, looked at him, and placed the sheet back. Then he went to the hospital entrance to wait for Linda. When Linda came roaring up on the scene, dashing in the hospital, he stepped forward and said, “Mrs. Rogers, my name is Pastor Barnsworth. Your husband is in heaven with our Lord Jesus.”. Linda glared at him and replied, “Preacher, you are a liar. My husband is an unsaved man and he is in hell.” “Mrs. Rogers, I have something to tell you. Yesterday afternoon your husband went to a public phone booth, looked up the first church he could find listed in alphabetical order in the Yellow Pages, and at 5:00 o'clock yesterday afternoon I led you husband to Jesus Christ.” Boom!

I never heard such a testimony in my life. It had taken Linda fifteen to twenty minutes to get that far. Rosemary was dissolved in tears and had gone through every paper napkin on the table and was read to start blowing her nose on the table cloth. But then Linda dropped the bomb. She told me, “After the Lord took Jake from me, you and your family have replaced my husband in my heart.” Somehow she had gotten a family picture of us and posted over her sink to look at while she washed the dishes. I have no idea how, but she had been able to get copies of our monthly missionary prayer letter and any scrap of information she could. She talked to anyone who had been in Japan and seen us or heard anything about us. Linda told me, “When I wake up in the morning the first thing that comes to my mind is the Bill Cook family in Japan. When I have my devotions, the main thing I pray for is the Cooks. When I am in the kitchen the I think about the Cooks. All day long you fill my mind and the last thing I do before falling asleep is to pray for the Bill Cooks. You and your family have replaced my husband in my heart.”

That did it! I never heard such a testimony in my life – before or since. I didn't think that girl knew my name but but the Lord had made us the be the closest thing in her heart. I had no idea that such a person was praying for us. I tuned to Rosemary and said, “If there is anything we do while we are here in Greenville it is to spend maximum time with this sister.”. And that was the last time I ever saw her. Somehow we didn't get her phone number or address. She wasn't going to that church and we never were able to get together with Linda. Sometime later I heard she had remarried and then, unexpectedly, the Lord took Linda at an early age to join Jake in heaven.

Such are the ways of the Lord. What Jesus is doing for us of which we are aware is wonderful, but I suspect when we get to heaven we will be amazed of all our Lord is doing all the time of things we never knew.

Oh, Jesus is wonderful,

                                       bill