Chapter Seven
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CHAPTER SEVEN
THE RULING THING
i was one day out on the trail. In fact, it was Isobel's first tri in North Thailand in search of tribal people. Plagued wit hindrances, annoyances and misfortunes, the little group gathered together with her on the steep jungle-tangled mountainside to ask God's special protection for each member of the party.
It happened not before, but after that prayer of faith.
They were walking single file. A fallen tree branch lay concealed under the leaves on the path. Suddenly someone in front of her unwittingly stepped on the one end, causing the other té spring up, striking her sharply on the breast.
As almost any other woman might react, Isobel was immediately suspicious of what an injury to that vulnerable spot might bring in its wake. But painful as it was, she completed the trip with the others. And returning to the city she consulted Dr. Richard Buker.1 He gave it as his opinion that a ligament had been torn by the blow. After this verdict, putting the matter from her mind, Isobel went on with her usual programme.
Seven months passed. Again on a trip to the tribes, she had an accident. She fell on a slippery slope, striking herself painfully again. e Down I came on a jagged stump," she explained. "It was a jolting blow and fell in the same place as the first. Once down the 1 At that time Dr. Richard Buker, an American Baptist missionary, was serving under the American Presbyterian Board in Chiengmai
There in the McKean Memorial Hospital he headed up one of the world's largest leprosy colonies. From Dr. and Mrs. Buker as well as others of the A.P.M., the C.I.M. received a genuine welcome to North Thailand.
They were as glad to have the assistance of the C.I.M. medical personnel as the C.I.M. appreciated access to their facilities. It is to Dr. Buker that the C.I.M. owes both the pattern and training for its successful leprosy programme in Thailand. To use simple leprosy clinics as a spearhead
_ into unevangelized areas, was Dr. Buker's idea.
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THE RULING THING
= Mv hill I again sought advice. An X-ray showed nothing. I felt as if the Lord said, "The time hasn't come yet; get on with your work.' And so I did. I was not haunted by any fear of the disease
_—thad put it deliberately out of my mind and was joyful in my work. Over a year passed. I had never felt better in my life.
But one day, noticing something not normal in the area where twice I had been hit, I felt I should see Dr. Buker."' He looked very serious and ordered further investigation immediately. This necessitated a trip to Bangkok.
When "non-malignant" came as the first report, John naturally was jubilant. Friends were all tremendously thankful; those at Home Base were specially reassured as Isobel returned to Chiengmai and to her usual rhythm.
Yet, somehow, she herself was still unconvinced. In spite of this, she pressed on.
"Our annual Field Conference was coming very close," she said, "and I threw my energies into preparing for it. We housecleaned every room, and all arrangements were clearly mapped out even to the menu for each day."
A busy week passed. Then came Saturday with the dramatic incidents remembered so vividly by Nurse Dorothy Jones. "We were awaiting guests for supper, and in walked Dr. Buker. He had news that all was not well as first supposed and a surgeon from Bangkok who had just flown up for a Srtonichidaest break would be willing to operate on the following day. What does one do with guests when a major operation is suddenly arranged for the hostess on the next day?
"Once again we were privileged to see God's peace in action, for according to Isobel, the hostess welcomed the guests and gave them an enjoyable evening. Next morning at half-past seven we drove to hospital in the jeep and the operation was
_ performed, Then came days of pain and discomfort, days when there was plenty of time to think of the future, of loved ones; and the str was given. Then the day came for her homecoming and she said she would go into her own prayer sanctua
—a little room away from the house, with thatched roof, of bamboo slats and earth floor. The nurse said, 'Nonsense, no patient of mine can go in there.' But the patient knew better.
And the doctor realized the value of a room away from the main
ONE VISION ONLY
house with its much coming and going (for conference was to begin that week-end). So into that little sanctuary Isobel went.
"One day the soap dropped on the floor. Soap on a wood or a stone floor is one thing, one just picks it up and continues washing. But rie on an earth floor is another thing, the soap
needs washing before going on with its work. 'Oh well,' said the nurse, 'only a few more days and you'll be enjoying the comfort of a New York hospital.' 'I'd rather be here in this little sanctuary,' was the reply. And Isobel meant it. She had spoken before of 'miserable comforts' as she was kept in the centre where living was more civilized. Her heart was out in the hills with her Lisu.
"I don't suppose we shall ever assess fully what her presence meant during conference time. At first no visitors were allowed.
But later she could see people a little each day. And those who went to see her found the same Isobel, one ready to advise, to encourage, to exhort. The last night of conference we met around the Lord's Table and she joined us."
Needless to say, at that last observance of the Lord's Supper there was a poignant sense of oneness with the Lord Jesus in His suffering and death for the sins of the whole world. For that sacred hour, the Lord in His perfect planning and time provided
His special messenger, Dr. Frank Torrey, John's and Isobel's own pastor from the Calvary Independent Church in Lancaster,
— Pennsylvania! He was visiting the missionary members of his church scattered around the world; and he reached Chiengmai just when his presence and prayers meant the most.
The next day Isobel started out on the long flight to theStates, still very weak in body, but radiant in spirit.
The doctors felt that if she had a chance for recovery it would be by means of new therapies in her homeland.
Isobel, quite aware of the grave nature of her disease, did not shift her vision to herself. That was evident from a message she sent the Mission family in Chiengmai on her last evening in Bangkok. Concluding her letter she wrote:
* "T thank the Lord for each one of you and would leave you Philippians 3:13, 14: 'Brethren . . . this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. . . . I press toward . . . Christ
— Jesus.' Let that be the ruling thing in your life as I wish it to be in e "= mine, ,