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Miracle

Helen Reimer Bergmann

Fall, 1998. A servant of the Lord had moved from the cozy apartment he shared with his wife to the care wing of a retirement village. His wife was in the process of moving to a smaller apartment across the hall. One day, she called, “There are still so many books left. The children and others have taken what they want. Would you please come and take what you like?” So we did.

Some time later, she called again, in desperation, “I have to be out of this apartment by Saturday. Could you come and get the rest of the books?” So we did.

It was a challenge sorting through boxes and boxes of literature. Some items we decided to keep. Several boxes of contemporary works went to our minister son-in-law. The remaining boxes were sent to the Christian Salvage Mission.

Shortly thereafter, my husband Walter perused one of the books we had chosen to keep – Mennonites in Canada 1920-1940: A People’s Struggle for Survival by Frank H. Epp. It was in mint condition. Leafing through the pages, he said, “I remember asking for this book, but somehow I never got it.”

My reply was, “Wasn’t the author called home to be with the Lord not too long after the book was published? Let’s see what year it was.”

The year was 1982. Imagine our wonder when we saw the author’s personal inscription on the inside title page: “For Walter J. Bergmann. Frank Epp.”

This was nothing short of a miracle. To think that the book had “hibernated” all these years, then reached exactly the person it was intended for! Does it not show God’s protecting, providing hand on every detail of the lives of His redeemed?

Helen Reimer Bergmann is a writer from Virgil, Ont.

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Last modified March 30, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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