All To Bring You Glory, Sandi Patty

Darlene Rose is one of my favorite heroines of the faith...matter of fact, she is right up there with Perpetua and Blandina, Corrie Ten Boom and Ida Scudder.

Darlene and her husband Russell, a veteran missionary, set foot on the island of Celebes in the (then) Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to remote tribes.

On returning from one trip to the Kapauku people, Russell's health had taken a tremendous toll. His feet had been affected by jungle rot after 17 days of walking in wet boots, and he had lost 60 pounds. He and his men had forded rivers, climbed mountains, hacked through jungle vines, and trekked up to their hips in mud and bog.

The treatment was to pick off all the rotted tissue right down to the raw, healthy tissue and apply an anti-fungal ointment. While Russell told amazing stories of their experiences (including their canoe capsizing and every man being saved), Darlene worked on his feet, caring tenderly for her man!

Dr. Robert Jaffray, an older missionary with them, saw the blood and pus and retired to his room, feeling sick. He came out several hours later, having written an article for The Pioneer, a missions magazine, and laid it before them to read:

"This morning I looked at the bleeding feet of a missionary, his wife tending them, the blood and pus running, and I thought to myself, "What a nauseating sight that is!" But, as I walked from the room, the Lord kept saying to me, "Oh, but to Me they are beautiful feet!"

Then I remembered - "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of them that bringeth good tidings" - good tidings to those men and women in New Guinea who sit in darkness and the shadow of death... Some day the last one will turn to Jesus. Then the clouds will part asunder and our Savior will be there!"

Once Russell's feet healed, he hoped to take Darlene to meet the Kapauku people who believed he was a spirit because he didn't have his wife with him. Darlene was excited and eager to meet them, as well. As she saw the men, women, and children running to them with gifts, she burst into tears and cried out "I'm home! I'm home!" In time, many came to the Lord, and a local church was born. Then the Japanese (WWII-Pacific theatre) invaded the islands. Their lives were about to change!

The book Evidence Not Seen is absolutely my favorite book; I encourage you to get and read it! For more on Darlene Rose see posts on Jan. 8, 2011 and Jan 27, 2011. Another link: http://johndubler.com/Darlene_Deibler_Rose_Part_I.pdf

Sandi Patty, with her magnificent voice, sings All To Bring You Glory. She, too, has first-hand seen how a loving Savior can turn bondage and misery into freedom and joy! For more on Sandi's story go to http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/aug/01/na-singers-story-connects-her-to-audiences/

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8: 28

Lyrics: included in video.

Supporting Scriptures:

" And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach good news to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he begun to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Luke 16-21

"Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4: 23-24

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." Genesis 50: 20

"They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." Revelation 17: 14

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, plans to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29: 11

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." Romans 8: 28-30

"And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, "Surely I will bless you and multiply you." And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise...We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." Hebrews 6: 11-15; 19-20

Refiner's Fire, Bob Doerkson/Darlene Rose -part 2

Darlene Rose was refined by fire. One by one, she lost her husband, her Bible, her health, her innocence, all the wedding gifts they brought along, and she was made to think the U.S. lost the war because she had no news. I wonder how I would respond under those conditions. (See The Lord is My Light, Jan. 2011, for an earlier post on Darlene Rose)

"Just two weeks before I was brought to this prison, the Lord had laid it on my heart to memorize a poem by Annie Johnson Flint. Now I knew why. After drying the tears from my face and mopping the tears from the floor with my skirt, I would sit up and sing:

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater
He sendeth more strength when the labours increase
To added affliction, He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
And our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
The Father's full giving is only begun.

Strength came, and I knew I could go through another interrogation, and another, and another. I was physically weak, and desperately frightened, but God gave me the courage to deport myself like a good soldier for my Lord before those cruel men." - from Darlene Rose's book Evidence Not Seen.

When Darlene Deibler Rose wrote her book, she wrote it with her young sons in mind. “I wished them to know, if ever difficult circumstances came into their lives, that their mother’s God is still alive and very well, and His arm has never lost its ancient power”.
Lyrics:
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold

Refiner's fire
My heart's one desire
Is to be holy Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master

Ready to do Your will

Purify my heart
Cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart
Cleanse me from my sin
Deep within

Supporting Scriptures:

"This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” Zechariah 13:9

"Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin...Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow... Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:2,7,10

"But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:15-16

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
1 Peter 2:9

The Lord Is My Light (Ps.27), Eden's Bridge/ Darlene Rose story, part 1

Russell and Darlene Deibler as young missionaries.
After Russell died, she married Jerry Rose.

"The beatings, the starvation and the solitary confinement never broke her. "I never cried in front of them," said Darlene Deibler Rose of her Japanese captors in World War II. "But as soon as everyone went away, I cried buckets." Mrs. Rose, 84, who moved to Chattanooga this year with her husband, Jerry, served as a missionary in New Guinea. She was there with the Christian Missionary Alliance from 1938 to 1942, and again after the war in what is now Papua New Guinea, from 1949 to 1978. In between, she was imprisoned for three years on the island of Celebes, now Sulawesi."

If any of this sounds intriguing, you must read the perspective-changing book, Evidence Not Seen, by Darlene Rose! It is probably, arguably, our family's favorite read (there will be more books that I want to share in time). I am holding an old copy of the book on my lap. It energizes me to think of the power of the Word of God. Her favorite Scripture, Psalm 27, memorized from childhood, sustained her through the most harrowing cruelties. She writes,

"One of the young Dyak students was tortured at the Kempeitai headquarters prison. He was completely innocent of any subversive activities, but by then the damage was done. He suffered intense pain, but he was one of those God could trust with pain. He could still praise his glorious Lord and forgive those who caused his death--for he died shortly thereafter of his internal injuries...I could be the next victim. At such times as this, I took refuge in God's Word, especially Psalm 27...I remembered Dr. Jaffray's injunction: "Lassie, whatever you do, be a good soldier for Jesus Christ." I prayed that God would help me. The hearings--for my first interrogation was the first of many--lasted an hour, two hours, sometimes longer. All the questions were relative to my alleged espionage activities. What contact had I had with the American military personnel? What knowledge did I have of Morse code? Who were my superiors? Where had I been groomed to become a spy? Where did I get my radio? They tried to brainwash me into thinking I had been used by the Americans to spy for them and that the Americans had betrayed me to the Japanese. They would be lenient if I confessed, they said, but I knew that in times of war spies were beheaded. I gritted my teeth and vowed, God helping me, that they would never break me. This experience was repeated every few days for the next month and a half. I never knew when they would call me to the hearing room again.In desperation, I poured my heart out to the Lord. "O Lord, I just can't go through another one. I can't Lord, I just can't. When there were no more tears to cry, I would hear him whisper, "But, my child, my grace is sufficient for you. Not was nor shall be, but it is sufficient." Oh, the eternal, ever-present, undiminished supply of God's glorious grace!"

Here is Psalm 27 set to Celtic music by Eden's Bridge.
Darlene's relationship with Jesus along with Psalm 27 are what carried her through it all.

Lyrics:
The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The Lord is the stronghold of my life.
Whom shall I fear? Whom shall I fear?

When men advance against me
And all my foes surround me,
They will stumble and fall, stumble and fall.
Though all the world besiege me,
And war break out against me,
I am sure in the Lord, sure in the Lord.

And in the day of trouble,
I'm safe within His dwelling,
He will hide me, He will hide me.
My head will be exalted
So far above my enemies,
I will sing to the Lord, sing to the Lord.
There is one thing that I ask of the Lord
For the days of my life;
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life.
To gaze on His beauty,
Seek Him in His temple.