Page 63 - Unseen Hands by Nona Freeman

God*s Choice
withdrew his financial assistance. The director of the high school, a Coptic who was afraid of her Protestant in fluence, made plans to cut off her allowance. She received several more proposals for marriage at the same time.
Feeling confused and forsaken, Erkenesh turned to prayer. "0 Lord, You know that I want to serve You. How can I marry a man that You have not chosen for me? Please, Lord, show me Y our choice of all these men want ing me to be their wife."
Suddenly, for the first time, she received a message from God; I am Jesus. Do not accept any marriage part ner until I speak to you again. Until then, wait patiently.
Erkenesh had an answer for every proposal from that time: "It is not the will of God."
W ithout financial resources, Erkenesh borrowed money in the beginning of the ninth grade and went home, hoping to stay. Her father sent her back to school with the assurance that he would pay the bills.
She found lodging a forty-five minute's walk from the school. One evening a captain accosted her, "I want to marry you, Erkenesh."
She made no answer; trembling she hurried down the street. Now the walk to and from school became a tor ment of fear. A few days later, fully armed, the man blocked her way long enough to grit, "You will tell me in my house why you hate me and despise my request." The kidnapping threat terrified her all the more since she knew no one willing to help her.
A week after the captain's threat she saw a tent pitched in front of his house and many people there dressed in mourning. One told her that someone had found the captain dead in his bed. He did not commit suicide.
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