God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13 NKJV).

During our first year of marriage, an infestation of bedbugs from a neighboring apartment was an experience we’ll never forget. After our landlord sprayed to get rid of the pests, the smell permeated everything. We were more than ready to go when it was time for Donn to enter graduate school in the fall of 1971. Because of my secretarial training, I got a job immediately at Farm Bureau Insurance in Lafayette, Indiana.

While we needed the income, this job was my first introduction to the real world. I had been sheltered in many ways, growing up in a Mennonite home, going to grade school with Amish and Mennonite children, and working at Mennonite Mutual Aid. But at Farm Bureau, I had only one Christian friend, and the church we attended at the suggestion of another friend was quite liberal. Tendencies that could have been my downfall began to surface in me.

Mercifully, a year later an unexpected pregnancy changed my focus and helped me get back on track spiritually. Due to health issues, my Dr. wanted me to stop working sooner than expected and graciously the Lord provided an Assistantship for Donn that supplied our needs. How faithful God was to remove me from an unhealthy situation that I was too young and inexperienced to handle. He promises always to make a way of escape.

Thank you, Father, for making a way of escape in ways that we could never have imagined from situations that put us at risk. Amen.

Our apartment building in Married Student Housing at Purdue University, across from the football stadium! We lived in the upper right efficiency apartment. (August 1971 to December 1973)

*Original title: Our Faithful God

Photo 1 Agency Manager, Jim Linn, with me at my desk at Farm Bureau Insurance; Photo 2 My Christian friend, Angie Maudlin, who made me want an “Angie ” of our own! Photo 3 Me (pregnant) at the baby shower Angie gave for me.

 (Devotional from Homespun Faith, Reflections from the Seasons of Life, copyright 2014 Daisy Beiler Townsend. Available as paperback or ebook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Xulon Press. Locally at Fresh Grounds, M & M Grocery, Leanna’s Books, Penn Alps in Grantsville, Maryland, or from me 724-373-8445 or donaisy@neo.rr.com.)