Do you have a favorite Bible verse? I don’t. How is that even possible? So many verses are favorites, I can’t choose only one. Psalm 31:14-15 is among them.
But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”
My times are in your hands.
In most of my books, a favorite Bible verse or hymn are meaningful to the main characters. Psalm 31:14-15 became the favorite of the hero in my first book, Friends & Enemies. Paul Braedel served as a B-17 navigator during World War II. The life expectancy wasn’t good for the boys in the bombers. Over 70% of bomber crewmen were either killed or missing in action. That’s about 100,000 men. How else could they face the danger they flew in except to place their times, their lives, in God’s hands?
In the original version of Friends & Enemies, Paul tells a new friend in the first chapter, “We were challenged last year to find a verse to live by. I chose that for my life’s motto. I like knowing God is so involved with us personally.”
I’ve never designated a Bible verse to be my life’s motto, maybe because of my inability to choose one favorite. To know, however, that my times are in God’s hands gives me assurance, even when life seems to have spiraled out of control.
Did I veer off God’s plan for my life? Am I treading a path that is less than best? After graduating with a Master’s in Library Science, I worked in a few library jobs that did not cause me to jump out of bed each morning, eager to arrive at work. The last job included a commute in Southern California that drained away my free time. When my family’s enterprise of publishing a niche magazine required more help, I was relieved to leave the library. The downside was becoming totally isolated, seeing no one but family members. Should I have stayed in the library world?
Even if I should have, I am still in His hands. He excels at creating masterpieces from broken pieces. He may be leading me in an altered direction because of my missteps, but He still has plans to prosper me, to give me hope and a future.
Paul Braedel was shot down over Germany. He could still say with perfect assurance that his times were in God’s hands as he set out to find a high school classmate who had returned to Germany. That may have been akin to finding a needle in a haystack, but find her he did, and she helped him escape enemy territory.
We too can trust our great God. Our times are in His hands, and that’s the perfect place to be.
Widowed seamstress Heidi Wetzel finds new meaning in life by caring for evacuated children on a farm in war-torn western Germany. Having lived in the United States, she wonders about her friend Rachel. Flying cadet Paul Braedel’s wife dies while he trains for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Following bereavement leave, he heads to England. When he and his crew are shot down over Germany, he evades capture and, for the first time since Rachel’s death, hears the voice of God whisper guidance. “Find Heidi.”
Heidi meets a man she recognizes from her high school days in America. Aiding a downed airman is punishable by execution, but she agrees to help. Before he can journey along an escape route, they’re betrayed and the Gestapo comes calling. Together, Paul and Heidi flee across Germany in a desperate journey for Allied lines.
Terri Wangard grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, during the Lombardi Glory Years. Her first Girl Scout badge was the Writer. These days she writes historical fiction, and won the 2013 Writers on the Storm contest and 2013 First Impressions, as well as being a 2012 Genesis finalist. Holder of a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in library science, her research included going for a ride in a WWII B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. Classic Boating Magazine, a family business since 1984, keeps her busy as an associate editor. Visit her on her website.