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Show The widow of a beloved minister faced this feast alone and in despair; then from a pile of papers xvErnrotr-EVERrea- de and wanted to flee it? I did that pdngjQf1949L in tMTyear, :Ear1y I had been happy in my ing when that worldTay in pieces aMny feet. My husband Peter Marshall was dead. Acute occlusion, the doctor said. A single coronary a man's life snuffed out at 46. As spring approached, I could scarcely bear the thought of Easter. I could never have resisted even the irenefaT atmos- a aV mvm wHiTT J phere of gladness. Would not my small son's fun in coloring-- Easter 4ggs, thegay.shop .winr'. blood clot an-aT- vT m JVf t a fter Ilia t firt Easier morning, we find these same men, who had been so timid, frightened, ineffective, now preaching openly, with no fear of anyone. Their personal conviction rings like a bell steady and strong: --That which we have heard with our own ears, seen with our own eyes, handled with our own hands, declare we unto you." And of what were thev so sure? That 'JeuTGhrist was alive hut no spiritual resurrection thisnot just the perpetuation of a dead man's ideas. Furthermore, they were saying these IhtngnHhemely-lhatHhrad-soughM- ly mock my grief, throw into greater contrast my sense of loss? Itas4nhisood4hat the editing of a book of Peter's sermons. So now I plunged into the task of sorting out the sermon manuscripts. I remember that I chose for the task my favorite spot in 6ur Washington home the sun-rooThere the windows were filled with nv hlver-ofcoiored-press- glasswhidi-Pete-r ed and I had collected during our summers on Cape Cod-TheTOtnF- cranberry, amber, amethyst, cobaltTjlue, color on the floor and across the piles of papers. There were some 600 sermon manuscripts. I was trying to divide them into types: Biblical word pictures, those with a national or patri- - .iuLiLajmiS -- -- . -- ones, and so on. Suddenly beneath my hand was the last East-er sermon that Peter had preached. Vividly I remembered-tha- t serviceWhaLa happx day it had been! And now? Bitterness seeped in. Shut off that train of thought, a part of my mind Ivarned. Get on with your workr I was about to toss the sermon onto the special-occasio- n pile when my eyes were drawn like a magnet to the typed words before me. Soon I was caught up in the thoughts that Jlowe&AojayifleJ fjnggjem- had lieen anything but im- pressed with the way Christ disciples had conducted themselves during the -- arrest and trial of the Natarene. His followers had certainly riot been courageous. Itf faclthey had all either lives-or-followed-aheTr great destroy the Christ, right at the door of the stronghold of the priests, a thousand paces from-th- e tomb where Christ had lain. Christ enemies would have given any thing to have refuted their claims. One thing would have done it so simply. If only they could have produced a body. But they could not. So they tried everything they could think of to silence these fishermen, tax olleelors, farmers, carpenters, shepherds imprisonment, threats, scourgings, ston- r leath. Nothing succeeded in silencinglhem. Now it takes a verv great conviction to change men so drastically. Men do not persist in a lie, or even a delusion, if every time they insist on its truth they are driving nails into their own coffins. -- edetivityr-ne- n c LelypaftticJUttsl for a time hut not for long. In the long run, an illusion does not build character strong enough to withstand great hardship truth can do thatl gireat-persctttio- Qnly,lhe,bedrbck Moreover, men who are merely fooling Ihemselves do not become purposeful men, men with qualities of leadership, as these erstwhile timid apostles became. . ' For now they had boldness and courage, well-integrat- self-sustaini- ed ng Jilld-l- h even denied havingtnown the" Nazarene ThelTfter theiOlastsatht 4he band of disciples had stayed in hiding withi the doors locked. " Family Weekly, April 22,1962 -- r melrpiu, Ills poweF--al- f too, will knour! To you there may come the same wonderful changes that have come to other men and women down through the yearsT" ThkJath.eLJaHlyhaLiiiiJifv.ia-Thi- Jhad not had wntilfteiahe-firstEaste- r morning. they still were in touch They now-f- elt with Him in a different way, yes, but in a more powerful way. They knewTthat He was wiUrthem still, even as He had Andyoutoomay JbajLhaJLSjB.meJd!sfi ship withe'ltiseiTCIirislTlndirlr you will not believe the fact of the Resurrection for vourself until the living Christ lives in your own heart. When you have in your Um s comradeship with the Resurrected Christ through His spirit is available now to the man in the street, to the government clerk, to the anxious mother, to the confused schoolboy or schoolgirl. Your life may he guided by Christ. Your problems may be solved Ty IUs wisdom. Your weakness may he turned into strength by His help. Your struggles may become fictoriesbYHis he turned into joy by His comfort.. to me. Suddenly I realized that I had been ref using to let God turn my sor row into joy. I had been shutting Him out. I had not really believed that God 'could give me a new life without Peter a happy life. For weeks I had been walking unseeing through the world. Grief had blinded me, deafened me. So now I had to stop dreading Easter, go to meet it with an open heart. lyTrew1yjpxmWT year, spring burst upon the nation'sapital with unusual beauty. The forsythia was more bril-lian than I had liver seen it. ThezaleasveTe-punctuatiomarks of flaming coral and cerise. Out past the creamy whiteness tif the Lincoln Memorial, the Tidal Basin was adrift in pale nt nues of pink and white dogwood. ndlnyhearTTespoiided7 1 discovered in myself 4unesL kind of peacg JPt was the peace that eOmes not from but fromTmowlngHthat Happiness isossiblelMl spite ordifficiilties. By Easter Sunday morning the triumphant music of the massed choirs echoed my own gladness. In my heart I could kneel before the Risen ChrisJLand promise Him io try-t- o Jive-i- n joyfully; tell Him that I was finally the-prese- nt His-cre- a rilling4o-putysdf4jithestream-- of t-a- distanceSimon-Pete- r own life that sense of His nearness and had no idea what those purposes were. diirTiiymmdYieyeTsaw againPeters sermon lying on the floor of the sunroom with the light dancing across the words: "You will not believe the fact of the Kes- - urrection for-yoar- self jChri0 iy ejL Jn ou r uhlilthIiving" havcJlO nearness and Hispowej-ahthetoo, will ftnotcJ Now I believed. Now I knew, n you, -- |