Janette Oke - Winter is not forever

Winter Is Not Forever

Copyright 1988

Janette Oke

Cover design by Dan Pitts
Cover photography by Aimee Christenson

Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438

Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Oke, Janette, 1935

Winter is not forever / Janette Oke.

p. cm.(Seasons of the heart; bk. 3)

ISBN 978-0-7642-0802-7 (pbk.)

I. Title.

PR9199.3.O38W56 2010

813'.54dc22

2010004154

DEDICATION

To the memory of Amanda Janette,
our third grandchild,
daughter of Terry and Barbara,
and baby sister of Ashley,
who came to join our family
on June 25, 1987,
and completed her brief mission
on September 10, 1987,
taken from us suddenly by crib death.
She was such a healthy, happy,
responsive little sweetheart!
We loved her dearly and miss her greatly.
And to Amandas grandparents
Koert and Carol Dieterman
and all readers
who have suffered through like pain.
Our loving and faithful God wipes our tears,
mends our broken hearts, and heaven
becomes a dearer place.

For where the treasure is,
there will the heart be also.

JANETTEOKE was born in Champion, Alberta, to a Canadian prairie farmer and his wife, and she grew up in a large family full of laughter and love. She is a graduate of Mountain View Bible College in Alberta, where she met her husband, Edward, and they were married in May of 1957. After pastoring churches in Indiana and Canada, the Okes spent some years in Calgary, where Edward served in several positions on college faculties while Janette continued her writing. She has written forty-eight novels for adults and another sixteen for children, and her book sales total nearly thirty million.

The Okes have three sons and one daughter, all married, and are enjoying their fifteen grandchildren. Edward and Janette are active in their local church and make their home near Didsbury, Alberta.

CONTENTS

CHARACTERS

Joshua Chadwick Jones Josh was raised by his grandfather, great uncle, and young aunt after his own parents were killed in an accident when he was only a baby. Once Josh reached his late teens, he lived with his Aunt Lou and her preacher husband, Nat Crawford, and went to school in town. On the weekends he returned to the farm to spend time with the menfolk.

Lou Jones Crawford Though she is his aunt, Lou is only a few years older than Josh. Now Lou is a parsons wife and anxious to be a mother after losing her first child at birth.

Grandpa The owner of the farm where Josh grew up and the only father Josh has known.

Uncle Charlie The quiet yet supportive brother of Grandpa. For many years they have run the farm and the household together.

Willie Joshs boyhood friend. They shared many adventures and a strong personal commitment to their faith.

Camellia Joshs first love, though he soon realized that his faith and her faithlessness were not compatible.

Mr. and Mrs. Foggelson Camellias mother and father. He was the local schoolmaster and raised concerns with his teaching of evolution. She had been a Christian until her marriage.

H AVE YOU DECIDED YET ?

Willies insistent voice demanded my attention. I swiveled around to get a look at him, for the words didnt make any sense to me at all.

What do you plan to doafter graduation? he prodded. Are you gonna be a ministeror what?

Or what? my mind echoed in frustration. What?

I had been asking myself the same question over and over, just as Willie was asking me now. And I still didnt have an answer. Graduation was only a month away, and it seemed that I was the only one in our small town school who didnt know exactly what to do with life after the big day. It wasnt that I hadnt given it a thought. In fact, I thought about it most of the time. I prayed about it, too, and my family members kept assuring me that they were praying as well. But I still didnt have an answer to Willies question, except to say honestly,NoI dont know yet. And Id been saying that for a long, long time.

I must have been frowning, and I guess Willie understood my dilemma. He didnt wait for my answernot in words, anyway; instead he went right on talking.

God has different timing for different people, and with a reason, he mused. That doesnt mean that He hasnt got your future planned out. When its time

I quit listening for a minute, and my mind jumped to other things. Willie already had his future clearly mapped out. God had called him to be a missionary; Willie would leave for a Bible school in the Eastern United States at the end of the summer.I envied Willie, I guess. It must be a real relief to know what God wants you to do, I muttered under my breath.

I still cant believe it, Willie was saying when I tuned back in. I mean, most of my lifeat least what I can remember of itIve been goin to school, day after day. And here we are about to graduate. I just cant believe it! It doesnt seem real to me yet.

I twitched my fishing pole as if I were trying to stir up some fish. Actually I was just thinking about Willies words. It did seem strange. We had done a great deal of talking over the years about how glad we would be to graduate and leave the old school behind, and here we were on the brink of graduation and I didnt really feel glad about it at all. In fact, I felt rather scared. I never would have dared to tell any of the fellas how I was feelingwe always crowed about the day that wed be freed from prison. Wed run and holler and toss our caps in the air. I knew wed have to do it to carry on the tradition. A fella was supposed to loathe school and be more than glad to be rid of it, but at the same time I got a funny feeling down in the pit of my stomach whenever I thought about graduation.