by Gladys Neigel
It was a cold, blustery winter evening, far removed from the balmy Florida nights I would later enjoy. It was home leave for Indiana Academy students, and the empty campus was covered in deep snow. A blizzard howled about us as my husband, Fred, and I trudged through the snow from an evening meal and fellowship with the boys’ dean’s family.
When we arrived back at the girls’ dean’s apartment, I discovered my watch was missing. Not just any watch—the white gold watch with its slender band was a statement of commitment to a marriage still in its beginnings.
What was a dutiful husband to do but retrace the lighthearted steps of the evening in response to his wife’s tearful entreaties while the hosts of the evening searched their apartment. The watch was not to be found.
Upon the students’ return to campus two days later, they looked up and under and around snow banks searching for the missing watch. At first, IÂ prayed that my husband or one of the students would find the watch. While appreciative of their efforts, I had lingering doubts of ever seeing my watch again.
From the beginning of our life together, returning tithes and offerings was part of a pattern that we each brought to the marriage. I began to claim the promise found in Malachi 3:10:
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Claiming this promise gave me hope. One week went slowly by and then another began with no watch to be found. On the last day of the second week, the rains came and made short order of all the snow piles. That afternoon, my husband grabbed an umbrella and headed for a class he taught in the administration building, which was quite a distance from the dormitory. As he was about to open the door to the building, much to his surprise, he saw a shiny object in the mud and rain. Yes, there was my watch! After a little cleaning, it was as good as new.
The watch still resides in its original case, and the young couple who have become seasoned veterans of marriage still work for the Lord from a warmer climate. However, the remarkable recovery of the watch has not lost anything in telling and retelling the story. God’s Word is still sure—the God who rewarded our faithfulness still opens the windows of heaven and pours out blessings without measure to those who steadfastly return their “tithes into the storehouse.”