God Delivered Diebler Through DESPERATE Days
[Above: Cover of Darlene Diebler's autobiography, Evidence Not Seen]
DARLENE MACINTOSH (1917–2004) committed her life to Christ at nine years of age and at thirteen promised him she would serve as a missionary. She wed Russell Diebler on this day, 18 August 1937, and exactly one year later arrived in Java to prepare for mission work in Western New Guinea. There she mastered Indonesian and deepened her knowledge of Dutch. (The Dutch had colonized Indonesia.)
As inevitably happens to those who walk close to God and do his work, Darlene faced severe opposition. But God supported her. Her autobiography Evidence Not Seen recounts many instances of divine intervention.
For instance, approaching rough weather threatened to prevent her meeting her husband at Oeta on New Guinea’s Southern Coast. Many arrangements were involved. And given the primitive communications of the region, she had no way of informing Russell if there was a change. She and a co-worker prayed. The weather eased and the water’s surface at Oeta was as clear as glass when the boat sailed in.
Later because of the onset of World War II, the missionaries were ordered go to Celebes. When it became apparent the Japanese would soon invade, Robert Jaffray had each of them go to their knees alone and ask the Lord whether they should stay or go. God gave each one separately the same answer: “stay.” Conviction filled them that this was indeed his will. They needed this assurance because terrible times lay ahead.
At first the Japanese allowed the missionary women and Robert Jaffray to live in a house in a country compound. Bandits rifled their goods one night but never entered the house again. Darlene suspected a gardener was involved and asked him why the thieves had not come inside again. “Because of those people you had there, those people in white who surrounded the house.” She realized God had sent his angels.
Eventually the western women were taken to a prison camp. Conditions were dreadful and camp commander Yamiji was a brutal man who kicked and beat without mercy. But the women were allowed to organize their own work and sleep arrangements. Darlene was leader of a barracks and found herself patrolling the camp at night with a makeshift spear to fend off rabid dogs. Again and again she found herself clinging to God’s promises. The words that strengthened her were, “Do not fear the terror of night, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at noonday” (Psalm 91:5-6).
Yamiji summoned Darlene one day. Her husband Russell was dead, he informed her. Although heartbroken at the news, Darlene seized the opportunity to tell him of God and the resurrection. “We do not grieve as those who have no hope,” she said. And she told him of the Lord’s command that we love our enemies. Yamaji wept. That was one of the events that brought him to salvation. After the war he spoke of his Christian faith on Japanese radio.
Once, while under weeks of intense interrogation because of lying informants, she saw a bunch of bananas smuggled to another prisoner. Recovering from dysentery, beriberi, and malaria, she was emaciated and starved for nutrients. How she longed for a taste of the fruit and told the Lord so, but could not imagine any way he could get bananas to her. She gave up the idea as an impossible dream. And yet, following a visit soon afterward from Yamiji, the guard brought her a gift of ninety-two bananas from the camp commander!
Many more divine interventions followed. Songs, Scriptures, and kindly touches met her needs at key moments. The Lord provided her with testimonies by Russell’s fellow prisoners that enabled her to find closure after her husband’s death. And details fell miraculously into place to reunite her with her family in America when neither party knew where to meet the other after the war.
—Dan Graves
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For more faith stories from the World Wars, see CH 121 Faith in the Foxholes
