James Gilmour grew lonely, tramping Mongolia for Christ.
James Gilmour, Scottish missionary to Mongolia, felt strongly the weight of loneliness and the need of a wife. He related to a friend, “I proposed first to a Scotch girl, but found I was too late; I then put myself and the direction of this affair—I mean the finding of a wife—into God’s hands, asking Him to look me out one, a good one too; and very soon I found myself in a position to propose to Miss Prankard with all reasonable evidence that she was the right sort of girl, and with some hope that she would not disdain the offer.”
Emily Prankard was the sister of missionary friends whose portrait he had seen. Emily accepted.
The match was not foolish. As James explained to his parents, “I wrote her, and she has written me in the most unrestrained way concerning her spiritual hopes and condition, and though we have never seen each other, yet we know more of each other’s inmost life and soul than, I am quite certain, most lovers know of each other even after long personal courtship.”
She travelled to China and they were wed. Emily proved to be an ideal companion. “Without any gammon, I am much more happy than ever even in my day-dreams I ventured to imagine I might be. It is not only me that my wife pleases, but she has gained golden opinions from most of the people who have met her among my friends and acquaintances in Scotland and China…The young lady went to Scotland, and was with [my parents] two weeks, and came away having made such an impression on them that they wrote me from home to say that ‘though I searched the country for a couple years I could not have made a better choice.’”
Emily proved to be more of a soul-winner and a better linguist than James, a real helper in his work. It was a faith-marriage truly made in heaven.
Jesus also has a marriage made in heaven. His Father selected for him a bride—the church—”without spot and wrinkle” and promised “greater things than I have done, you will do.”
