I’ll Wait for You Forever
Couples separated by the war were affected in different ways. Some could not stand the strain. Fortunately, some not only endured but even grew stronger. Relying on God and their faith, Ruth Kwall and Joseph Portnoy remained true to each other through a long engagement. When Joseph could get a three-day pass they were finally married in 1943. Ruth wrote a letter affirming where the strength in their relationship came from:
I want to tell you again, more surely than ever, that no matter how long or hard the siege may be I’ll wait for you forever. I know, and darling you must too, that God in heaven will guard this precious thing and help preserve it and us for a time when the world will need tangible examples to show it that war does not end things; that good, beautiful emotions live on forever. I’m nineteen, Joe, but I know deep down inside me that the emotion I feel, that we feel is older, is mature that it has made me grow to more of the sort of person you’d have me be. War isn’t funny and I know we’ll be tested even further than we ever dreamed could be possible.321
Echoing these feelings, Joseph responded, “You are wise to rely on your complete faith that everything will turn out right for us, and knowing that you think like that, I also feel free to exercise my faith.”322 This couple is a living testament to a great spiritual truth: if two people strive to grow closer to God, they will inevitably grow closer together. As they put God at the center of their relationship, Ruth and Joseph Portnoy experienced a deepening of their love in spite of the hardships and separation of wartime.
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
—2 John 6