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was not to be. As the way narrowed for her she was sustained by the fellowship of many Christian people here, in Port Alfred and elsewhere. Her activities were intercession, correspondence and the crochetting of rainbow rugs, intended to point those they warmed, to God's own sign of hope.
Let me select three underlying convictions of her life.
1. She believed that faith was a marching order, rooted and grounded in scripture. Her last bible records each time she started at Genesis and ended with Revelation: between 1971 and 1978, 27 times. Her fundamental concern was to know the Lord from his own word, then to pass on to others what she had learned. That knowledge had to be continuously refreshed: nothing in the rest of human experience could replace the text itself. 'Church' to her meant the fellowship of believers: other qualifications did not matter. Mother had been raised within the interdenominational China Inland Mission and the American Presbyterian church; she was married by episcopal special licence in the Church of England in Tientsin. She and father were immersed late in life because they came to believe this was what the Lord asked of believers. They supported Keswick enthusiastically along with other evangelistic agencies, particularly Bible societies. But the Lord leads each his own way from the bondage to law and letter to the liberty of grace and truth. Faith comes by hearing, and how shall they hear without a preacher? But what sort of hearing is it that professes to obey while sitting lightly to the prophetic and apostolic word? 2. She believed not only that the Lord's hosts marched; they marched to music. Music signalled the unity of discipline and freedom she strove to maintain and impart. So we learned the psalms, the great hymns, choruses and spiritual songs. Until she went to hospital, mother would play her way through the hymnal just as she read her way through the scriptures. 3. She believed the Lord's victory was sure. She had thrown down the gauntlet to the enemy of souls when she inscribed on father's gravestone in Islay "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ." For seven years and a month since then she had to fight not one great decisive battle,
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