Whither Thou Goest is a novel based upon a true story of the trials and triumphs of a circuit riding preacher and his family during the late 1800’s and the early 1900’s. The story takes place in the mountains of Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia.
After planting and pastoring churches for nine years, Anderson Boggs a twenty-eight year old preacher asked Mistie Howard a sixteen year old girl that he had only met two days earlier to be his wife. When Anderson saw Mistie for the first time, he knew she was the one the LORD had chosen for him.
A few years earlier, Mistie had memorized a passage of Scripture from the Book of Ruth. “Whither thou goest, I will go; and whither thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me” (1:16-17). She didn’t know when she memorized the passage of Scripture that it was the outline of her life.
The combination of Anderson knowing the LORD had chosen Mistie for him and Mistie having memorized the outline of her life formed a bond that all the trials they faced could not break. The bond resulted in them living a life that was so far beyond the realm of ordinary life experiences that it sounds more like a novel than real life.
Just as spring follows winter, resurrection follows death. The hope of spring and the resurrection were an integral part of Anderson and Mistie’s life. Death didn’t prevent life, and sadness didn’t prevent laughter. During the darkest times of their life, there was light even if it was only a flicker. The light never went out and the hope never ended.
Anderson had truly heard from the Lord when he asked the sixteen year old girl from Mason County to be his wife. Together they left a legacy of sacrificial love, hard work, faith, and determination. Their legacy is far beyond anything that money can buy. It transcends the temporal—that which passes away and is of an eternal quality—sacrificial love, faith, and hope that never passes away.