Precious Memories - Page 6
George opened the doors to the little church and began to have services again. A few people began to drift in from time to time, and God began to deal with the hearts of those few.
We learned what it meant to pray, “Lord, give us this day our daily bread.” I remember one day when we had nothing in the house te eat. I told George this, only to hear him ask me, “Do you think God brought us here to starve us?” Of course I didn’t feel that He had, so I began to dust and clean, as I saw him slip away into a little room in the back of the house, which he used as a prayer room. As I went about the living room dusting, I felt the tears running down my cheeks because of the shame that I felt in my heart over doubting God. I knew He said that if we would seek the kingdom of God first, then He would add all of the other things.
About this time, I heard the kitchen door open and shut. I thought it might be one of our neighbors that I had already learned to love and appreciate. I went in to see who it was, but found no one there, but on the table was a bag with the grocery items that I needed to fix breakfast with. God had answered prayer so soon! I could only stand there a minute or two in silent thanksgiving before I slipped to the door of the little prayer room and called to George, “You can stop praying now. God has already supplied the need!”
Another day, I was standing at the kitchen table. I had a few potatoes and a little beef and I was thinking, “Lord, if I only had a few carrots, I could make enough beef stew for dinner.” A knock sounded at the door, and when I had answered it, a young girl who lived across the street with her grandmother said, “Sister Betty, grandmother wanted to know if you had any use for these carrots. She was defrosting her refrigerator and didn’t need them.” These things began to happen daily and we learned not to worry about what we would eat or what we would wear. We learned that our heavenly Father knew all of these things and always sent what we needed when we needed it.
A young couple from seminary came to visit with us during this time and we were quick to learn another lesson that has stayed with us through the years. As a preacher used to say in our home church, “Some are called and some are sent and some got there because they went!” We learned that going to college didn’t make a preacher out of a man. A man called of God will be Christ-like if he has never been to school a day in his life.
This young man taught us real patience. He told George that he just didn’t know how to handle the people. He would go to visit, and whatever the people were doing, he would join right in, right or wrong. The people would come to George secretly and tell him, “If that preacher is a Christian, I don’t want to be one.” He was preaching at the little church because the overseer had sent him. He was fresh out of college and they were trying to help him out.
He would sit with his feet propped up in the living room while we walked to town and carried groceries back to fix meals for him and he would never offer the use of his car, knowing that we did not have one.