"When very much in need of funds to procure supplies for a coming Winter, all expedients failed; then I asked God for assistance, when, unexpectedly, a friend in California sent me a little package of gold dust, which I sold, at once, for $130. This came when it was needed, and it did us good."
A Prayer For A Servant.
"Some time after, we failed to find anything like suitable help in the house, which we greatly needed. Before starting out one morning, in secret I prayed to God to direct me as I went on my uncertain business, and prayed as I called at different places, and soon found a colored girl sixteen years old wanting a place, who came and proved to be the best help we ever had, before or since. For seven years and a half she lived in the family, taught two of our children to read; was glad, from choice, to move with us to different places, till she left to be married, fell sick and passed away. A dozen other times when driven in straits, in answer to prayer God has enabled us to procure necessary help, which was difficult to obtain.
"In 1874, while on my way to see my mother in Pennsylvania--who had just been paralyzed, and died the next week--I was suddenly paralyzed in my left arm, by which, I have since been helpless and useless. After coming here to live, being in want of a man to lift me in and out of bed, dress me, etc., for which we inquired of people, and prayed to God to send us the needed help. We had not means to hire and pay any person to do such work, even if he could be found. Soon the right one came, in the person of a young German, who was tramping through the country in search of employment and food; was ready and glad to do any work for a living. For pay that satisfied him and us, he staid in the family over a year, working out doors and in; could be trusted to do business with money, and return every cent correctly. After being with us over a year, when we needed him no longer, he obtained a situation in a good family, where he is now living. In many instances, I have prayed to be healed of special sickness, always using what remedies I thought best, yet asking the divine blessing on their use."
Healing.
"For over three years, I was troubled with frequent raising of blood from my right lung, which physicians failed to cure. Of this I prayed to be relieved; after which, the soreness healed, and for several years it has ceased to trouble me."
That $18.75.
A man who had led a very wicked life, was converted and hopefully saved. Previous to this time, a debt of $18.75 had not given him the slightest thought. After receiving a new heart, he distinctly heard God's command, "Pay what thou owest;" so called on his creditor, and urged him to send to his house and get a bureau, table and looking-glass, which he desired him to sell and pay himself the sum due him; but, not wishing to deprive his debtor of such necessary articles, refused, saying he would wait till he could pay. The 18th of November was set, and, as the day approached, the prospect was no brighter; and when the night of the 17th came around, he spent it in prayer that God would deliver him, and rose from his knees at daybreak, with the full assurance that "He knoweth how to deliver."
On passing down a street the next morning, on his way to business, a man who kept a large store was standing in the door-way, and called to him to stop a minute. Wondering what could be the nature of the call, he retraced his steps, to hear this astonishing news: "For three days I have been impressed with the idea that I must give you $18.75, and for three days have been trying to ascertain why I must give you this amount, for I do not owe any man a penny. I cannot get rid of the thought, and if you value my peace of mind, I beg you take the money!" Seeing, instantly, the hand of God in it, he told the story to the astonished storekeeper, then left to pay his debt with the money so strangely given. His creditor, surprised to see him so promptly on time, questioned him as to the manner of obtaining it, thinking, perhaps, he had made a great sacrifice to do so. On being told just how it was given him, said, "I won't take it; keep it. If God is as near to people as that, I don't want it; it seems as if it had come directly from his Almighty hand." The result was the conversion of both the storekeeper and creditor, to whom the incident came as the undoubted evidence of God's presence among them.