Louise Redden, a poorly
dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of
the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her
charge a few groceries. She softly explained that her husband was
very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed
food. John Longhouse, the grocer scoffed at her and requested that
she leave his store at once. Visualizing the family needs, she
said:
"Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I
can." John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store. Standing beside t! he
counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two.
The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would
stand good for whatever she needed for her family.
The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, "Do you have a
grocery list?" Louise replied, "Yes sir" "O.K" he said, "put your
grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I
will give you that amount in groceries."
Louise, hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she
reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.
The eyes of the ! grocer
and the customer showed amazement when the
scales went down and stayed down. The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, "I
can't believe it." The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the
groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance so
he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the
scales would hold no more.
The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed
the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement. It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer, which
said: "Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your
hands."
The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered
and stood in stunned silence. Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and
said , "It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a
prayer weighs."
Thanks Lyn for
forwarding Dec 17, 2003
Tangled Hair
=============
Beth
was sitting at an airport terminal waiting to
board a plane.
She was sitting there with several other people
whom she
did not know who were also waiting.
As she waited, she pulled out her Bible and started to read.
All of a sudden, she felt as if the people sitting there around
her were looking at her. She looked up but realized that they
were looking just over her head, in the direction right behind her.
She turned to see what everyone was looking at and when she
did, she saw a flight attendant pushing a wheelchair with the
ugliest old man sitting in it. It was the ugliest man she ever
saw. He had this long white hair that was all tangled and such a mess.
His face was
really wrinkled, and he didn't look friendly at
all.
She didn't know why, but she felt drawn to the man and thought
at first that God wanted her to witness to him. In her mind she
said she was thinking, "Oh God, please not now,
not here."
No matter what she did, she couldn't get the man off her mind,
and all of a sudden she knew what God wanted her to do.
She was supposed to brush this man's hair.
She went and knelt down in front of the old man and said, "Sir
may I have the honor of brushing your hair for you?" He said
"What?" She thought , "Oh great, he's hard of hearing."
Again, a little louder she said, "Sir, May I have the honor of
brushing your hair for you?" He answered, "If you are going to
talk to me, you are going to have to speak up; I am practically deaf."
So this time, she was almost yelling, "Sir, May I please have
the honor of brushing your hair for you?" Everyone was watching
to see what his response would be.
The old man just looked at her confused and said, "Well, I
guess if you really want too." She said, "I don't even have a
brush, but I thought I would ask anyway." He said, "Look in the
bag hanging on the back of my chair, there is a
brush in there."
So she got the brush out and started brushing his
hair.
(She has a little girl with long hair, so she has lots of
practice getting tangles out and knew how to be gentle with him.) She worked for a long time, until every last tangle was out.
Just as she was finishing up, she heard the old man crying.
She went and put her hands on his knees, kneeling in front of him again looking directly into his eyes and said, "Sir, do you know Jesus?" He answered, "Yes, of course I know Jesus. You
see, my bride told me she couldn't marry me unless I knew Jesus, so I learned all about Jesus, and asked Him to come into my heart many years ago, before I married my bride."
He continued, "You know, I am on my way home to go and see my wife. I have been in the hospital for a long time and had to have a special surgery in this town far from my home. My wife couldn't come with me because she is so frail herself.
He said, "I was so worried about how terrible my hair looked, and I didn't want her to see me looking so awful, but I couldn't brush my hair all by myself."
Tears were rolling down his cheeks as he thanked Beth for brushing his hair. He thanked her over and over again. She was crying, people all around witnessing this were crying, and as they were all boarding the plane, the flight attendant who was
also crying, stopped her and asked, "Why did you do that?"
And right there was the opportunity, the door that had been opened to share with someone else the love of God.
"We don't always understand God's ways, but be ready, He may use us to meet the need of someone else like He met the need of this old man, and in a moment, also calling out to a lost soul who needed to know His love."
Author
Unknown
Thanks Thelma for forwarding 9/10/2003
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