from To A Different Drum
This is a story about the next youth conference. Also, they were having another conference for the university students. So this time there were two. And this time, the problems came before!! This is a long story, but it's well worth reading. It shows some AMAZING answers to prayer!
Plans were well under way for the second All-Taiwan student Conference at which we expected between 150 and 200 students, considered quite a large group at that time. Good speakers had already accepted our invitation, we had a really fine program lined up and we were earnestly praying for God to be at work.
Since Taichung is in the center of Taiwan, it had been decided this was the best place to gather, and I had been able to obtain the use of a seminary's facilities for the conference. They had stipulated, however, that I bear sole responsibility. This put a lot of pressure on me. Ordinarily I would have turned over some of the details to students to care for, but instead I felt it best to care for them myself. And a conference for 200 students involves plenty of details, you can be sure.
At the same time Grace Church was preparing for their young people's conference, to be held just before the student one, and we were expecting 100 to 150 junior and senior high-schoolers to attend that. Again there was lots to be done, but fortunately the committee was working well and had a good spirit of cooperation among themselves. With their real sense of responsibility I could breathe a bit easier, which was good since I still had my ministry among women; and then the troubled young people coming to me seemed to be on the increase, especially during these summer months when they had more time on their hands.
So we were all working hard and praying hard, believing that God would really bless in the two conferences. And then the devil tried to disrupt everything. It was over the matter of money.
One Saturday about two weeks before the church conference, several people came to my house with money half an hour or so after the banks had closed. One had a gift for the All-Taiwan Student Conference, another money for the young people's conference, while a third was bringing me my OMF board and personal allowance for the next three months. Our secretary was to be away, so as I would not be able to draw cash from him I got the lump sum in advance.
My question, of course, was what to do with all this money over the weekend! As I was rushing off to a meeting that afternoon, I hastily hid it in all sorts of places around the house. But somehow I did not feel at all happy about this arrangement and had an uncomfortable feeling that something was going to happen; so after the meeting I hurried home, changed all the hiding places and snapped another padlock on the door. Then, leaving the lights on in the house as if I were at home, I was off again to the evening young people's meeting.
After that meeting the president of the group—a tall, good-looking boy who was a commissioned officer in the Taiwan air force—came up to me greatly concerned about the financial needs for the conference. To encourage him, I told him about the gifts that had just come to me from students and young people who were out of town. This, I said, was God's seal that every penny would be supplied, reminding him of the verse, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
“God has given us his promise,” I continued, “and his promises never fail. I am willing to place my hand on the Bible and affirm my faith in His promise,” and this I did. Then we had a word of prayer, together, committing the whole matter to the Lord. I had absolute peace in my heart, sure that the Lord was going to meet every need.
I went along home from the meeting, a little earlier than usual, and spent a few minutes chatting with a neighbor outside the house. I shot a glance over at my house as we talked and everything seemed in order---I could see that the lights were still on. When at last I unlatched my front gate, however, Cinderella came bounding down the path to meet me.
“Your little dog has come to meet you,” my neighbor remarked pleasantly. But I realized immediately that Cinderella's enthusiastic welcome meant only one thing---trouble. She had been securely locked inside the house when I left.
Not wanting to raise a false alarm, I said nothing to my neighbor, who didn't know there was no one home. The thought passed through my mind that the girl who helped around the house might have come back for some reason. But since I was unsure of what I might find, I left the gate unlatched and made my way toward my front door.
Suddenly it dawned on me that the outside light was now turned off! Next I noticed the sliding door open about a foot, the locks broken! Oh, how my heart pounded as I looked around the bedroom and living room, where just hours before I had re hidden the money. In a flash I knew it was all gone. Things had been moved about, many items piled onto my bed. I could almost hear the old devil laughing, “Now do you believe that every last penny for the conferences will be supplied?”
But along with that insidious question came the Lord's word, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). Surely I could bring myself to echo with my own: “I know”----so I stood there literally kicking as I shouted, 'Get out of here, you old devil. He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world; so you can get out of here!”
Then I began to look through the house, everywhere someone could possibly hide---under the bed, inside the big Japanese cupboards....I wondered later what I would have done if I had found someone!
After this vain search I went out and called my neighbor, asking him to report the theft to the nearby police station. Then I went back inside to wait and think.
It seemed evident that when I had arrived at my front gate the thief had still been in the house. Most likely when he heard voices he turned off the light, slipped out the door, and hid in the darkness in my little back garden until I went into the house. Then later he slipped out through the front gate which I had not yet closed. There was no sign that anyone had climbed over the fence.
The job had obviously been done hurriedly and yet, oddly, with consideration, since things were not thrown helter-skelter but neatly piled on my bed. Surely the thief was familiar with the house! He also knew that I had a lot of money around just at this particular time. And in addition, he must have known my dog very well, for Cinderella had not barked though she was usually very alert and didn't let people touch my things. And a common thief would probably have done away with her. As for poor Cinderella, she seemed full of remorse about the whole affair and wouldn't for days. She just didn't know how to express her sorrow, and in my state I appreciated her sympathy!
As I assessed the damages, I found I was left with fifty dollars local currency (worth about U.S. $1.50 at the that time). All the money for the two conferences was gone as well as my personal money and living allowance. Everything was gone except, oddly, the envelope marked “Servant's salary.” I immediately tried to put out of my mind the thought that my house helper might have done it, lest I falsely incriminate her. But how strange!
Now the police came on the scene, took fingerprints and made a thorough investigation. By the time they left it was 2 a.m. I proceeded to fix the lock so no one would know anything had happened. As I tidied up a bit more, I was struck again with the tight fix I was now in----a real opportunity for me to see if I really did live by faith as we in the C.I.M./O.M.F. say we do. Could I honestly say, 'The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Hudson Taylor is my God too”? Of course I had proved this earlier while in university and also during those lean days in Nanking----but did I truly still trust Him for my needs, or was I merely looking to our mission for my supply?
My tidying up took until 4 a.m., when I lay down on my bed exhausted. I awoke early, nonetheless, as I had to make some adjustments in the day's plans. I was supposed to take three meetings that day; but since I now had to be home in the afternoon when the police were expected, I had to go out to find a substitute. The friend I asked to help me out was not only happy to do what she could, but promised to keep quiet about my predicament.
Arriving back home shortly, I was surprised to discover a bicycle now parked in my garden. Although this was Sunday morning, my house helper Iu-lan seemed to be on the scene and, what's more, her reaction on seeing me was one of anger. “Where did you come from?” she asked brusquely.
“I've just been out to see someone,” I replied.
“But where've you been?” she insisted.
“I had to see someone,” I repeated, though it wasn't any of her business.
“But I thought you were at the orphanage.”
“I'm at the orphanage the last Sunday of the month; this is only the second, you know.” Iu-lan had missed her cue on that one. So far the conversation had made me feel increasingly sure that somehow she was involved in the robbery; I didn't say a word about it, though, and she left shortly.
That afternoon Iu-lan returned much earlier than usual, and as she came in she remarked, watching me closely as she spoke, 'They say Han Pao-lien (my Chinese name ) has been robbed.”
“Who says so?” I asked.
“The neighbors,” Iu-lan replied simply.
I admitted then that I had been robbed, and told her that as the police were wanting to interview her as a matter of routine, she should go over to the police station at once.
And now I started to live my life of faith, praying that the Lord would prove His faithfulness to me as He had to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Hudson Taylor; and especially I asked Him to prove it to Iu-lan, for whom I felt very concerned.
In a way it would be easy enough to trust the Lord for my own needs---they weren't that many----but what about when the time came to hand over the money for the two conferences? I must admit my faith really did waver as I thought about that. Yet the Lord gave complete rest of heart about the whole matter, and the calm assurance that He knew all about it. I believed He would work it all out to His glory in some wonderful way.
In fact, He had been working even before the theft! He had laid it on the heart of a friend in far-off Philadelphia to spend time in special prayer for me. She wrote me about it, and as I read her letter I could sense the tremendous burden she had that I was going to go through a difficult and dangerous experience. But she, too, had received assurance that the Lord was going to work for my blessing and His glory. When I got that letter I could understand why I, the world's champion scaredy-cat, was not overwhelmed when the testing came.
Now it became a thrilling experience for me to watch, as from the sidelines, how the Lord provided day by day, for my own needs and then the greater needs of the conferences.
I was living on an all-Chinese diet those days. So, in typical Chinese fashion, I had no great supply of stores on hand, not even canned goods. We bought our vegetables and meat for each day and kept nothing over. I didn't even have a refrigerator, just an old Chinese “wind cupboard” (a small food cabinet made with wire mesh in the top and three sides, places so that a good breeze went through it). So with almost no reserve supply of food in the house, it was not long before everything but the rice was used up.
About the third day after the robbery Iu-lan came to me saying, “There's nothing to make for breakfast.”
“Well, set the table anyway,” I told her.
“Why should I set the table when there is nothing to eat,” she grumbled.
“Set the table,” I repeated, rather sternly I'm afraid. “It's hardly even eight o'clock yet, and i usually don't eat till 8.30.”
She mumbled and grumbled, slamming things down on the table. Slipping out, I went to my room and, closing the door behind me, knelt down by my bed. “Lord,” I said, “I don't care if I don't eat, if that's your will; but I am asking you to show Iu-lan that YOU can provide for me.”
When I went back, Iu-lan was still fussing and complaining. Just then---it was about 8.20----I heard someone knocking. Wondering who would be calling so early, I went out to open the gate, and there stood my neighbor Mr. Li. He comes from Shantung, where the best steamed bread you ever tasted is made, and what do you suppose he was holding----a great big platter of steaming hot bread! “We know how much you like mantou,” he explained, “so we made a specially big batch this morning in order to give you some.” I thanked him and took my “bread from heaven” into the house..
When Iu-lan saw what I was carrying she asked with much curiosity, “Where'd you get that?”
“The Li's down the lane made it,” I answered simply.
“You can't eat just steamed bread,” she pouted.
“Well, lots of people do,” I replied quietly, “and anyway, it will hold body and soul together.”
Even as we were talking there came another knock, this time at the back gate, which we didn't normally use. On opening it, I was surprised to find little Mrs. Wang with a good-sized parcel in her hands. She was always a bit nervous and excited, and now as she handed me the parcel her hands trembled. With a quivering voice she explained, 'Wo tze-chi sheng-ti” which literally means “I laid them myself.” The parcel contained twenty eggs!
When I took them into the house Iu-lan's eyes fairly popped.
“Who brought those?” she asked, her voice lacking some of its earlier scorn.
“Little Mrs. Wang who has the seven daughters. She said she laid these eggs herself. Rather special, I'd say,” I replied, laughing.
“Well, you don't have any fruit or coffee,” my girl persisted.
Feeling quite bold now I replied, 'We don't really need fruit every day, Iu-lan, and if the Lord thinks I should have coffee, I'll have it.”
I suggested that she start preparing my breakfast, and cook two eggs instead of my usual one. But before she even had time to break the eggs, there was another knock at the front gate. I went out really wondering what further development this might prove to be. There at the gate stood a lad from the large boys' high school just around the corner. He was holding the biggest papaya I have ever seen!
Praising the Lord for what He had done in the last ten minutes, I walked back inside chuckling to myself.
Once again Iu-lan was full of questions. “Mrs. Chang's son just brought it on his way to school,' I explained. “Comes from their own tree. Isn't it a beauty!”
Though everything was now in order for a real feast, Iu-lan was chafing and reminded me that I was still lacking coffee.
“If God thinks I should have have coffee, He will give me coffee too,” I repeated what I had said earlier, and even as I spoke there came another knock on the front gate! This time Iu-lan decided she would go and see what was happening, and I followed. The visitor this time turned out to be another Mrs. Wang, from another part of the city. She had pedaled quite a distance on her bicycle, and I wondered why she had come so early to see me. Just then, to my utter amazement, I noticed the big jar of instant coffee in her hands! Now in those days instant coffee was pretty hard to find, and Mrs. Wang was already explaining her story. “You know,” she began, “My husband is an aviator, and sometimes he flies to Tokyo, Manila or Hong Kong. He often brings back gifts---and just look what he brought this time!”
I was indeed looking---I hoped without too much longing!
“Do you drink it?” Mrs Wang was inquiring politely.
I didn't like to say yes and appear greedy, but I didn't want to lie by saying no either.
Mrs. Wang just carried on, “No one in our family drinks it. I don't know what possessed him to bring it. Do you drink it?”
“Mrs. Wang,” I replied, “You should take that coffee down the street to the store that sells foreign things; they'll buy it, I'm sure, and you can use the money to get something for your children.”
“No! No! You do drink it, don't you?” she persisted.
I admitted that I did, whereupon Mrs. Wang pressed the jar into my hands, slipped back onto her bike and rode away.
As we went into the house Iu-lan commented, 'Imagine Mrs. Wang liking you so much! That's a very big gift. She could have sold that coffee for at least five U.S. Dollars.”
I hardly heard her, as I was still trying to get over this wonderful answer to my prayers. God surely was proving to be my Jehovah-jireh! With this supply I had breakfast several times a day for several days!
No comments:
Post a Comment