The Empty Wood Shed

My daughter just came in from our woodshed. "Mom", she began excitedly, "your wood is almost gone. There's only a couple of box loads left." My heart sank. A gentleman from our church had brought a big trailer load only a few weeks ago. He was sure it would be enough to last me the rest of this season. None of us accounted for the constant below freezing weather we were having, especially since it is the middle of March. As usual my mind wanted to panic but my heart told me to go to my prayer book.

Since my husband graduated to heaven in 2001, my prayer book and I have been constant companions. My social security doesn't always meet all my needs so I take my concerns to the Lord, write them in my prayer book, and then wait for God to lay it on one of His servant's heart to share God's bounty with me. God has never failed me in these seven and a half years but He sure has amazed me. I've stood in awe many times at the unusual ways and variety of people He has used to meet my basic needs.

Before I asked the Lord to provide more wood for my ever gobbling wood stove, I looked back in the pages of my prayer book for encouragment and assurance that God is always ready to hear this old widow's prayer.

My attention is drawn to the first time I needed wood after Don's passing. It was January 2nd, 2002, my first birthday without my hubby's usual loving attention. I was feeling lonely and blue as I headed down the steps to bring up some wood. I hadn't been to the wood shed in a while because Valerie's boys had been keeping a stock on my porch. "Why didn't those boys fill up my rack?" I thought as I maneuvered the wobbly cement steps. I was shocked by what I faced in the wood shed. There was no wood, only a layer of shavings on the floor.

I laid my head against the edge of the shed and let the tears freely come. "Oh, Don, I need you so badly" I cried out loud. Immediately an almost audible voice spoke in my heart, "No, it's not Don you need, but you need 'Me', the one Don always depended on." "Lord, I'm sorry," I softly responded. "Please show me what I'm suppose to do. I can't get the wood myself, nor can I pay the expensive electric bills my neighbors have been paying." I wiped my tears on the back of my hand and headed back to the house.

As I walked up on the porch I heard the phone ringing. "Hello," I answered, breathing heavily from the run into the house. "Pat, this is Wayne G., I was wondering if you heat by wood, and if so, do you need some wood. I couldn't speak. It felt like my throat and my vocal chords along with it, was swollen shut. When I finally got control, I told him my prayer only minutes before and Wayne said he would be over in a couple of hours with a truck load of wood.

When Wayne arrived, he told me this story. He had headed out to his shed to clean it. On the way he noticed his big wood pile that he no longer needed since he converted his stove to gas. As he began cleaning the shed something kept telling him to go call Pat Hintz and see if she needed the wood. He hadn't had contact with Don or me for many years. Why was this so stong on his heart today? He couldn't shake it, so he went back to the house to ask his wife for my number and the phone call to me answered his question. God knew there was a pile of wood in Wayne's yard that a widow, miles away, needed to keep her home warm.

With my heart assured that God knows my need, even before I write it down, I turn to the "request" section of my prayer book and ask my most precious friend to please locate some more wood for me. Now I will wait and believe because I know from experience that God never goes back on His promises to His children.

My dear friend, His promises are to you also. "Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks. You parents, if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him." Matthew 7:7-11 (NLB)