A poor old negro woman in one of the West Indian Islands was once in great poverty. Times were hard; she was sickly, and unable to work; and, what distressed her most, her shoes were so bad that she could not go to meetings without getting her feet wet, which always made her ill. She was one who could say with truth, “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord;” and when Sunday came round again, her heart sank within her because the weather was wet, and she had no hope of getting to the meeting-house. But she said, “My blessed Massa say, ‘Ask, and ye shall receive; so I dare take up my old shoes,’ and, kneeling down, I say, ‘O, Massa Jesus, look upon my old shoes; do, my Massa, dem all broke; me cannot go to meeting tomorrow; do, my Massa, help me!’ I put ‘em down, my heart quite light; I know dat Jesus see, em, dat enough. In de ebening someone come to de door, rap, rap. ‘Who’s dare? me say. ‘It’s me, mammy,’ says Mr. D.’s boy. ‘Massa sent dis parcel for you.’ When de boy gone, me open do parcel, and what should be in it but a pair of new shoes! Me know dat Jesus sent ‘em and my heart too much glad. O, how me praise Him!”
This simple faith is what we need; this is what honors God, and brings blessing.