A poor widow made her living by washing clothes for other people. She had a garden which supplied most of her food.
One night some boys robbed her garden. To make the matter worse they left the gate open, and her pigs came and ruined what was left.
In the morning the widow saw what had happened. She was very upset. She knew she wouldn’t have enough food for the winter because of the great loss.
As she walked around looking at the ruined garden, the widow found a pocketknife with a name engraved on it. It had been dropped by one of the boys who had robbed the garden. Although she knew that boy, she said nothing about the knife. Instead she began to pray that God would save him.
During the winter there were some special Gospel meetings in the town. Among those who got saved was the boy who owned the knife. Not long after, he came to the widow and confessed that he was one of the boys who had robbed her garden.
She told the boy that she had known for quite awhile what he had done, and she showed him the knife she had found.
The boy asked, “Why didn’t you make me pay for the damage to your garden?”
She replied, “I had a better way. I prayed that God would save you from your sins. I knew that if you got saved, you would want to make everything right. Besides, I knew that God would supply my needs.”
The boy learned a lesson from the widow which he never forgot—a true Christian forgives his enemies and prays for them.
ML-01/04/1981