The wood

The first time I was out of wood after the Lord had shown me to trust Him, I asked the Lord for wood and the wood did not come. The Lord had shown me that I could not ask for flour till it was gone. I went down into the basement that morning and found some hard knots that had been laid aside and had enough wood for that day. The next morning I asked the Lord for wood. The wood did not come. I picked up enough chunks and chips to do that day.

The next morning, I went to the Lord and said, "Father, there are no more chunks and chips, we are out of wood. Send the wood." I went down to the city and forgot all about it. Did not think of it, until I returned home, and my daughter said, "Papa, who brought the wood?" I told her that "she need not trouble, the Lord would send it." But she said, "some man brought wood, who was he that you sent it by?" I thought she was joking, but she said, "Look in the box and in the basement." I went down and found a large load of wood already for the stove and just the length that we used in our stove.

I did not know for some time who brought the wood; but one day when holding meetings in South Seattle, a man invited me home with him, and while at dinner he said, "I want to tell you something that happened to me. I was crossing the bridge with a load of wood. My wife had written out a bill of some things that we had to have, and I needed feed for my horses. I was taking this load of wood in to get the groceries and feed. While out on the bridge and no one near me, an audible voice said behind me and just above me, 'Take this wood to McConnell.' I looked around me and there was no one near me. I said, 'I cannot take this wood to McConnell, I have got to have the groceries and feed,' and drove on. The voice said again, 'Take this wood to T.W. McConnell.' I said, 'How can I take this wood to McConnell; I must have these groceries and feed for my horses.' And the third time the voice spoke, and so strong that it scared me, and I answered, 'Well, I will,' for I believed it was the Lord talking. There was no one about.

"I went and made inquiry, finally looked in the directory and found where you lived. I drove to the house and unloaded the wood, then drove back home as quickly as I could, loaded up some wood that I had and drove back to town, sold my wood as soon as I reached town, got my feed and groceries, and from that time I have prospered as never before."

T.W.M.

From: The Apostolic Faith, Vol. I n. 1, Los Angeles, Cal. September, 1906

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