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I will
give another incident in the work in Cincinnati. There I
received clothing for the poor, and distributed it. I was out at Mt. Lookout, a suburb
of Cincinnati,
and a sister there gave me some clothing. In a few weeks I noticed that one
of our strong members was not out for a week or so, so I went out to see what
was the matter. I found her washing, and reminded her that several services
had passed without her presence, which was rather an unusual occurrence. She
was a poor woman, with three children, and had to pay her rent, but never
allowed us to help her, as we were accustomed to help many others in similar
circumstances. As she seemed loathe to give a reason for being absent, I
noticed that she had on quite poor shoes, and finally I said, "Sister,
are those the best shoes you have?" Blushing, she turned her back on me,
making me feel that those were her best; but she finally said, "Now,
Brother Bevington, I will have to admit that they are. I am expecting to get
a pair next week, as I am to keep the children clothed and fed regardless of
my need."
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So I
returned to my room; and that being Thursday evening, I began to plead a new pair
of shoes for her, as I had none that I felt were good enough for her, and
therefore I prayed the more. I just held on. Finally, I looked at my watch,
and it was two minutes of 4:00
a. m. I had been there ten or eleven hours. Then I dropped on my face again,
and inside of thirty minutes I saw a pair of ladies' shoes, and new ones,
too. That was Friday, nearly 7:00
a. m. I went to my breakfast satisfied that all would be all right for a pair
of shoes for the Friday night meeting; that was our regular evangelistic
night service. When I came back, I was detained some, and did not get to the
mission until about 10:00
a. m, and went into the prayer room. One of the kindergarten teachers came
out, and said, "There is a lady wanting to see you." She came out
into the main hall, and said, "Brother Bevington, I bought a pair of
shoes this morning, but one is at least two sizes larger than the other. They
look like mates, but they cannot be. The ones I tried on at the store fit me
nicely. Then, as I was near here, I thought that I would run in and see the
kindergarten children work; and while waiting to see you, I thought I would
put on my new shoes and wear them home, but found one to be entirely too
large." I said, "Praise the Lord. I prayed all night last night for
a pair of shoes, and I guess these are the ones." "Yes, but,
Brother Bevington it seems too bad to give such a pair of shoes as that to
anyone, and I don't want to take them back." (She was most too proud to
do that so she concluded to see if I could work them off to a good
advantage.) I said, "She is a poor woman, and needs the shoes, and she
can easily put cotton batting in the larger one, and the smaller one, I
think, will fit her all right." "Here they are; you take them
up."
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But I
wanted her to see this woman, as I felt that she might be able to help her in
various ways. So I insisted on her taking them, as she would have to walk
near that home to get her street car. Finally she took up the shoes and
started for the woman's home, and found her busy with her ironing. She
introduced herself, and said, "Brother Bevington sent me here, on a
rather embarrassing errand." She set the shoes out, not telling the
woman that one was larger than the other. All the time she was talking about
the shoes and other things, the sister kept thinking, "What will I do,
as I can't wear those shoes, as my right foot is nearly two sizes smaller
than my left, and I hate to tell her." But she concluded to take the
shoes, and probably could exchange them. The woman started home, but she was
impressed that she must tell the sister, so she returned and she told about
the shoes. The sister just laughed heartily, and said, "Which is the
larger?" "The left one." Then she laughed more than ever, and
said, "Well, well, well! God surely understands all things, as my left
foot is nearly two sizes larger than my right. Here it is just as I want it.
Oh, praise the Lord." Now, I knew nothing about the difference in the
size of her feet, but God did, and see how He worked in order to answer my
all-night prayer. Isn't that enough to convince us that God fully understands
His business? I say, "Yes." What do you say? Well, Hallelujah!
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