from whom to look for continuous aid. Winter
drew on, and, one day, her little boy came in shivering
with cold and asked if he could not have a fur cap,
as his straw hat was very cold and none of the boys
at school wore straw hats. She was without a
cent in the world. She gave a hopeful answer to
the boy and sent him out to play, and then went to
her bedroom and knelt and wept in utter desolation
of heart before God, praying most earnestly that God
would give her a token that He
was her God and
was caring for her by sending her a cap for her boy.
While she prayed the peace of God filled her soul.
She was made to feel the presence of her Saviour in
such a way that all doubts as to his love for her and
his fulfillment of all his promises to care for her
vanished away, and she went out of her room, rejoicing
in the Lord and singing his praise. She had no
burden about the cap, and was quite content for God
to send it or not as it pleased Him; and, in the afternoon,
when a neighbor called, occupied with the Lord and
his wonderful love, the thought of the cap had gone
from her mind. When the neighbor rose to depart,
she said, “You know my little boy died last
fall. Just before he died I bought him a fur cap:
he only wore it two or three times. After his
death I put away all his things and thought I could
never part with any of them. But, this morning,
as I went to the drawer to look them over, I felt that
I should give you this cap for your little boy.
Will you take it of me?” As she took the cap
and told her neighbor of the morning trial, prayer
and blessing, two souls were filled with the sense
of the reality of prayer and the love of God for his
children. “My little boy,” said the
widow, “wore that cap for three winters.
And often, when sorely tried by my circumstances,
has God lifted the burden from my heart, by my just
looking at it, and remembering the blessing that came
with it.”
Experiences like this God gives to all his children,
not for the purpose of leading them to look to Him
for supplying their physical necessities, as an end,
but to make Himself known to them, and to secure their
confidence and love, for “this is life eternal,
that they might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus
Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” (Jno. xvii, 8.)
The use of prayer is to bring us into communion with
God, for the growth of the spiritual life, that is
ours by faith in Christ Jesus. To leave it upon
any lower plane than this, is to rob it of its highest
functions and to paralyze it of lasting power for
good in any direction. The promises of God are
conditioned upon our being in this state of heart
toward God. “If ye abide in me and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall
be done unto you.” (Jno. xv., 7.) Abiding in
Christ, our will will be His will, as to desiring that
which will most advance the divine life and promote
confidence in God, and all our desires for material
blessings will be subordinated to this motive.