Bro. John:
I have been in the midst of riches all day today working on your father’s stories! His story below reminds me of how we pray at times, thinking we know what we are asking for, but when God sends the answer it may come with a cost.
STORY about an answer to prayer that was not so pleasant. Back in Kinston there was a Sister Tew. She was the saint who stood on the corner with young Preacher Clark and asked him with tears, “Why can’t we all be together?” That was the question that helped start him seeking God for the truth. She had a wicked husband and two wicked sons and another little boy named Charlie. Her husband would lock her out of the house at night if she went to a prayer meeting. Sometimes she would see other married couples believing in God together and say that she wished that her home was a home of prayer. Time passed and her husband became ill and died. Her oldest son got in trouble with the law. On one occasion it took six policeman to control him. He was convicted in court and sentenced to serve on a chain gang in prison. Her next oldest son, an alcoholic, married and left home. That left no one but Sister Tew and little Charlie, who received the holy Ghost as a 12 or 13 year old boy in a meeting where Preacher Clark and Aunt Onie were present. Not long after that, Sister Tew and little Charlie were praying together at home, little Charlie speaking in tongues and being blessed, when it dawned on her that she at last had a home of prayer. God had answered the desire of her heart but at such a cost. Sister Tew testified in the next meeting, “Oh my Lord, if I had known how God was going to answer that prayer, I’d a never asked for it.”
Sandy