Incident of the Mystery Woman
1929 not only ended as a depression year for us — as it did for millions of others — it began as just another of the lean years! For us, it was another year of desperation to keep ourselves alive.
Very shortly after moving into the house on 75th Street, we had reached another crisis of hunger and desperate need. Again I prayed earnestly for God to either send us some money or provide a way for me to earn it.
An hour or two later, a strange woman knocked on our front door. Mrs. Armstrong opened the door. There was something mysterious about the woman's appearance.
Who was she? She did not introduce herself. She gave no inkling of her identity.
"If your husband isn't too proud to do it," she said in a low, quiet voice, "there are two truckloads of wood he can throw in at this address. Jot it down." My wife jotted down the street and number.
The mysterious woman walked quickly away and disappeared.
People in Portland used wood for fuel. Portland is in the heart of the Oregon-Washington lumber country. Throwing wood into the woodshed, garage, or basement, was an odd job customarily reserved for the bums who came along. Very few men in Portland threw in their own wood. To be seen doing it was to appear as a down-and-out bum.
We were totally perplexed as to the identity of this strange woman. How did she know we were in such desperate need? Who was she? We never knew.
But I did know I had just asked God to provide. And at once I recognized one fact. This woman was like the mischievous boys playing a trick on a poor widow. Her window had been open. She was praying aloud, asking God to send her some bread for her children. The little boys, playing just outside the window, overheard her prayer.
"Let's play a trick on her," said one of the boys. "Let's toss a loaf of bread through her window."
When they did, she knelt again and gave God thanks.
"Ah-ya-ya!" jeered the boys. "God didn't throw in that bread — we boys did."
"Well," answered the grateful widow, smiling, "Maybe the devil brought it, but just the same GOD sent it!"
No matter who this mysterious woman was, I knew God sent her! And I realized instantly that God was answering my prayer HIS way, and not mine. I knew He was giving me a test to see whether I would accept a humiliating job. I realized I had not yet been freed completely from ego and pride. I knew that God was giving me a lesson in humility at the same time He answered my prayer.
I walked immediately to the address the woman gave. It was about a mile from our house. There was a large pile of wood in front. I went to the door, asked for, and got the job of throwing the wood in the basement.
Realizing God was teaching me a lesson, I resolved to do it HIS WAY, which was to do the best job I could. A thing worth doing is worth doing right! Now that God allows me to be the employer of many men, I insist that they do their work in the right manner — or else tear it out and do it over.
I stacked the wood up as neatly and orderly as I could. I worked rapidly, and did it as quickly as I could. Several people walked past the house. Every time one saw me, I winced. I knew they thought I was a down-and-out bum. Each passerby knocked off a little more of that vanity. But I just prayed silently to God about it, and thanked Him for the lesson, and asked Him to help me to be humble and industrious.
When the job was finished, the woman inspected the piled wood in her basement.
"Why, you've done that so neatly, and so fast, I'm going to pay you double," she said.
The satisfaction and inspiration this gave was a far bigger reward than the extra money.
