Louise Brown, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a country grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries. She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work; they had seven children and they needed food.
John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store.
Knowing her family’s desperate needs, Mrs. Brown pleaded, “Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.”
The grocer told her he could not give her credit, as she did not qualify for a charge account at his store.
Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever Mrs. Brown needed for her family.
The grocer said to the lady in a very reluctant voice, “Do you have a grocery list?”
Louise replied, “Yes, sir.”
“OK,” he said. “Put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries.”
Louise hesitated a moment with a bowed head; she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. With her head still bowed, she then carefully laid the piece of paper on the scale.
The eyes of the grocer and the other customer showed amazement as the scale went down and stayed down!
Mr. Longhouse, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the other customer and said begrudgingly, “I can’t believe it.”
The man smiled, and the grocer started putting groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance, so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more. The grocer stood there in utter disgust.
Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement. It was not a grocery list, it was a prayer which said: “Dear Lord, you know my needs, and I am leaving this in Your hands.”
The grocer gave her the groceries that he had weighed and stood in stunned silence. Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed cash to the grocer to cover the cost and said, “That‘s worth every penny of it.”
It was some time later that day that the grocer discovered the scales were unexplainably broken.
Only God knows how much a prayer weighs.
- Author Unknown
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 ESV
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6 ESV
And this is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him. 1 John 5:14-15 ESV
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