“Your unwillingness to pray and surrender your will to your Heavenly Father reminds me of a story which I want to share with you,” said the Soul Mechanic.
“A Long time ago, a woman dressed in rags passed through a village in the mountains. With her head bowed, her face covered in dry tears and her eyes heavy with suffering, she walked into the grocery store and asked the owner if he could give her a little food, with the promise to return the money in the near future. She explained to him that her husband was very ill and cannot work, and their children haven’t had anything to eat in days.
“A long time ago, a woman dressed in rags passed through a village in the mountains. With her head bowed, her face covered in dry tears and her eyes heavy with suffering, she walked into the grocery store and asked the owner if he could give her a little food, with the promise to return the money in the near future. She explained to him that her husband was very ill and cannot work, and their children haven’t had anything to eat in days.
The man looked at her in anger, and through his mouth disfigured with contempt said: “Get out of my store!”
“I am begging you. I will pay everything back in a few days” the woman said to him with a shaking voice.
In the store there was another man who overheard their conversation.
“I will pay for whatever this woman needs,” said the stranger to the store owner. “Please, get anything you need for your family,” he said to her.
“Do you have a list of what you need?” said the owner, disgusted by the generosity of this strange man.
“Yes” the woman answered.
“Fine. Put your list on the scale, and I will give you food the same weight as your list” grinned the owner. “And not a single ounce more.”
The woman reached in her scruffy pockets and pulled out a piece of paper. With her head bowed and her eyes to the floor, she put the list on the scale. The store owner put a loaf of bread, but the scale tipped to the side with the paper. He put a bag of flour with the bread, but the scale was tipped to where the paper was. The owner fumed red with anger and kept putting groceries on the scale, which wouldn’t budge. He put food until his counter was covered. The scale stayed tipped to the side with the piece of paper.
The stranger smiled, and the store owner grabbed the woman’s list from the scale. Only four lines were written on that piece of paper:
Beloved Heavenly Father,
You know my needs.
I surrender to your love.
I surrender to your will.