Empty Bins

My grandparents, Charles and Florence Personeus, who went to Alaska as pioneer missionaries in 1917, were greatly influenced by accounts of the faith ministry of George Mueller (1805-1898), an evangelist and director of a large orphanage in England (see previous posts). When Mueller's orphanage had a need, he did not ask people for aid but took it directly to God in prayer.

Charles & Florence Personeus
Married April 5, 1916

A little more than a year after the newly married Personeuses arrived in Alaska, a deadly flu epidemic struck Juneau. Schools were closed, all public meetings were cancelled, and quarantine signs were placed on the door of every house where someone was sick. Many people died.

When the epidemic finally ended, many children were left without a mother or father, so the Personeuses started a children's home.
The Personeuses had little money to support the children's home, but they trusted God to supply the needs for rent of a big house, coal for heat, and food and clothing for the children.

Soon, they had many mouths to feed. Twice a week, Mrs. Personeus had to bake 18 loaves of bread. That required a lot of flour, which they kept in a large bin.

One morning, Mrs. Personeus prepared to bake bread, only to  discover that the flour bin was empty. When she told her husband, he took out his wallet and showed her it was empty too.

Then, Mr. Personeus discovered that the coal bin was nearly empty too. In Alaska, that was serious. The temperature outside often went way below freezing during the long winters months. Even in the summer, it was too cool to go without heat in the house.

Remembering how George Mueller had led his orphans in prayer when they needed food for breakfast and the Lord had supplied, Mr. Personeus asked his wife, "Can you sing the Doxology over these empty bins?"

"I can," she answered.

They gathered the children together and explained, "We don't have any flour for bread or coal for heat."

The children's eyes opened wide. A few of the little ones even began to cry.

"Don't cry or be afraid," Mr Personeus said. "Remember, God is our Heavenly Father. He knows what we need. He will take care of us. We're going to sing the Doxology and praise God for the supply of all our needs."

They trooped to the flour bin, joined hands, and began to sing, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow...." They sang the Doxology again around the coal bin. The children left for school, and the Personeuses went about their duties for the day, trusting God to supply their needs.

Mid-morning, Mrs. Personeus heard a knock at the door. A man she didn't know stood there carrying a huge sack of flour. "Thought you might be able to use this," he said as he carried the sack into the kitchen. Then, he brought in a second sack of flour.

"Oh, thank you!" Mrs. Personeus said. "It's just what we need!"

A little while later, another knock sounded at the door. "I have a load of coal for you," said the man.

"But we didn't order any coal today," Mrs. Personeus told him.

"I know, but this coal is for you, and it's all paid for." And he proceeded to fill up the coal bin.

The Personeuses never did learn who had provided the flour and coal that day, but what a time of praise and thanksgiving they had after school when they all gathered around full bins and again sang, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow..."!

Has God ever supplied a need of yours in answer to prayer? I'd would love to hear about it.

(More stories of the Personeuses' 65 years in Alaska are recorded in my book, Frontiers of Faith, available at www.annaleeconti.com and Amazon.com.)

The Parsonage God Prepared

A big storm was brewing. We could hear thunder rolling. We needed to pick up our son from school, so we quickly toured the house and told the owner we would be in touch. They thought we weren't really interested. But we arranged to go back to see it again. We knew God had reserved that house just for us.

Our second year in Gloversville, we desperately needed a parsonage. We were very cramped in our two-bedroom apartment, which also had to serve as Bob's study, my writing office, and church office, so we began to look for a house to buy for the church. Many houses were for sale, but the mortgage interest rates were well over ten percent, and a minimum down payment of 33-40 percent was required.

As we made this need known to our prayer partners, money began to come in from unexpected sources. A letter came from a former classmate from the University of Alaska, whom we had not been in contact with since our graduation 12 years earlier. Now the vice-president of Alaska Airlines, he had come to know the Lord and was attending an Assemblies of God church in Seattle, Washington. He had read about our new church planting in The Pentecostal Evangel. Surprised to read that Bob was an Assemblies of God pastor, he sent us a large donation. My grandparents also gave us a large money gift toward the down payment.

After looking at many houses for a year or more, one afternoon our realtor showed us a house on Third Avenue that had recently come on the market. The owner had spent the previous two years totally remodeling the old Victorian house. It was just what we were looking for and more--a living room and a parlor with pocket doors, new appliances in the eat-in kitchen, a separate dining room, a bath and a half, a beautiful antique wood staircase with a stained glass window at the lower landing, four bedrooms upstairs which offered plenty of room for offices, a full basement, a full attic, and everything newly insulated. It even had a stairway from the kitchen to the back upstairs bedroom--the maid's quarters? The color scheme wasn't my favorite, but I thought I could work with it. A large carriage house out back served as a three-car garage.

With the help of the New York District officials, we were able to negotiate to purchase the house at very low monthly mortgage payments.

Sometimes when we think God is slow in meeting our needs, He is busy preparing just what we need. We had looked at many houses, but all of them would have required renovations or other work. Neither of us are gifted in carpentry or other skills needed to remodel, so God took care of it for us. The only thing we had to do was put up paneling in one bedroom to create an office for Bob.