It was the winter of 1973, and she was 24 years old. She and her husband Ron had fallen on hard times. There were weeks when there was so little food in the house that they would hang around church after the worship service to see if anyone would invite them over for lunch.
The humiliation hurt. Grace had one dress, and since it wasn't ok back then to wear slacks to church, she just wore that same dress every Sunday. It got threadbare. When it developed holes in the armpits she patched them with material she cut from the hem.
But the worst of it - at least for her - was the fact that her nylon stockings all had runs. She couldn't bear to be seen in them. A new pair cost 99 cents, which she did not have. But somehow or other she would need to get that 99 cents, otherwise FORGET about CHURCH I'm NOT going to go.
Saturday night came and still no 99 cents. By that point, Grace told me later, she was feeling pretty smug. She had steeled her heart with the grim satisfaction of knowing just how to retaliate against divine unfairness and protect what little dignity she had left. I asked her if she had told Ron of her decision, and she said, "Oh no! I was going to surprise him the next morning with the news that he was going to church alone."
About 8 o'clock Saturday night, there was a knock at the door. It was her friend Joanne. Joanne said, "Grace, this is stupid, I feel silly, but... " and she handed Grace a small package, "could you use a new pair of nylons?"
Somehow Grace held her composure even as she exploded inside with, Oh come on, you have GOT to be KIDDING me. She made it to church the next day, and the week after that, and the week after that, and so on for 42 years.
Twenty years or so after Joanne appeared at her door with the miracle stockings Grace told her what that little gift had meant to her. Joanne had no recollection of the event. She never had a clue that God had used her to rescue my sister from a spiritual meltdown.
I told that story at my home church, Bethany Chapel, on February 1 in a sermon about the Israelites crossing through the Red Sea. Even a month later people were coming up to me and telling me how meaningful that story was to them. Some of them had experienced similar things. So I called my sister Grace and told her that. And she said, "That story, and the incident of the shoes, taught me never to doubt God's provision."
And I said, "Grace, remind me about the shoes."
She said about 30 years ago her 11-year-old son Mark sang in the county children's choir. They had a special concert one Saturday evening, and the dress code for the kids was a white shirt, black pants, and black dress shoes. Mark had the shirt and pants, but all he had for shoes was a pair of sneakers. They couldn't afford dress shoes. So Grace started hunting around. She went to the Salvation Army thrift store and rummaged through the bins at Catholic charities. Nothing. Crestfallen, she told Mark Saturday morning, "I'm sorry Mark. I just couldn't find you any shoes. I'm afraid you can't go to the concert."
Sure enough, another knock at the door. It was a borderline mentally retarded woman in town who had been judged unfit to raise her son. Little Johnny was in foster care where his mother would pay him regular visits. This morning she stood at Grace's door holding a crumpled brown bag. As my sister related the story to me, she mimicked the dear woman's flat Forest Gumpian monotone: "Grace I bought these for Johnny and they don't fit him would they fit one of your boys." And she pulled out of the bag a pair of black dress shoes in Mark's size. Startled, Grace thanked her warmly and took the shoes and raced to her son and said, "Mark! You're going to the concert!"
As it turns out, that's the last time I ever talked to Grace. Two weeks later she was hospitalized with pneumonia, the by-product of a weak immune system compromised by cancer and chemo. Within a few days she was absent of the body and present with the Lord. From the day she was born, July 24, 1948, till the day she died, April 2, 2015, God provided Grace with everything she ever needed. She experienced, and acknowledged before all, the truth of Philippians 4:19: "My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."
I can well imagine someone saying, "I'm glad it worked out for your sister Grace. But my story is different. I have had needs that God has not supplied." I would respond with two comments.
First, the promise in Philippians 4:19 is not universal. If you check the context, you will see that it was given to servants of God who had been generous, repeatedly, with what they had. The Apostle Paul first thanked the Philippian Christians for sending him aid while he was in prison (Philippians 4:14-18), and then he said, "And my God will meet all your needs..."
Grace, like the Philippians, qualified on that score. Tales of her generosity are legion. Remember how John the Baptist said, "Whoever has two tunics should share with him who has none" (Luke 3:11)? Grace was so generous that if she had two tunics she would have given you both of them.
Secondly, the promise in Philippians 4:19 is not to supply our wants but our needs. Who is best qualified to determine our needs?
Somewhere around the year 1900 a young Harry Ironside went to do some street preaching in Fresno in response to what he felt was a sudden call from the Lord. He trusted God to supply his need. It didn't seem to happen. Ironside wound up for a time homeless and hungry, trying to sleep on a cold park bench with an empty stomach. What had he done wrong? Nothing. Some weeks later he received a letter from his stepfather, William Watson, which contained the following postscript:
God spoke to me through Philippians 4:19 today. He has promised to supply all our need. Some day He may see that I need a starving. If He does, He will supply that.
Amen. God determines the needs of the faithful, and supplies them. If they need food, he will supply that. If they need a starving, then he will supply that. If they need health, he will give them that. If they need a degenerative ailment that robs them of function and leaves them wholly dependent on the charity of others, he will give them that. Whatever they need.
On April 2, 2015, God determined that Grace Ellen Washburn needed to come home.
