<h2>IX</h2>
<h3>TO HIS PRAISE!</h3>
<div class="blockquot"><p>"They shall abundantly utter the memory
of thy great goodness."</p>
</div>
<div class='cap'>THIS chapter is written more than seven
years later than the foregoing, in further
testimony and praise.</div>
<p>Returning to Canada at the time of the
Great War, we came face to face with a
serious financial crisis. Only two ways
seemed open to us. One was to lay our
affairs frankly before the Board, showing
that our salary was quite insufficient, with
war conditions and prices, to meet our requirements.
The other course was to just
go forward, get a suitable home and whatever
we required, and trust our Father to
supply what was needed above our income.
We decided on the latter course.</p>
<p>A dear daughter felt indignant that we
should have a salary insufficient for our
needs; but we assured her that to trust God
for what was lacking was not begging. The
day came when this child and myself took
possession of our new home. As we entered<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</SPAN></span>
the dining-room we found a large mail from
China on the table.</p>
<p>One letter was forwarded from the lady
in Australia whose gifts, in the past, seemed
always to have met some felt need. Her
letter enclosed fifty pounds, with the expressed
wish that thirty pounds should be
used for work in China, but twenty pounds
was to be used to meet some personal need. I
handed the letter to my daughter, saying:
"Shall we not believe that God will undertake
for us? It seems to me as if our Father
were beside us saying, 'My child, take this
hundred dollars as an earnest of what I am
going to do for you.'"</p>
<p>Tears stood in her eyes as my daughter
gave the letter back, saying: "Mother, we
don't trust God half enough!"</p>
<p>Were I to attempt to write the history of
the months that followed, a long chapter
would be required; but my testimony along
this line is surely sufficient.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>It was on this same furlough that I came
to have an enlarged vision of my Heavenly
Father's willingness to undertake in what
some might term the minor details of everyday
life. Missionaries, especially we missionary
women, know only too well how we
are criticized in the matter of dress, when in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</SPAN></span>
the homeland and when traveling. I have
had, through the years, not only many amusing
but trying experiences in this connection,
and I resolved to make the question of
dress a definite matter of prayer. And I
rejoice to testify that the result of this decision
became a constant source of wonder
and praise. Yes, I found the Lord could
guide me even in trimming my hat to his
glory! That is, so that I could stand up before
an audience and not bring discredit to
my Master. Praise his name!</p>
<div class='poem'>
"There is nothing too great for his power,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And nothing too small for his love!"</span><br/></div>
<p>At the time of the Great War a son had
gone to England with the first Canadian contingent.
When this news reached us in
China, I began to pray definitely that the
Lord would use my son's gifts in the best
way for his country's good, but would keep
him back from the trenches and from actual
warfare. My boy did not know of this
prayer.</p>
<p>Some weeks after reaching England he
was looking forward to leaving for the
trenches in France, when orders came that
he was needed in the Orderly Room, and his
unit left without him. Months later a call
came for volunteers, to fill the great gaps<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</SPAN></span>
made at the time of the first use of gas. My
boy resigned his position, and joined the
company of volunteers to be sent to France.
Just before they were to leave he was again
sent for from Headquarters, and told he was
to go to the Canadian Base in France as
adjutant. His duties in this capacity kept
him at the Forwarding Base. A year later
he again planned to resign, in order to get to
the trenches. He had begun making arrangements
for this step, when he had a fall from
his horse, which caused him to be invalided
home to Canada, where he was kept till the
close of the war.</p>
<p>It would indeed be difficult to persuade his
mother that all this happened by chance; for
one day, when in great distress, expecting
any day a cable to say he had left for the
trenches, I received a most clear assurance
from the Lord that he had the boy in his
keeping.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>After our return to China, when in great
trouble, I prayed the Lord to grant me a
clear sign of his favor by giving me a certain
petition, which affected a child in the homeland.
The request was a complicated one,
including several definite details. A little
more than a month later, a letter reached me
from the one for whom I had asked the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</SPAN></span>
Lord's favor. She wrote joyously, telling
that she had received just what I had asked
for, and in every detail as I had prayed.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>When my husband resigned the regular
field work of Changte, Honan, it became
necessary for us to find a home elsewhere.
The only suitable place, meeting all our requirements,
was on the hills at Kikungshan,
South Honan. On going there to get a site
for our home, though we looked for more
than a week, we could find no place. As we
started down the hill, one morning soon after
midnight, I was feeling our failure very
keenly, for we had given up our old home.
When my husband saw how bad I felt, as
he told me later, he began to cry earnestly to
the Lord to give us a site. And before we
reached the station the assurance had come
that we would get a place. A friend on the
train, traveling third class, saw us getting on
the second class, and came in for a few words
before getting off the train. When he heard
we had failed to get a site, he said:</p>
<p>"I know of a beautiful site which our Mission
is reserving for a future missionary.
I'll ask them to give it to you."</p>
<p>A few days later the treasurer of this Mission
wrote us that they had unanimously and
gladly voted to give us the site.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>I am now writing these closing words in
our God-given home, built on this beautiful
site, one of the most lovely spots to be found
in China. So from this quiet mountain
retreat, a monument of what God can give in
answer to prayer, this little book of Prayer
Testimonies is sent forth.</p>
<p>As the past has been reviewed, and God's
wonderful faithfulness recalled, there has
come a great sense of regret that I have not
trusted God more, and asked more of him,
both for my family and the Chinese. Yes, it
is truly wonderful! But the wonder is not
that God <i>can</i> answer prayer, <i>but that he does</i>,
when we so imperfectly meet the conditions
clearly laid down in his Word.</p>
<p>In recent years I have often tested myself
by these conditions, when weeks, and perhaps
months, have passed without some answer to
prayer, and there has come a conscious spiritual
sagging. As the discerning soul can
plainly see, all the conditions mentioned in
the list below may be included in the one
word "Abide."</p>
<h3>Conditions of Prevailing Prayer</h3>
<div class='hang1'>
1. Contrite humility before God and forsaking of sin.—2 Chron. 7:14.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
2. Seeking God with the whole heart.—Jer. 29:12, 13.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
3. Faith in God.—Mark 11:23, 24.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</SPAN></span>4. Obedience.—1 John 3:22.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
5. Dependence on the Holy Spirit.—Rom. 8:26.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
6. Importunity.—Mark 7:24-30; Luke 11:5-10.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
7. Must ask in accordance with God's will.—1 John 5:14.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
8. In Christ's Name.—John 14:13, 14, and many other passages.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
9. Must be willing to make amends for wrongs to others.—Matt. 5:23, 24.<br/></div>
<h3>Causes of Failure in Prayer</h3>
<div class='hang1'>
1. Sin in the heart and life.—Psa. 66:18; Isa. 59:1, 2.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
2. Persistent refusal to obey God.—Prov. 1:24-28; Zech. 7:11, 13.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
3. Formalism and hypocrisy.—Isa. 1:2-15.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
4. Unwillingness to forgive others.—Mark 11:25, 26.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
5. Wrong motives.—James 4:2, 3.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
6. Despising God's law.—Amos 2:4.<br/></div>
<div class='hang1'>
7. Lack of love and mercy.—Prov. 21:13.<br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</SPAN></span></p>
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