THAT STILL SMALL VOICE

By Sonia Randall

One rainy Saturday morning, I was baking cookies and thinking about the projects our church was sponsoring for relief work -- layettes, school kits, health kits, and sewing kits. It was almost time to turn them in for shipment.

I had been checking garage sales and thrift stores for months but we were still discouragingly short on sewing kit supplies, especially fabric. These sewing kits were intended to teach women in third world countries how to sew in the hope that they could eventually earn a living for their families with this useful skill. It was a very important project but one which cost more because all the supplies had to be new.

The sewing kits contained only four items -- Three yards of a cotton-blend fabric, matching thread and buttons, and a packet of needles -- at a cost of about $15 to $20. I tried to save by watching for pieces of fabric on sale for about $1/yard instead of the fabric store price of $4.95 or $5.95. With needles, thread, and buttons averaging about $1.50 each, we could then make them for around $7. At that price we could send two or three for the same amount of money.

As I lifted cookies from the baking sheet, the words "Check the garage sale ads" kept running through my mind. I ignored it. I had been checking sales for months with no result.

But the little phrase got so annoying that I finally sat down with the newspaper and looked at the classifieds -- just to prove to myself there wasn't anything I need bother with!

To my chagrin, one ad indicated some home seamstress was clearing out a lot of fabric and sewing notions. But I was still not convinced there could be anything useful for the sewing kits. Most of the fabrics I had seen at garage sales were knits, not cotton, they were seldom the correct length, and were usually priced way above my limit.

By lunchtime a new phrase was running through my mind: "You could at least check out that garage sale." I really didn't want to. It was still raining. But, after lunch, in sudden exasperation, I decided to drive over to the sale and take a look. It was only a few blocks away.

Once there, I became convinced that the persistent voice I had been hearing was God's or at least one of his angel messengers! There were 15 pieces of attractive cotton-blend material, each was exactly 3 yards long, each length was priced at $3.00!

Quite chastened, I drove home with the fabric, resolving to listen more carefully to that little voice in the future. At the same time I was so thankful that God was patient with my constant refusal to pay attention! And thankful that He was blessing our attempts to help His other children.

Sonia A. Randall writes from Corvallis, Oregon. Sonia@Randallclan.net