At one time I was in great need of a fur coat, for the winters are very
cold in the northern states and Canada. So I set my heart on having a
fur-lined coat listed in the Sears Roebuck catalogue for $57.25. I asked
the Lord if I could have it and He answered, "Yes."
Shortly after this matter had been decided, a brother came to me and said,
"You need a fur coat and here are ten dollars to start toward it." Others
wrote sending money specifying that it was for a fur coat until I had
$36.50. Then a whole year passed and nothing came. The following November I
went to Rice Lake, Wisconsin to hold a meeting for Bro. E. G. Ahrendt. It
was very cold and there was lots of snow. On my arrival Brother Ahrendt
said to me, "Haven't you got a fur coat, Brother Susag?" I answered, "Yes."
He said, "Why don't you wear it this cold weather?" I answered, "I have it
by faith--have had it for a year and a half and have $36.50 laid by for it
that was given me towards buying a coat, but the price is $57.25." Then
Bro. Ahrendt went upstairs and was gone for a long time. When he came down
again, he said, "Brother Susag, before you leave here you are going to have
a fur coat." I said, "Is that faith or presumption?" To which he replied,
"If it isn't faith, I have never had faith." I said, "Praise the Lord; good
for you and good for me."
When the meeting was over Brother Ahrendt said, "Did you get the fur coat?"
I told him, "No." He then asked me where I was going tomorrow night from
here, and I told him that I was going ten miles out in the country to a
little meeting house for a service. He said, "I'll go with you."
After the service that night Brother Ahrendt again asked, "Did you get your
fur coat?" I said, "No." Upon, which he inquired where I was going that
evening. I told him that a family had invited me to their home and had
offered to take me to another railroad over which I would be able to reach
home sooner. Brother Ahrendt declared that he was going with me until he
saw my last foot safe in the train, "and," he said, "if you haven't got the
fur coat by then I'll not know what to think of myself or my faith." (By
way of explanation would say here, that the offerings I received went for
my general expenses; the money for my fur coat was to come from other
sources. The Lord had promised me the fur coat.)
That night I had a dream. I woke up about three o'clock in the morning, and
as I stirred a little, Brother Ahrendt whispered, "Are you awake?" I told
him I was. "Did you have a dream?" he asked. I answered, "Yes, a woman came
to me and gave me four bills!" "The fur coat! the fur coat!" he excitedly
said. We got so happy that we couldn't sleep any more and we shouted,
"Glory to God!" We made so much noise that we disturbed the folks down
stairs, and when we went down they said, "What is the matter with you
brethren making so much noise?" We told them we were so happy that we could
not help ourselves.
After a while the sister asked me to come out into the kitchen. She gave me
a chair and I sat down. She at once began to unburden her mind and said,
"Did you understand when I spoke to you at the campmeeting at St. Paul Park
three or four years ago that I was intending to give you some money for
your trip to Europe?" I answered, "Yes, I thought so." "But" she said, "you
said you had the fare." "Yes," I answered, "I had it by faith." Then in
surprise, she asked, "But didn't you have the money in your possession?
Weren't you then already on your way to Europe?"
"I was on my way to Europe," I answered, "but did not have all my
fare--only by faith."
She then told me that she had been sick for about two years. She said, "I
have been prayed for often, and have received some help, yet I gradually
got worse. Finally," she said, "I got desperate about it and said to the
Lord, 'What's the matter with me anyway; I cannot get well and I cannot
die?' Then the Lord said, 'Do you know the Brother you intended to give
some money before he went to Europe?' I said, 'Yes, in a way, but he's back
now.' The Lord said, 'That does not make any difference; how much was it?'
'Fifteen dollars,' was my answer. 'That's right,' the Lord said, 'but there
is ten dollars interest on that now.' 'I'll give it to him the first time I
see him,' I said. Then I was prayed for and healed at once." Having said
this, she handed me the money, "Here it is," and it was four bills! I took
it and commenced to shout the glory of God. In came Bro. Ahrendt and I held
up the four bills for him to see. He shouted, "The fur coat, the fur coat!"
Then I related my experience to her of my praying for a fur coat and said
to her, "If you had given me the money when I came back from Europe I would
not have had to suffer cold for about a winter and a half." The sister was
healed and blessed, and I was kept warm for many a day inside that fur
coat.
* * * * *
A number of years ago I was called to go to Wales, North Dakota, to hold a
meeting at Brother Paul Garber's home, which was a Great Northern box car.
The weather was very cold, the temperature being twenty degrees below zero.
After the first evening service a woman came to me and said, "I am the
sheriff's wife and I want you to come home with me. I cannot allow you to
stay here." I went with her and the next day we got the Methodist church in
which to hold our services.
More than half the people who attended the services were Catholics. On the
last evening as I was going out of the church, the butcher of the town
shook hands with me, putting three silver dollars in my hand and said, "You
come back soon."
I surely had a fine stay with the sheriff and his wife, and the day I was
leaving the sheriff was at the depot with a delegation representing the
business men of the town saying to me, "We wish you would come back soon."
I said to them, "What's your reason for wanting me to come back soon, since
the butcher was the only business man of the city who came out to my
meeting?" "When you come back," they said, "we will all come to your
services, because many people have come and paid up their old bills and
made good their outlawed notes since you have been here." I am sorry that I
never had the opportunity of going back there again.
A number of the saints at Wales moved to Grand Forks, N. Dakota, and were a
great blessing and an asset to that congregation. Later on, sixty-three
adults and children moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan, and I understand that
an English and a German congregation was started at that place through
their efforts.
* * * * *
One time Brother Renbeck and I went to Bro. Bahr's to pray for Willie, a
son of theirs, who had the scarlet fever, and after we had prayed I felt
that I should stay a little longer. I lay down on the lounge and fell
asleep. All of a sudden Sister Bahr called and said, "I believe Willie is
dying," and when I laid my hands on him he was so hot that the heat seemed
to go right through my whole body. I kept on rebuking the sickness and the
devil, but it didn't seem to help any.
I prayed, "Lord, heal this boy to Thy glory. If no other way, I am willing
to take this sickness upon myself, just so you get the glory of healing the
boy." In a few minutes he was sound asleep, perfectly healed! But I felt as
though I was sore all over my body. When I went out into the cold winter
weather the cold would smart what seemed to be sores on my face, and when I
got to the chapel to preach I felt ashamed to get up before the audience
because I thought the folks would see the sores on my face, although I knew
it was an imposition of the devil. When I got into the pulpit I told the
people how I felt, and asked them to pray, and immediately the feeling left
me. I learned the lesson not to be willing to take a devil's sickness in
order to get people healed.
* * * * *
In 1942 as I was coming from the West coast to Wolf Point, Montana, I took
the bus thirty-eight miles from there where another road turns off to go to
my son's place, a mile and a half off the highway. It had snowed quite a
bit and was somewhat stormy, but I thought I could make it. However, I had
not walked far until I had to throw my grips into the ditch and tried to go
on, but the snow was so deep I could not make it walking. My only way was
to lie down in the road and roll. I kept that up quite a while, and when I
got tired I would just lie and rest. After I had gotten a quarter of a mile
I was so worn out that it seemed as though there was no hope for me. I
rolled over to a fence post and stood up and tied myself to it, thinking
that if I did freeze to death folks would be able to find my body. After I
had been standing quite a while praying, I felt as though I was getting my
strength again, so I loosened myself from the fence post and started to
roll again and then tried to walk on my knees, but that would not do. The
snow was too loose--I went down. Toward evening I had reached the highest
spot from which I could be seen from my son's house. He was coming from the
barn and happened to see me, and then quickly came to meet me and very soon
led me safely to his home. So the Lord had mercy on me once more.
* * * * *
One time I received a telegram from Brother Fortner of Brookings, S. Dakota
asking me to come at once. I arrived there late in the evening and found
that their son, Clarence, was seriously ill at the hospital in Huron,
eighty-three miles from Brookings. The folks thought we had better wait
until the following morning to go. Brother and Sister Fortner, another son,
and the pastor all went with me in my car.
Clarence had been saved but had gotten away from the Lord. On our trip from
Brookings, on the highway we drove eighty miles an hour and the pastor
said, "Brother Susag, you do not need to go so fast." I thought that I
would slacken down but the car was still going eighty miles; the pastor
called again, "Brother Susag, you need not go so fast." I said nothing but
felt rather sad that I was hurting the pastor's feelings, but still I was
going eighty. Finally the pastor spoke sternly, "Brother Susag, you don't
need to go that fast." I felt sad, but said nothing, yet in spite of myself
and the pastor, I was still going eighty miles an hour.
On arriving at the hospital the young man said, "I have gotten back to the
Lord and this morning at three o'clock He said to me that at nine o'clock
Brother Susag would be here to take you home." He had the clock standing on
the chair and it was just nine o'clock when we arrived! The pastor walked
out. (This occurred before the laws governing speed went into effect, but
law or no law, the Lord wanted me there at nine o'clock.)
* * * * *