I Just Have to Have These Books!

The summer of 1995 was a spiritual coming of age for me.

I spent the long hot days donning a dress, sneakers, and a book bag as I went door to door selling Christian literature. I had many divine appointments that summer.

One day, the Holy Spirit impressed me to knock on the back door of a house instead of the front. I was a bit scared at first as I tiptoed through the backyard.

However, my fears vanished when I met the lady sitting at the patio door.

It was like she was waiting for me. She was delighted to purchase some books, despite her husband’s negative comments coming from where he was sitting—right by the front door! I got to practice my two years of high school Spanish that I had recently learned and also got a taste of how the apostles must have felt at Pentecost.

One day, after giving the Spanish canvas that I had memorized, a lady started to speak to me in Spanish. I do not really know what she said.

I do not really know what I said after that, but all I know for sure is that I had a speaking-in-tongues experience as the lady went to get her purse and purchase some books from me! On my very last day as a colporteur, I was working in an upper-middle-class neighborhood. I came to a house with a teenage girl about my age.

She looked at my books and said that she just had to have them.

However, she had no cash. So she simply gave me her debit card, the pin number, and directions to the bank so that I could retrieve the money for her.

I was in shock! I quickly contacted my leader to come and pick me up and take me to the bank. He could hardly believe his ears as I told him the story.

My hands were shaking as I punched the numbers in on the ATM.

I could not believe this was happening! I was so glad to return with her books and ATM receipt in hand. I was amazed by her hunger and thirst for the truth—a truth that I had often taken for granted. Will you ask God today to give you a fervent desire to read more and learn more of Him?

Mary C. D. Johnson