An Audience with the King

An inspiring anecdote from the 1800s that I found on my friend Corrie's blog:

A number of years ago I went to America with a steamship captain who was a very devoted Christian.  When we were off the coast of Newfoundland, he said to me, “The last time I sailed here, which was five weeks ago, something happened that revolutionized my entire Christian life.  I had been on the bridge for 24 straight hours when George Mueller of Bristol, England, who was a passenger on board, came to me and said, Captain, I need to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon. ‘That is impossible’, I replied.  ‘Very well’, Mueller responded, ‘if your ship cannot take me, God will find some other way, for I have never missed an engagement in 57 years.  Let’s go down to the chartroom to pray’.  “I looked at this man of God and thought to myself, ‘What lunatic asylum did he escape from?’ I had never encountered someone like this.  ‘Mr. Mueller’, I said, ‘do you realize how dense the fog is?’ ‘No’, he replied.  ‘My eye is not on the dense fog but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life’.  “He then knelt down and prayed one of the most simple prayers I’ve ever heard.  When he had finished, I started to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray.  He said, ‘First, you do not believe God will answer, and second, I believe He HAS.  Consequently, there is no need whatsoever for you to pray about it.’  “As I looked at him, he said, ‘Captain, I have known my Lord for 57 years, and there has never been even a single day that I have failed to get an audience with the King.  Get up Captain, and open the door, and you will see that the fog is gone.’  I got up, and indeed the fog was gone.  And on Saturday afternoon, George Mueller was in Quebeck for his meeting.”

In case you don't know, George Mueller was a great prayer warrior of the 19th century.  After becoming a Christian, he felt called to help the orphans in Bristol, England.  He built several orphanages, and during his life time helped 10,000 orphans.  The most amazing thing is that he raised the money for the housing and care of the orphans solely through prayer.  He resolved to never ask anyone for money so that that God would receive the sole praise as their needs were met.